[Whizbang]

I am wondering if I could get a little advice here from the community. I am a mechanical engineering student set to graduate in May. I have recently become very interested in machining. I have found every possible excuse to get into the labs to work on the bridgeports. I am very experienced in rapid prototyping; I have built 3 machines, from various reprap repositiories as well as currently pushing my own design out to the opensource community soon. I also built a cnc router ( FLA-100) with a few modifications. While the cnc router is nice for making things out of wood and acrylic it is limited to soft materials. this is my dilemma. I would love to sell my cnc router and replace it with a bench top cnc mill. I have read literally every page on hossmachine. info and also cnccookbook. com. I started with these because I found a zx45 mill on ebay and upon googling zx45 came across both of these sites. I am very interested in the IHturn key system and also the MTW clone, because the size of the bed(39"x8") gives me a lot of room for any project I can throw at it. Because my fiance and I are just getting out of school I dont have a ton of money or a huge garage to put a large mill like a bridgeport in. I have been influenced by reading that IH is a little slow at best for getting equipment and so I am looking more and more at MTW. My question to the community is are there any other machines similar to these that are reasonablly priced? Also is there a print set much like hoss2006's x2freak and g704 that I could buy and make a manual mill from MTW to a cnc? I know that Bob Warfield has documented converting his IH manual to cnc but he has years of experience over me, plus I'm finding that most hobby cnc users have a machine they can fall back on while modding another, but I will not have this option because my buget will only allow for one mill.... for now .
Thank you in advance for reading this, I appreciate any feedback you may have.

-Whizbang

[jid2]

Now that you're here you have some reading to do. Search for RF-45, tons of threads on builds.

There are no plans for RF-45's, everyone (brand) is different enough to make universal conversion schemes not work. The MTW's are nice with the larger travels, if I could have fit them in my corner I would have. But I'm squeezing in my PM-45 with 9" of Y as oppossed to the 12" of the WTW MD001.

If you want turnkey I'd go Tormach. If you do a full bells and whistle conversion with servos, a nice stand, belt drive, enclosure and flood coolant you will be within a couple thousand dollars of what a Tormach costs and 100's of hours in labor.

Things to think about.

[Whizbang]

jid2, thanks for the advice. I am interested in the 45 style mill I am almost 100% sure that I will be getting the MTW 45 so I am hoping some members get theirs done first and can share there process with me. My other concern is I would like to be able to run this mill in both cnc and manual mode so I believe I will need dual shaft servos, I know that they make dual shaft stepper motor but haven't found too many servos. it this wont work my plan is to get the MTW45 and then to get a used grizzly 704 and do a HOSS conversion, and just leave the 45 as a manual. I really enjoy manual work on a mill, but some features are just better to cnc.

[gd.marsh]

Whiz,

If you do choose a 45 .. you won't regret it unless room is very tight.

There are guys who have made the necessary parts to convert their machine on the machine. The biggest problem with that is when it comes to fitting.

You wind up having to take the machine apart & put it all back together several times & I can tell you on a 45 that's not a lot of fun. Those pieces are not quite as easy to shlepp around as X2 or 0704 parts are.

If you're proficient with 3D CAD you could dis-assemble the mill for a good cleaning when it arrives (recommended if you plan to use it manually for a while) While it's apart carefully measure each piece. Then model the whole thing in 3D for designing your conversion parts. You might still need a few minor adjustments when putting it all together, but that could probably be handled with files if your making things out of aluminum.

As for both manual & CNC machining .. forget about it.
Most start out with that idea but once you convert to ballscrews the hand cranks will be almost worthless .. unless you want to install digital hand cranks. Making simple cuts is still very easy to do with a CNC machine using MDI & programing one move at a time.

My 45 conversion has taken me 2 yrs. so far, but I'm in pretty deep as far as mods & don't have that much time to work on it. Getting close though!

Best wishes on your project .. just for the record - it's quite addicting!

Gary

[Whizbang]

Thanks for the insight Gary. I am having second thoughts of whether to cnc the md001 45 or the g704. I thought the 45 would be great for manual work because of its rigidity, but at the same time why not use it as a cnc because of it bigger work envelope. I would then use the g704 as a manual machine it just seems like a manual machine would be quicker for squaring up block and what not. I am wondering if anyone with a MD001 would be willing to share their plans with me so i could start making them now while I still have access to the labs and cnc here on campus that way when i get my md001 I can hit the ground running. I also would be interested to know if cnczone has a fourm or stat thread that lets others share where about they live. so others can find them and provide any help for novices. I and in the southeastern Michigan / northwestern Ohio region between Detroit and Toledo and would love to find some one with a little more experience that i could bounce ideas off of

[Whizbang]

sorry double post

[arizonavideo]

It is fairly easy to CNC a RF-45 or any of the others but the 704 is really tight.

The thing is their is just a good amount of little things that all take time and need to be right.

You will be learning most everything all at one. In you case you may be good at CAD already but CAM may still be new, or electronics or the milling processes.

One machine is fine but two is always better. I have a IH CNC but I often will do a second op on the manual machine. I did all my CNC conversion parts with the Rf-31 and a belt sander and chop saw.

I would get a really cheep mill like a used Rf-31, they make a great drill press and mill just fine if you take it easy. Re sale is good to. You will spend about $500 to $600 for it. It will allow you to start making parts right then and get the feel for it all and start collecting tools. You will end up spending way more money than you may think buying good tools in the long run.

Then pick out the machine to CNC. If you don't plan on doing big parts the G0704 or Weiss 30LV are nice. The 30 will have longer travels than the RF31 and the same as the smallest RF-45 and it looks so much smaller but it is only 20 pounds lighter than the RF-31 and is a fair amount stiffer. The 30 is not in the same class as a IH mill.

CNC the X and X of the new machine and then use it to make the Z parts. Do the Z feed by hand.

Unless room or cash limits you is will make things fairly easy.

Just tell us all when you drop the belt hood on your fingers changing the speeds on the RF-31 for the last time.

Have fun

Dave