Thread: CNC a small X2 hybrid mill

Just trying to spark a bit more interest in CNC so I will run another parallel post with CNCZone here to see if there is much interest in converting a mill.

I have already built 3 CNC gantry routers and helped build another five so there are not a lot of mysteries about CNC for me and I will skip over a lot of the technical detail but if you want to know more feel free to ask.

My plan is to use an Seig X2 head and column and a larger XY table to get some extra travel. Seig make a stand alone table that has travel of 260mm by 160mm and there is plenty of room for ballscrews without carving out chunks of cast iron or shoehorning ballscrews in.

I have the belt drive conversion kit for the X2 motor, rolled ballscrews, 497 oz steppers, Xylotex board and RHS tube and steel plate to make the connection between the table and column. Constructing it like this will give me an opportunity to add some rigitity to the column.

Photo is of the XY table and X2 head and column.

Well this is becoming a fun project. I played around today and made a trial fit of the column and base. The column is 100mm square RHS sandwiched between two 100 by 75 RHS for the base. A 300mm steel plate sits on the base RHS and has a square hole milled out of it to let the column through. The column has additional support of two 250mm wide plates at right angles. I will cut some shape into the plates once I know where everything is mounted.
See first photo
I will also fill the column with an epoxy and sand mixture.
With everything just clamped together there is no ringing in the steel if you thump it so the signs are good.

The next three photos are of the Hybrid X2 bits clamped in place on the column. I have gained heaps of Z travel as you can see from the photos. That is a 100mm vice on the table and seeing how much room I have I will be looking at a 125mm vice very soon.
Apart from the extra travel of the hybrid table by spacing things as I have the table can travel under the column so there is an additional gain there. I will bolt the X2 column to the steel.

This exercise has been good because I am thinking about the Nema motor mounts and position of the ballscrews and in particular Z axis while I am tinkering.

G'day Rod.
Great posts. Keep it going.
I would like to CNC my X3.
But an unsure of the overall cost and fiddling around needed.
I've looked at the CNC zone forums and it seems to be fairly easy to convert.

The chinese CNC conversion appears to be rather iffy due to the poor communication and parts supply.

I will keep watching.

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for your interest.

I wish it was an X3 I was converting but I had already brought these parts before our CNC group arranged a bulk buy of five X3's. The way it is working out I might end up getting a slighly larger cutting envelope than the X3. I don't kid myself either and it will not be as strong or have the extra power of the X3.

There is an Australian manufacturer for an X3 CNC conversion. Have a look here:

http://www.cnckits.com.au/

These are good kits and three of our group have ordered them recently. Sorry no kits arrived as yet so can't give you any feedback.

The Chinese Syril kit has had some problems but it seems to be sorting itself out as they now have agents in other countries communicating with clients.

It is not all that hard to convert a mill and you can do it in stages to spread your costs out. Converting to CNC does not mean you have to loose the manual operation of the mill. I know the cost puts a lot of people off but you sort of get used to it. The Australian site sells each component so if you are not confident in making a part then just order it from them.

I'll keep posting and we'll see how this journey ends up.

Rod,

I've had the Xylotex boards, mtrs, Acme rod, etc., for about 3 years, all to make a gantry style engraver/router setup. Unfortunately, other real life priorites got in the way and I'm only now starting to think about it again. I haven't been to CNCZone for about 9 months (joined there back in '03) as I found it too bloody frustrating .

SO..............all that said, I'd be interested in seeing any pics, info, etc., of your machines, etc.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Chris
Pleased to see a bit more interest in CNC as the potential is amazing. I think a lot of people consider it a replacement for woodworking but of course it just adds to the value of the products you make. Like carvings in panel doors or in the middle of a table. Anyway talking to the converted I hope.
I have to go out so just a quick response and feel free to ask any questions. Detailed questions or those ones you don’t want to ask on an open forum then PM me and I will send my email address.
First machine is a steel base and aluminum gantry router and runs at 1.5 metres a minute.
Second machines is steel and aluminum gantry router and runs at 15metres a minute – no misprint about the speed there and the primary reason is the 20mm pitch ballscrews. This one is housed in an enclosed cabinet with dust extraction.
Third machine is an all aluminum gantry router built from the left over bits of one and two. I thought it was going to be a toy but I use this as my first option on a job. Can run up to 5metres a minute and maybe more but I run it at 2metres a minute because my reflexes are not quick enough to stop it crashing at the higher speeds.
I have been involved and done machining for several other CNC machines so by now I have made all the mistakes you can but knowing me I will find a few new ones.
Currently I have this mill conversion going and I am helping with a 9 x 20 lathe conversion and another gantry router. It's all good fun.
Hope this helps and you get keen again on starting your build.

so this modification can be done to my existing hare and forbes milling machine ?
i assume engraving logos on aluminium sheet would not be a problem for this type of machine ?

Thanks,
Ariel

Hi Ariel
Yes you can CNC existing Hare and Forbes mill but there are a few issues depending on the model. The larger mills are very expensive to CNC because you have to use servo motors. Up to the X3 you can do quite easily with stepper motors but models beyond that become very expensive to convert.
Also the round column mills cause a few problems but there are ways around it.
What model mill do you have?

good to hear
HM35

hi guys what software do you use ?tried to do this several times and needed to learn a cad program -gulp . thats where i stopped . is there an easyway? cheers bob

Hi Bob
Yes there is an easier way but it costs. I use VcarvePro and it is a very complete package and easy to draw and import. I don't spend much time at all drawing and designing now thanks to the internet and lots of free art. The drawing part of Vcarve is very simple compared to a CAD package and so far has been good enough to do all my jobs. This has included mounts for machines to signs. I have attached a few samples I have done in aluminum as this is a CNC mill post to give you an idea. You have to be a Monty Python fan to understand the meaningless dribble on the shingle.

Here is the link to their site and prices are in there somewhere - US dollars.
http://www.vectric.com/

Vcarve will do the design and generate Gcode for your machine. I use Mach3 to cut the code on the machine.

i have looked them up and looks like my feeble brain ,may be able to understand . thank you bob

so can it be adapted to the HM-35

I have been avoiding answering that because the round column mills are a problem.

A typical CNC conversion would be to tighten the quill down and lift the whole head with a ballscrew. This is fine if your head runs in dovetails like the X2, X3 and HM45. A round column looses reference when it rises and falls so it has to be held in a vetical plane by an additional stabiliser or you just CNC the quill feed. Both options are more complicated and extra work but they can be overcome.

If you want to know more then search the CNCZone forum as they do have build logs for round column mills.

We have had quite a heat wave in Perth with 40 plus degree temperatures so progress has been slow. I finished the column and base and have fitted the cross slide table. I need to trim a bit off the bottom of the column just above the large hole before I mount it to the framework.

Once this is all done I will tram the head to the table and do a couple of manual runs to make sure it is solid. I have plans to fill the 4 inch steel column with a mix of exopy and sand to dampen the vibration. I will fit the belt drive kit at this stage as well.

When the testing is over I start the CNC conversion. I favour a rotating nut on the ballscrew for the Z axis so I will need to source pulleys and a belt before I can proceed with that. I will also fit a counterbalance for Z axis with pulleys and a steel weight to take some of the load off the stepper motor.