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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Benchtop Machines > just another 45 build thread
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    670

    just another 45 build thread

    So after about 6 years I think i finally outgrew my little Taig mill. So early in November 2012 I shopped around and settled on a shiny new PM-30LV. It had the travel that I wanted at a price my wallet could swallow so out went the credit card, and I pre ordered the mill (getting me 5% off and free liftgate service to my house). Sweet!

    Weeks went by of giddy anticipation...

    and by...

    so I finally called up PM to see where we stood. "end of the month (December) you'll see it".... A week into January I call them back up mill-less..."Oh they are getting ready to ship from China right now, should only be a few more weeks"...Mid Febuary I call back up. "well the supplier in china is having problems with the motors they put on them, we're not getting them in anytime soon. But we can upgrade you to a PM-45M for free"...YES, sign me up...The following week I had a container tracking number so I could watch my beauty fair the open sea and land in California. Then one glorious day mid March....


    which was instantly followed by:


    so I could make this:

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    670
    stock for all the end supports came in:


    and I've started machining them already. Taig will make this project so much easier. Here she is squaring up the blocks:


    and turning the bearing holders on my Rockwell (logan) 200 lathe:

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    605
    That motor mounting plate on the Y axis will likely interfere with the saddle at the full forward position.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    2141
    Slightly OT, but I might try to hoist my PM-45M onto the stand tomorrow.

    I'm pretty sure that I've seen pictures of how others arranged their straps in order to lift it (under the base, maybe? But I don't remember where I've seen them.), but I'm wondering whether you lifted yours, and if so, how (or whether you simply disassembled it when it was sitting on the pallet in preparation for converting it)...

    I have a Harbor Freight 2-ton shop crane (with folding legs) that I will use for the lift, and I guess that it will be necessary to chop away some of the pallet in order to fit the legs around the mill base.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    670
    Quote Originally Posted by jid2 View Post
    That motor mounting plate on the Y axis will likely interfere with the saddle at the full forward position.
    The y axis bracket isn't fully modeled but it's angled down far enough so the saddle will clear it.

    I disassbled it right on the pallet, and ill likely reassemble on the stand.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    670
    So I blatantly stole the X-axis ballnut design from jid2 (awesome build BTW), and sunk the bearing block into the saddle so I can have the full travel with a 20mm ballscrew.


    also added oil groves as, like everyone else, I plan on running an oiler.



    Also, side topic...I saw an add today for the MicroKenetics mill, which looks the be the exact same thing as the PM-45's, but they claim 12" of Y travel. Does anyone know if they did modifications to the base to achieve this?
    CNC Milling Machine - CNC EXpress Mill

  7. #7
    It looks like an IH clone like the mtw clone.
    https://www.machinetoolswarehouse.co...cat=253&page=1
    It's a bigger animal.
    Compare the Express SQ (typical rf45) to the XL, the column is bigger and the base is different/longer.
    Hoss
    http://www.hossmachine.info - Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here. - Roy Batty -- http://www.g0704.com - http://www.bf20.com - http://www.g0602.com

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    670
    yup, that would make sense. Has anyone you know of done anything to extend the Y axis travel on the RF45 type mills?

    switching gears again, Is there a reason people don't mount their encoders directly to the ballscrew? I've ordered my ballscrews with a bit of meat on the end with the intention of attaching the encoder to it to reduce any error introduced by the pulley and belt drive from the servo. It seems like a trivial amount of extra work, but I haven't seen any builds that implement it.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by CS900 View Post
    yup, that would make sense. Has anyone you know of done anything to extend the Y axis travel on the RF45 type mills?
    Check gdmarsh's great build thread, pretty sure he did.
    Hoss
    http://www.hossmachine.info - Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here. - Roy Batty -- http://www.g0704.com - http://www.bf20.com - http://www.g0602.com

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    0
    Quote Originally Posted by CS900 View Post
    Has anyone you know of done anything to extend the Y axis travel on the RF45 type mills?
    I doubt you're interested but using an external ballscrew allowed me to slide my y axis out as farther. If someone would remind me of the stock y travel and I could measure the difference.

  11. #11
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    it's advertised as 8", but I didn't measure it before I torn into it.

    gdmarsh is got a nice build going, although I'm not sure I'm ready to go crazy relocating the column quite yet. I guess I'll be happy with what I've got for now

  12. #12
    That's what my zx45 was advertised for but I could get 9.5 inches manually with the bellows removed on the stock mill.
    Would use a different type of bellows.
    Hoss
    http://www.hossmachine.info - Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here. - Roy Batty -- http://www.g0704.com - http://www.bf20.com - http://www.g0602.com

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    509
    [QUOTE=CS900;1257713
    switching gears again, Is there a reason people don't mount their encoders directly to the ballscrew? I've ordered my ballscrews with a bit of meat on the end with the intention of attaching the encoder to it to reduce any error introduced by the pulley and belt drive from the servo. It seems like a trivial amount of extra work, but I haven't seen any builds that implement it.[/QUOTE]

    Industrial Hobbies put their encoders on the screws. There are advantages and disadvantages, just like everything else. A disadvantage is the servo could dither more trying to find its happy place if there is any amount of flex in the connection between the servo and the ballscrew - either the mounts, the belt or even the servo shaft and bearing. This shouldn't be a problem but just so you know....Also, with the encoder on the ballscrew you usually need to run a much higher count encoder (basically whatever the multiplier is between the servo and ballscrew ie 2 to 4 times higher to get the same resolution. So where a 512 PPR encoder is good on a servo a 2048 PPR is equivalent on a ballscrew with a 4:1 reduction from the servo. Again this isn't much of an issue if using an encoder that can be configured for different PPR like the AMT103-V by CUI....

    Mike

  14. #14
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    Aug 2006
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    670
    Well I happen to be running the AMT103s, so I should be good to go. Thanks for the info.

    Fixed end bearing blocks are done, just need the darn ballscrews to show up so I can double check all me dims before I go making the ballnut mounts.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by CS900 View Post
    it's advertised as 8", but I didn't measure it before I torn into it.

    gdmarsh is got a nice build going, although I'm not sure I'm ready to go crazy relocating the column quite yet. I guess I'll be happy with what I've got for now
    Out of curiosity, I just measured my Y travel and it's only 7.7 inches, and that's after extending it with an external ballscrew. I'm guessing my actual y travel was less than 7 inches stock.

  16. #16
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    Aug 2006
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    670
    well that's a bit depressing. One of the reasons I wanted the PM-30LV was for the longer Y travel....maybe I will need to get a little nuts as well...

  17. #17
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    Jan 2010
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    251
    Quote Originally Posted by CS900 View Post
    well that's a bit depressing. One of the reasons I wanted the PM-30LV was for the longer Y travel....maybe I will need to get a little nuts as well...
    looks to me like you have the pm45 don't you? jones has a similar rf45 clone which most people get 8-9 inches of travel. jones needs to rethink his design to something more conventional that allows full travel.

  18. #18
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    Aug 2006
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    Yes sir, it's the pm45m that they sent me.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
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    469
    Yeah, you should be able to get at least 8" of Y travel. It's possible to get more by cutting bits of the base casting, just takes more planning, better way covers, etc..

  20. #20
    Here's the video that shows the y travel I mentioned before.
    Watch it to the end.
    Hoss

    http://www.hossmachine.info - Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here. - Roy Batty -- http://www.g0704.com - http://www.bf20.com - http://www.g0602.com

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