Z axis drive

[wirralcnc]

I'm hoping someone can help me.
I have a warco manual mill. Which I'm happy with. But want to fit a powered z axis. For using boring head etc. I was thinking stepper motor with a variable speed control? Something simple. Fwd/rev and speed adjustment in a small box and standard 240v.
Hope someone can point me in right direction.
Robbie

 

[RonGinger]

I did a simple power feed for my G0704 mill. I used a stepper motor and mounted it such that I did not remove the handwheel, so if I want to I can just make a turn with the crank as always.

I used a stepper motor and an arduino. The control has 4 pushbuttons and 2 LEDs. One button is marked up, another down, and act as you would expect. The other two buttons are electronic limit switches. If you press the up limit the red LED lights and the feed will not go above that point. Likewise for the down limit. Pressing the limit button again cancels the limit and the LED goes off.

If you were using it to bore you would set the down limit, then simply hold down the down button until the limit is reached.

There is also a pot to set the speed.

I was working on a PCB of it, now its just a hand wired breadboard on a blank shield. Someday I will get around to finishing the PCB and write up an article about it.

 

[Griffin]

Ron

That sounds like a much better set up than mine, any chance of some more details, like the Arduino code and some pictures?
Mark