[Joe2014]

I received my G0759 mill 10 days ago after being on order for about 2 months. The mill arrived with no damage and I had no problems setting it up. Cleaned it with WD40 and checked the trams and everything was good.

While waiting for the Mill to ship, I had purchased all the necessary CNC conversion components including the ballscrew kit from AT. I didn’t buy the machined parts which I planned to make myself using Hoss’s phase 2 design and drawings. I assembled and tested the controller with the Mach3 software and all seems to be working well including the HTC wireless pendant. It took a while to figure out how to fit and mount everything into the AT controller case but it turned out OK. The motors all seem to be running smoothly on my bench top.

I’m new to machining and have never operated a mill but didn’t really have any major problems making the conversion parts. The G0759 DRO really helps when running the mill manually; too bad it won’t be of much use once converted to CNC.

I did have a couple issues with the drill bits I purchased from Grizzly. I bought their Titanium 29 bit sets, one SAE and one Metric. Turns out the SAE 13/32” bit was actually bent and when I tried to drill the through hole in the Y Axis spacer block, the mill bogged down about two thirds way through and blew the 10amp DC motor fuse. I was running the mill in low gear and it took me a while to figure out why the motor bogged down so much. I finally checked the bit and saw that it was bent about 3/64” at the cutting end. The through hole size is not that critical so I drilled it with the next larger bit 27/64” which worked fine. I also had a problem with the 5.5mm metric bit that drilled a hole significantly larger than 5.5mm. I predrill or mark all my holes with a center drill before actually drilling to size. The 5.5mm bit diameter is correct but the tip point was blunted and allowed the bit to wallow around causing the hole to enlarge. I may have damaged the bit myself feeding the bit too slow with the fine feed knob on the mill. So now I need to either remake the X Axis ballnut mount or just make the pins slightly larger to fit the holes. I will probably just make the pins larger since they will have to be turned to size anyway.

I don’t have a lathe so will try to turn the X Axis ballnut mount pins on the mill using a boring bar cutter clamped in the mill vice and 1/4” aluminum rod stock secured in a collet, will feed the Z Axis using the mill fine feed. The pins need to be different diameters on each end but should be doable.

Anyway, I’m very happy with the G0759 mill and so far it has worked flawlessly. Will update this thread after the conversion.

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[pippin88]

Very nice machining for someone new to it.

A DRO makes life so much easier when using a mill manually.

[Joe2014]

Spent the past couple days doing the Hoss CNC conversion on my G0759 Mill. Everything went pretty much to plan, no big surprises.

After I manually made all the Hoss CNC conversion components, I disassembled the mill. I then had a friend machine out the pocket on the Y axis saddle including a notch for the grease zerk. I had tried to use a piece of plastic tubing turned down to size to slide the Y axis ballnut onto so I could then insert the worm shaft into the Y axis base. The tube did not work and the balls fell out so I got to repack all 51 of them which wasn’t too difficult after watching a Youtube video showing how to do it. I then found a forum post by Hoss describing a tool or tube he printed to hold the balls in place so I printed one the same size and it worked great, Thanks Hoss!

I checked the X axis worm and ballnut clearance when I had the X bed upside down on my bench. I ended up having to grind away quite a bit of the ballnut even though AT had already machined some of it away. I also had to grind away multiple bumps on the X axis bed casting to provide clearance. No big deal, used a Dremel tool with a right angle adapter and sanding drums.

I did have to remake a couple sets of the motor standoffs to different lengths. Not sure if the AT worms have different machined ends than what Hoss had but was no big deal. I was able to get the X & Y converted to CNC using the original plans standoffs with extra washers and then I was able to remake two of the standoff sets using CNC on the X & Y axis and manually operating the Z axis. I was then able to complete the Z axis conversion with the new standoffs.

I did have trouble getting the bearings onto the Z worm shafts. I tried freezing the shaft and warming the bearings but no-go. Since I had the mill head sitting horizontally on a cradle on my bench, I chucked the worm shaft into a 20mm collet and ran the mill spindle at low speed on its side while using some 320 grit sandpaper on the worm shaft. After a few minutes I was able to get a snug fit of the bearings onto the shaft.

