Zx 45 new delivery

[Naiveambition]

After a yearlong wait, it is finally here. woohoo1 Went to pickup this afternoon, and like most things s@,? , happens to make what was an easy job overly complicated, and over budget. Hence the name ," Naive ambition". What's it really gonna take ,;D.

Anyway Im pleasantly surprised right now. Most of the web articles have major/ minor issues upon delivery.
So,,, no rust,no dents, oil level is nice and oil looks nice new.
Paint is pretty nice. Planned to paint, but see no need. This is the bolton tools version, and must say I'm happy. Hope when I'm running it I feel the same

 

[wolframore]

WOW... lucky I've been waiting for two years... still no mill! Can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

[Naiveambition]

Over the past couple weeks I have been inspecting and tweaking my new machine. Here's the consensus so far.

Spindle runout is.001 don't know if that's good or bad .

Casting are nice except a 3 small holes in Y axis table ways. Don't see it affecting operation. Table Ways are ground somewhat rough, so spent a little time lapping the with valve grinding paste. 40 strokes rough and 50 strokes fine compound on X and Y. Much more level and smooth.

Gibs were terrible. Tables would not lock really at all. Lapped on a surface plate to roughly 70% flat, and locks up well now. Gib bolt spacers on Y axis were missing so made two brass plugs for that.

Was surprised there is no bearing on left side of Y axis. It rides in the casting with an hex bolt to hold handwheel. When table moves it forces the hold down screw to slide on the shaft making backlash even worse. Bearing plate for right side of table is bored out of alignment and will need shimmed. Puts pressure on leadscrew when tightened.

Measurement wheels are currently for decoration it seems. Picture is making brass spacers currently for X axis. Should bring it down to .001. Leadscrew is dead on, but cut to short. Between the bearing plates it will move 2.33 mm before engaging. :wall::wall: terrible. If my fix works I will also need to do Z axis. Don't have a plan for quill yet. It's off by about 2 mm. Dro is definitely in future plans

Overall I'm still happy since problems are fixable so far. Head is next after power confirmation. Wiring is not clear enough to understand completely. Web shows one way for wiring, motor shows another. So if someone out there has this mill please respond on your motor controller plate wiring for 220v.

Couple ?s. Are the gibs tapered on mills, and how do the adjustments work. Screws move it back and forth, but can't understand how they apply pressure torwards the table. My lathe has adjusts with bolts 90 degrees opposite of gibs.

 

[Toolguy]

Gibs that move lengthwise are tapered. The more they move in, the more space they fill.

 

[Naiveambition]

Thank you for posting an answer. Often it feels like posting in a vacuum. So I appreciate you reading thru the thread.

I'm posting this here versus other websites since, I had learned almost everything from this site about running my machines, and would like to help others that may be intrested in this mill in the future.