12v Drill hacked to powerfeed for Mini Mill

[rodw]

Thanks guys.
Yes the earlier link never worked as it must be to old, but I found it on ebay easily enough.

Another question If I buy say a 30 amp one which are only around $20 Australian can I use a smaller amp power supply, or would I be better off with a 15 amp or less.

Sorry for the questions, I can confidently wire cars, houses etc, but when it come to fine electronics I get lost.

Dave

Dave,

Here's what I dug out of my drill for you



The controller is marked a maximum of 7 amps for what it is worth and I am hoping to get away with 3.5 amps.

And a close up of my clutch set up to drive the leadscrew.


Unfortunately the belt I have is not long enough and Gates in Australia were no help match this up to anything so I am going to use a flexible drive shaft so the motor can be misaligned.



So my question is, do you think you could cut the flexible shaft in half and silver solder it into a hole in some brass or 12L14?

 

[rodw]

Oh, and another link here
http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/mill-power-feed.html

 

[Davo J]

Hi Rod, and thanks.
With the flex shaft whats it made of. If it's spring steel try not to get it to hot or it will go soft.

Dave

 

[Hopper]

Thanks for posting the additional details and circuit drawing.
I bought a used cordless drill for $5 - but it works so well and my sone and I have been using it for making a tool shadowboard behind the lathe, so will have to look for another one to canibalize for parts!

I got an old angle grinder too, so that I can use the gears out of it to make a right-angle drive reduction gearbox set up so the drill motor will sit snugly alongside the change gear quadrant on my old Drummond lathe, instead of poking out into mid air.

 

[rodw]

Hi Rod, and thanks.
With the flex shaft whats it made of. If it's spring steel try not to get it to hot or it will go soft.

Dave

Dave, I am not really sure. Could be spring stuff. I have a couple of them so I might give it a go and see what happens. It sort of has a braided look so the solder has something to wick into. I guess I will find out what it is when I try to cut it!

 

[Davo J]

I just remembered something, If it's like whipper snipper (weed eater for the US) flex cable it will silver solder.
I have a few gas powered boats using those flex cables and they are silver soldered into brass.

Dave

 

[rodw]

Awesome.

I'll give it a go once I sort out my shed after tipping my lathe over:wall:

Brass would be better than steel I take it?

 

[Davo J]

Steel would be fine, it would just need more heat.

Dave

 

[rodw]

My motor speed controller arrived yesterday. I was really impressed with the delivery time on this one.



Nothing is going to happen for a while as I have a lathe stand to start building this weekend.

 

[ZipSnipe]

Just ordered all my switches last nite. I am holding off the motor controller because I want to hack the one that comes with my drill if possible, if not then controller will be ordered.

Keep us posted Rod!!!!

 

[rodw]

.

Keep us posted Rod!!!!

Well I hope you are patient, this will be a slow build in amongst the lathe stand I am starting today and the Arduino controlled Rotary table controller that I am working on.

This forum comes up with so many ideas!

 

[ZipSnipe]

Well ordered this dc speed controller from ebay today.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/281027916416?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I also got the drill apart, unlike Troy's mine was especially difficult to get the chuck off.

 

[rodw]

Well ordered this dc speed controller from ebay today.

ZipSnipe, it does not look like the controller you ordered has a forward and reverse switch. Will you just wire a switch on the motor output to reverse the motor polarity? Or have you got other ideas?

Glad you have the clutch intact still!

 

[ZipSnipe]

Good eye Rod, and I didn't even think about that when I ordered the controller. But if you look closely at the trigger and right above it is the reverse switch with motor wires running directly into it. And that is all its doing is reversing the motor leads before they go into its lil controller.

I am trying to duplicate exactly what Troy has done with the following exceptions.

Using 4 shoulder bolts that will act as the sliding support for the feed.

And for the top of the controller will be 1/4 aluminum plate( so the screws will recess and a sturdy surface)

 

[ZipSnipe]

Darn started reading the Ebay posting of the controller I bought. The heading says 10 amp but the body of the ad says 5 amp. Hopefully the body is worded wrong. I wanted 10 amp as the motor is 12 amp( I know I was shocked to see that it was rated at that)

 

[rodw]

Darn started reading the Ebay posting of the controller I bought. The heading says 10 amp but the body of the ad says 5 amp. Hopefully the body is worded wrong. I wanted 10 amp as the motor is 12 amp( I know I was shocked to see that it was rated at that)

I think if you end up with a 5 amp one you would have grounds to raise an eBay dispute if the supplier won't send you a new one.

That's a big power draw you are looking at. What power supply are you going to use?

 

[ZipSnipe]

well contacted the seller sent him a link with the heading showing that it says 10 amp. He then sends me a heading back that says its 5 amp.

I guess I will pick up a 12 volt 5 amp wall wart now( they are used on LCD monitors)

 

[MCRIPPPer]

using a lower amp power supply wont help you. you cant give something less amps, only less volts, so that it draws less amps. most wall warts are just little transformers with bridge rectifiers and a capacitor. if you connect a high current load, the wall wart will supply more than its rated current, and get hot. so using a 5 amp wall wart to save the 5amp controller running a 12 amp motor, will not work too good. i bet the motor pulls far more than 12a under heavy load or when it starts from a dead stop.


i am finding the power supply/speed control to be the most difficult part of my power feed.

here is a link to my thread on mods which includes the power feed im making.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f28/my-mini-sx2-mill-mini-7x12-lathe-mods-so-far-20843/#post221697

 

[ZipSnipe]

I could be wrong about the motor amps, I know its a 14 volt motor but have not found the amps for it. On the trigger it had said it was 12 volt 12 amp but I think that is what the trigger was rated at and not the motor. In fact I know it can't be 12 amps, a table saw is around 12 amps and I know my screw gun is no where near the power of a table saw.

Any just waiting for the on/off switch to arrive, I got the motor and controller mounted in the powerfeed box. I also need longer shoulder bolts.

 

[MCRIPPPer]

but your drill is only 14v. power(watts) is volts x amps. so 12 amps at 120 v will make much more power than 12a at 14v.