As noted by Hoss, the Z bearing pocket in the mill casting is a bit too large in diameter so I need to add some shims to that, I have some assorted brass shim stock on order.

I printed several black PLA chip guards that snap onto the motor standoffs and a cover plate for the Z axis manual wheel that I removed, also a cap for the non-motor end of the X axis worm. I also installed some nylon window screen material on the inside on the CNC controller case underneath the cooling slots which were a bit large and would allow chips to fall into the case.

I've been using my laptop to test the conversion and all seems to be working pretty well. I need to further configure Mach3 for optimal motor speeds etc. My CNC controller interface is USB rather than the old printer port style so I can use just about any PC to drive the controller. I just ordered all the components needed to assemble a NUC dedicated PC for the milling machine rather than use my laptop. The NUC has a very small footprint, about 5 by 5 inches. I’m installing a 120G SSD disk, 8G memory and a WiFi PCI card into it. I’ll be using a wireless keyboard and mouse and a 19” video screen. I plan to install Windoze 7 on it since I’m not ready to deal with Windoze 8 and any potential software problems at this time. So, I should be able to design parts on my laptop and then copy the G-Code files to the NUC in my shop via WiFi. I’m doing a similar process for my 3D printer which works pretty well. Will update this thread once I get the NUC assembled and running.

[hoss2006]

Awesome idea on the snap on covers!
Hoss

[Joe2014]

Thanks Hoss.

Just wanted to add a drawing of the printed chip guard if anyone is interested.

[Wiggles84]

Looking forward to see how the NUC performs for you. Might be the route I go if my old 05' era XP machine craps out.

I get to play with one this weekend at the in-laws, helping them set it up as an HTPC and cut the cable (money pit) service !

Which model did you end up getting?

Andrew

[Joe2014]

Hi Andrew,

I ordered the "Intel Next Unit of Computing Kit BOXD34010WYK1 (Black/White)" from Amazon, has an i3 dual core processor. Also ordered 120G SSD, 8G memory, WiFi PCI card, ASUS 19.5" Monitor, wireless keyboard & mouse and an OEM builder version of Windoze 7. Also ordered a cheap USB DVD drive to help the OS install. Could have built a small tower or bought a decent laptop for the same price but not as cool.

[Wiggles84]

Hope the SSD you ordered is the an mSATA style! That model NUC has the smaller case. While it has a SATA3 port on the board, there is now room in the case for an 2.5 SSD\HDD.

I hear what your saying on the price point, but why not get something cool. I mean your already putting together a CNC mill, something that most "normal people" are shocked can be done. Then show off the tiny PC that is running it.

I picked up a DELL Precision M6500 laptop refurbished from eBay for ~ $500
*i5 560M
*2 x 500GB HDD
*8 GB ram
*Quadro FX2800M
*Win 7 64\Pro

Should handle 2D\3D CAD and CAM easy enough.

Andrew

[Joe2014]

As mentioned in my previous post, I had ordered components to assemble a dedicated NUC (Intel’s Next Unit of Computing) PC for my mill. The NUC is a very small footprint PC, it measures about 5” by 5” by 1.5”. The NUC is typically purchased as a kit so you have to add memory, SSD and optional WiFi yourself which is very easy. The NUC has inbuilt HDMI video and audio and can connect direct to a network if you don't want to use WiFi. The NUC also has 4 USB ports. The NUC I purchased, D34010WYK1 has an Intel i3 dual core multithreaded processor but I think you can also get one with an i5 processor although the i3 seems more than capable of doing everything I want to do.

My mill controller is an AKZ250 PCB I purchased from AT and has a USB interface so I don’t have to have a PC with a printer port. The AKZ250 is intelligent and also does most of the mill positioning grunt work, generating step pulses etc. so the PC doesn't have to work very hard to drive the mill.

Below is a list of the components I purchased from Amazon to assemble the NUC system if anyone is interested. You don’t necessarily have to use the exact same components I used but I can verify the below items all work well together. All total I spent about $722.00 on the NUC system.

