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Home built CNC Mill - Gonna make a 1911


StraightUp_OG

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Thanks Warren! Great tips!

To save time on the vid I did not go through the mill setup but I do use the indicator on the mill table and bed of the vise as a matter of best practice. It is nice to hear that I am on the right track since I have picked all of this up on the fly with the help of the folks in this thread.

@bmiller - http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1249&category=1319044103 is the test indicator and they used to sell the spindle mount but I could not find it on their site.

@Daniel - I saw your email and I will respond later today.

Thanks guys I will keep up the vidz as I have time.

Edited by StraightUp_OG
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Ok here is a good question too. What kind of degreaser do you guys use before cerakoting and what grit and material of abrasive do you use for your work to prep the metal? Like and in the white receiver and slide to a glock slide to stainless steel?

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Acetone for the degreaser. You soak the part for a while then "Gas" it in the oven. Gassing leaches out any oil form the pours of the metal. You continue this process until the "gassing" no longer produces wet spots on the metal.

I use 100/120 grit aluminum oxide for the blasting and surface prep. The Cerakote instructions are pretty good and I follow them to the letter and get pretty good results.

http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/resources/files/Cerakote-Training-Manual-Web.pdf

Edited by StraightUp_OG
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I start with CRC Electronic Cleaner, use a heat gun to dry it off and repeat until there is no visible contaminates. Then I use acetone followed with heat, any cleaner that you use should be checked to see if petroleum is listed in the contents, if it is don't use it. One of the hardest part to clean is a Bo-mar style sight, the rear blade assembly holds oil big time.

Rich

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what would be a better machine to play around with slide and ar lowers and 2011 frames? the little machine shop mini mill or g0704 ? would like to get one up and runing for less then $1500 but want something that im not going to regret buying if i find out that i enjoy machine work.

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So I have said this many times in the thread and in PMs to other members. If I had to do it all over again I would most likely get a BF20 class mill like the g0704 but every time I consider upgrading I have a hard time justifying it because my LMS does everything I need and want it to do.

If you have the funds to go bigger then go bigger just know that either way you go you will not regret it and AR lowers and all things 1911/2011 can be done on the LMS just fine.

Edited by StraightUp_OG
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thanks that is good to hear about the lms able to do anything 1911/2011 and ar lowers . have you tried to sell it ? just currious if it hold value well. it would be nice to get my feet wet with a quality machine able to do what i want with a lower cost.

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I have not, my guess is the resale value would be 25-30% less than I have into it.

You can't go wrong either way.

If you have the space and the bank roll to go a little bigger in the beginning then I would say go BF20 but consider that the mill is just the first part of the investment. Tooling, accessories etc. add up quick. Make sure your budget considerations includes those costs and that will make the mill decision a little easier.

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I have not, my guess is the resale value would be 25-30% less than I have into it.

You can't go wrong either way.

If you have the space and the bank roll to go a little bigger in the beginning then I would say go BF20 but consider that the mill is just the first part of the investment. Tooling, accessories etc. add up quick. Make sure your budget considerations includes those costs and that will make the mill decision a little easier.

+1 on the cost of tooling, for me It was just about the same price as the machine by the time I was done. I went with Shars vise and ebay tool holders, so it wasn't like I bought high end. It still was at least $1k to get started. I think all those costs would be the same though with an X2 or BF20/0704.

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If you can, get a manual pulse generator to move the mill around with when doing small movements. That is an electronic handwheel that you can move the mill around with just like a manual machine, one axis at a time. You can also use it to mill with if you have something you don't want to write a program for. It is much easier and more controllable than jogging.

I use this pendant with my X2 run by Mach3:

http://www.vistacnc.com/b08_pendant_P2/pendant_p2-S.htm

It's like a manual mill with a remote control :)

To the guys looking at benchtop mills, if I had it to do over, I would skip the DRO and convert it to CNC from day 1. If you spend money on a DRO, you'll have to rip all that out when you convert to CNC.

post-9553-0-75930800-1419205035_thumb.jp

Edited by Griz
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Here's the link

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill-with-Stand-and-DRO/G0759

I think it's a really good value. Get some R8 collets or go TTS and away you go.

I've been following this thread and it's been very interesting.

I have a question about the tilting head on the G0759. I thought the solid column was the way to go because of stability. Does the tilting head compromise stability?

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Not in my experience. I'm not sure if there is a solid column version of the g0704/0759/bf20. They're all pretty much the same machine.

The early models of the mill only had one bolt securing the head to the z column rider/car/traveller whatchamacallit. The part that actually travels on the dovetails.

Somebody came up with the idea of adding 3 additional bolts to secure the head and now they come that way from the seller, at least from Grizzly.

I don't have a ton of hours on my mill, but I do follow all things g0704 on Cnczone.com and I haven't heard of any issues once the extra 3 bolts were added.

Also a contributor on cnczone named machinechick came up with these super cool tramming aids. Just a block bolted to the z rider and a set scew and lock not that adjusts the head, I'm sure they help securing it as well. Easy to make and really help getting it trammed in. I think I made mine out of 1/2 inch key stock. Come to think of it she might have come up with the 3 bolt mod too.

Kevin

ETA to add a pic of the extra 3 bolts. The original bolt is in the center and now they come with the other 3 arount the circumference of the attaching point. Pic off google, not my mill.

post-13722-0-72186300-1419211543_thumb.j

post-13722-0-06952000-1419211552_thumb.j

post-13722-0-01054200-1419212317_thumb.j

Edited by kevinj308
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If you can, get a manual pulse generator to move the mill around with when doing small movements. That is an electronic handwheel that you can move the mill around with just like a manual machine, one axis at a time. You can also use it to mill with if you have something you don't want to write a program for. It is much easier and more controllable than jogging.

I use this pendant with my X2 run by Mach3:

http://www.vistacnc.com/b08_pendant_P2/pendant_p2-S.htm

It's like a manual mill with a remote control :)

To the guys looking at benchtop mills, if I had it to do over, I would skip the DRO and convert it to CNC from day 1. If you spend money on a DRO, you'll have to rip all that out when you convert to CNC.

attachicon.gifP2s-v2-s.jpg

That won't work with LinuxCNC. Last year I was using a hack for a game controller but the hack was shit and earlier in the thread you will find where I bumped it and it took a chunk out of a slide.

This weekend I found a MUCH better way to program the game controller to act as a pendant and I will post a video later.

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