I am just starting up this hobby. I've recently built a nice shop in my backyard and am just starting to purchase the tools I will need to build model engines. My first purchase was the Harbor Freight x2 mini mill. I also bought one of the tooling kits from LMS that contains collets, end mills, vice, etc. My question is: What do I need to do to this mill out of the box to get it "up to speed"? I've read from many posters that it needs a lot of adjustments out of the box before you can get any accuracy out of it. Can someone give me a list of things that I need to do?
Newbie here..looling for advice on x2 mill...
- Thread starter mfarris
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I know some have said their spindle was not perfectly parallel to their column, but mine appears to be. Both my x and y axis appear to have a lot of backlash in the wheel though. I can't seem to get all of that out even by adjusting the gib screws.
Hi mfarris, the mini-mill mods will depend on how your machine behave, as you know, this is china stuff, and the quality of the machine can vary a lot between one and other.
Also will depend in your quest for accuracy.
One of the problems for the mini-mill desing is the tilting column, its rarely used and the pivot union at the base is not robust enough, is like a weak point, if you attach a dial indicator from the table to measure the head movement, you can pull by hand the head an see the amount of column flex in the dial, most of that is caused by the weak pivot union.
For light work, brass or aluminium, and with light cuts, I think is not necesary to worry about this, but some peoble cant live with this
and attach a steel plate in the back of the column as you have seen in so many mini-mills mod threads.
gib adjusment is also necesary, in some cases there is imposible to get the gibs rigth, and new gibs needs to be made.
Other thing, this I will say is a must, is the belt-drive mod, as gears are from plastic (I dont know if new models have the gears made form metal now) and will broke at the first jamming, also the mill will run more quiet.
Other peoble fill their columns and casting with a dense resine to reduce vibration.
Also they change the the head spring arm for some air sping.
Some put DRO...
You will find that the Z axis is very tricky, and a DRO or a dial indicator will be a must to add also.
Depend on you and your machine what mods are necesary and what are not, I say a belt-drive and a dial indicator or DRO in the z axis is what you need to consider as started.
Hope to help
Saludos
Also will depend in your quest for accuracy.
One of the problems for the mini-mill desing is the tilting column, its rarely used and the pivot union at the base is not robust enough, is like a weak point, if you attach a dial indicator from the table to measure the head movement, you can pull by hand the head an see the amount of column flex in the dial, most of that is caused by the weak pivot union.
For light work, brass or aluminium, and with light cuts, I think is not necesary to worry about this, but some peoble cant live with this
and attach a steel plate in the back of the column as you have seen in so many mini-mills mod threads.gib adjusment is also necesary, in some cases there is imposible to get the gibs rigth, and new gibs needs to be made.
Other thing, this I will say is a must, is the belt-drive mod, as gears are from plastic (I dont know if new models have the gears made form metal now
) and will broke at the first jamming, also the mill will run more quiet.Other peoble fill their columns and casting with a dense resine to reduce vibration.
Also they change the the head spring arm for some air sping.
Some put DRO...
You will find that the Z axis is very tricky, and a DRO or a dial indicator will be a must to add also.
Depend on you and your machine what mods are necesary and what are not, I say a belt-drive and a dial indicator or DRO in the z axis is what you need to consider as started.
Hope to help
Saludos
Thanks anko. That's very helpful info. While tramming, I did notice how you could move the head with your hand, even while the big tilt bolt is tightened, and see the dial indicator move. I will definitely consider the still plate also, as that kinda bugs me.
Will probably definitely get the belt drive kit also.
Would really like DRO for all 3 axis. Do you have a recomendation on a DRO kit?
Also, I see where many disassemble their machines and clean/make adjustments. Is that recommended?
Will probably definitely get the belt drive kit also.
Would really like DRO for all 3 axis. Do you have a recomendation on a DRO kit?
Also, I see where many disassemble their machines and clean/make adjustments. Is that recommended?
Well, I always disasemble anything I got, is like a bad habit to me jaja, sometimes I cant reasembly the stuff again and spend several hours to get it rigth (disasembling dials indicators and dial calipers is not a good idea) but I will recomend you to disasembly your machine, as you will learn a lot on how its build and how works, clean it very well and then lube all the pieces, all steel that is not painted must be oiled to prevent rust, I think that your reasembly will ve much better that the fabric and shipping/handling resulting assembly (just a general parts disassembly, do not remove the spindle, or lead screws).
For the DRO, I got one of the cheaper import ones, and had worked very good for me, but it was a thread some time ago about that same series of DRO and problems, you know, with this stuff is just about luck.
if you have a lathe, then you can build the belt-drive mod, and will be a good practice experience and beginner proyect (and save some money) I recommend it
Saludos
For the DRO, I got one of the cheaper import ones, and had worked very good for me, but it was a thread some time ago about that same series of DRO and problems, you know, with this stuff is just about luck.
if you have a lathe, then you can build the belt-drive mod, and will be a good practice experience and beginner proyect (and save some money) I recommend it
Saludos
Tin Falcon
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some of it will depend on you experience and expectations.
disassemble clean lubricate if you want. the pulley mod is common one and quiets things down. the gibs are often poorly fitted so making bronze or brass gibs improves movement smooths things out. deburr the ways if needed they sometime leave sharp edges at the factory.
Tin
disassemble clean lubricate if you want. the pulley mod is common one and quiets things down. the gibs are often poorly fitted so making bronze or brass gibs improves movement smooths things out. deburr the ways if needed they sometime leave sharp edges at the factory.
Tin
Rex
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Spindle alignment.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f28/mini-mill-spindle-column-alignment-5337/
II'll second the suggestion for a dial indicator on the Z. I mounted a DI to the column lock so the tip was pointed up to hit the bottom of the spindle housing. It's an easy and satisfying first project.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f28/mini-mill-spindle-column-alignment-5337/
II'll second the suggestion for a dial indicator on the Z. I mounted a DI to the column lock so the tip was pointed up to hit the bottom of the spindle housing. It's an easy and satisfying first project.
Like others have said, I recommend the spindle-column alignment procedure, as well as some sort of stiffening plate on the back of the column and a method to adjust X and Y tram. A dial indicator on a magnetic mount makes an easy Z-axis depth measurement. I use Little Machine Shop #2531 dial indicator magnetic back, and just slap that on the column wherever I need it.
Rex
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I just made a simple bracket on the same mill. It's a pretty simple design, but I don't have a pic of it.
I did drill and tap that cast iron column stop to mount it.
albertorc19
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I have the Micro-Mark version of this mill with the belt drive which seems to be better than the transmission with plastic gears. LMS sells an upgrade kit that replaces the gears with a belt driven system, it's not cheap but seems worth the money. In general I think that it's a nice piece of equipment for model engineering but I'm not really happy with the tilting column. I used a dial indicator to set it straight and then throw away the large wrench used to tighten the adjusment nut. I don't plan to move the column at all. I'll use a nice angle block for angled cuts. I've also noted a lot of backlash in the XY table and I plan to make brass gibs to replace the originals.
