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17th Feb 2020, 08:25 PM #1
Round column Mill - position aligner
As any owner of a round column Mill knows, one of the pitfalls is re-aligning the head to a previous position after making a height adjustment.
I've thought long and hard on how to overcome the issue and after seeing a cheapish (as far as lasers go) laser on an online site I thought it might be a solution.
Spent a few hours this afternoon turning a new adjuster nut for the mounting bracket I got with the laser.
Next thing will to be design and make a new mounting bracket, so that I can better align and adjust the laser.
Once that's sorted I'm thinking of using a small magnetic white board or large fridge magnet, with suitably sized centrelines to match the laser beam width, as a target for the laser.
The target is still a work in progress at the moment, but its a start.Hafco AL320G Lathe
Toolex RF31 Mill/Drill
Saber Bandsaw
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17th Feb 2020, 09:23 PM #2Philomath in training
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
- Location
- Norwood-ish, Adelaide
- Age
- 59
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- 6,541
One thing I have heard done is using a mirror and bouncing the beam off that onto a mark/ target on the wall. You would have to make sure your mirror was parallel with the column but by bouncing that way onto a wall you would get much better accuracy. A thought.
Michael
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17th Feb 2020, 09:38 PM #3Member
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- Nov 2015
- Location
- Brisbane Australia
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- 85
Maybe try this method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT1NG4bQfMc
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18th Feb 2020, 08:13 AM #4
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12th Apr 2020, 01:05 AM #5New Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2020
- Location
- Somerset, England
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- 8
I fitted a small laser to my round column mill. Sourced it on Ebay, it was the type that clips to a small hand gun, so it is very small, not much more than an inchxinchxinch cube. Fitted it to the front of the belt guard with the laser sighting off to the right. Made a small vertical white board with bot a thick black vertical target line the width of the beam and also a double vertical target lines the distance apart of the beam. Works reasonably well the little I have tried it, could be improved, the beam is a bit fuzzy on the edges. Have thought of using a mirror to reflect it back at an angle to improve accuracy but not done it yet. Accuracy so far about 0.003", so OK for most stuff but could be better. Main problem is I keep forgetting to switch it off and it kills the little battery cells!
This is my first post on here so not worked out how to add photos yet, the helpful newbie info post bit didn't work for me when I tried to see how to add pics, so can't show anyone the set-up yet.
Chris
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15th Apr 2020, 09:48 PM #6New Member
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- Apr 2020
- Location
- Somerset, England
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- 8
Well, have managed the first bit, resizing and uploading a couple of photos, next I have to work out how to reposition them as the target is ahead of the laser. They seem small compared to other photos on here too. Anyway, the pics show the little laser mounted on the belt guard of the mill. Should have had the laser on really! There is a little bracket - which came with the laser - which is bolted to the guard. The target is attached (you can see the indentations of the two screws) to a clamp that secures it to a shelf as far from the laser as I can get in my small shed. Gives you all an idea anyway. Chris
Mill Laser Target.jpg
Mill Laser.jpg
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15th Apr 2020, 09:53 PM #7New Member
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- Apr 2020
- Location
- Somerset, England
- Posts
- 8
Just a quick question Oldhack, nothing to do with round column mills, but - how did you get your pictures so big on this thread?
Chris - still learning
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16th Apr 2020, 03:59 AM #8
Hi Chris,
If the pictures are not too big to start with, the forum software will resize them for you.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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16th Apr 2020, 04:32 AM #9New Member
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- Apr 2020
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- Somerset, England
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- 8
Hi Baron J,
How big is "not too big"?. I think my photos were about 1.9mb, would that be too big?
Chris
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16th Apr 2020, 05:58 AM #10
Hi Chris,
I meant in X - Y size. I forget exactly what mine are, about 1800 by 1400 pixels usually.
Actually whilst looking through the camera menu, the actual picture size is determined by the focus distance which is automatic ! So a close up is smaller than if I'm three feet away. It doesn't actually give me an image size, like my SLR which gives me a choice of frame sizes.
The forum software automatically resizes images that are bigger than it likes and refuses images which are too big.
The forum gets very quiet at this time of the evening, they are all in bedBest Regards:
Baron J.
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16th Apr 2020, 06:34 AM #11
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16th Apr 2020, 08:14 AM #12New Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2020
- Location
- Somerset, England
- Posts
- 8
Baron J - my pics were about 4032 x 3024, so way bigger!
Yes, about this time of the evening I guess things are quiet as they are all in bed Down Under, it'll get busy when we have all gone to bed back here in GoC, but we can live with that.
Chris
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16th Apr 2020, 07:46 PM #13
Hi Chris,
Its just occurred to me, are you clicking on the picture that you have posted in order to view it !
Some of mine when viewed that way are way bigger than seen in the post. I also right click and view pictures directly in a new window, which allows me to scroll them.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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