1. Intel Next Unit of Computing Kit BOXD34010WYK1 (Black/White)
2. Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3 - 12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory Modules CT2KIT51264BF160B
3. Crucial M500 120GB mSATA Internal Solid State Drive CT120M500SSD3
4. Intel Network 7260.HMWG WiFi Wireless-AC 7260 H/T Dual Band 2x2 AC+Bluetooth HMC
5. Logitech Wireless Desktop MK320 Combo
6. Asus VW199T-P 19-Inch LED Monitor w/inbuilt speakers
7. StarTech.com HDCDVIMM1M 1m Mini HDMI to DVI-D Cable 19 Pin HDMI (C) Male to DVI-D Male – 1920 x 1200 Video
8. Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit, System Builder OEM DVD 1 Pack (New Packaging)
9. AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Portable External DVD Optical Drive

If you use a different monitor than the one I used, keep in mind the monitor should have inbuilt speakers otherwise you will need to buy a set of separate speakers provided you want audio capability. The NUC video output is mini HDMI so you will most likely need some type of converter cable to match the monitor you use. I didn’t want a huge monitor and the smallest affordable one I could find was 19 inch with a DVI-D input so I purchased a mini HDMI to DVD-D converter cable. Since DVI-D doesn’t directly support audio, I have to use a separate audio cable from the NUC to the monitor. If you use an HDMI monitor with inbuilt speakers you won’t need the separate audio cable since the HDMI interface includes audio.

I also purchased the AmazonBasics USB DVD drive for about $32. The drive is not necessary but greatly simplifies loading the Windows OS from a DVD release disk. Without the DVD drive you will need to use a fairly high capacity USB memory stick preloaded from a working PC. The NUC is also Linux compatible if that’s your preferred OS.

The NUC was fairly easy to setup, installing the memory, SSD and WiFi controller was straight forward. Installing Windows via the USB DVD drive was easy, the NUC recognized the drive immediately and loaded Windows without any problems. Once loaded, the NUC boots Windows 7 in about 15 seconds and runs Mach3 without any noticeable problems. I've setup file sharing via WiFi so I can design parts on my laptop or desktop PC in the house and then copy the G-Code to the NUC which lives out in the shop.

Next project will be installing limit switches on the mill, I have several micro switches ordered and should receive them next week.

[Joe2014]

I finally received the micro switches I ordered several weeks ago to make the end stops on my Mill. After figuring out where to place the switches, I printed out several mounting brackets for the switches. The brackets are all very similar except the mounting ears are in different locations for each axis.

I also printed and assembled a Z Axis touch post which makes tool zeroing on the Z axis fairly simple after each tool change. When I first clamp a part or piece in the Mill vice, I run a custom Auto Tool Zero macro via the Mach3 button “Auto Tool Zero”. The macro first touches a small touch pad that I place on the surface of the part I have just clamped in the vise. After touching the pad, the macro sets the DRO to the height of the touch pad so the Z axis zero location is now the surface of the part. Then the macro positions the tool over the touch post, lowers the head and touches the pad on the post. The macro then saves the Z value of the touch post in an OEM variable.

I modified the tool change macros so when I do a tool change, my end tool change macro M6End positions over the touch post and measures the Z value of the touch post with the new tool installed. It then calculates the delta or change of the Z measurement with what was stored in the OEM variable and adds that delta to the DRO Z value, it also saves the new tool post Z value in the OEM variable. So now the Z home or part surface location value has been adjusted according to the new tool length without having to re-touch the surface of the part.

I've been having several problems with Mach3; The Peck Drill canned cycle does not always work properly, getting phantom Soft Limit warnings sometimes when I start a G Code file. Have also had Mach go bonkers a few times and ram into the end stops at a high rate of speed. Also was unable to readjust my Motor parameters yesterday until I reinstalled Mach3. Sure hope Mach4 gets rid of a lot of these weird bugs.

Not sure what my next project will be, either an air ratchet draw bar device or new Z axis spring loaded touch pads so I can touch them at a high speed and not worry about damaging anything. Currently the touch speed is very slooow to insure an accurate position sense without damaging the touch pad.

[kreutz]

Thank you for sharing details of your conversion, I also believe the NUC is going to be a good platform for Mach3 with independent CNC controller (but I would rather use an ethernet controller) . Keep on the good work and keep us updated.

kreutz