I bought my Little Machine Shop HiTorque Mini Mill on 11/15/2010 and used it immediately making some parts that I have been having trouble finding. I thought this is great as long as I only need to make straight cuts. So I began investigating what it would take to convert this little mill to CNC. I was surprised to find that it involved little more than buying the parts from a couple of companies and less than a month later I’m making chips!
On December 12, 2010 I ordered the Kit #4 (with the LMS Upgrade + Preloaded ball screws) from CNC Fusion. The next day I ordered the Monster Kit (three 400 oz steppers) from Probotix. The Kit from Probotix arrived about three days after I ordered it! The parts from CNC Fusion took 16 days which was pretty darned fast since they are made to order and it was Christmas time. I also had to collect miscellaneous parts like a box to house the electronics, fuse holders, stand-offs and mounting screws, etc.
I decided to replace the plastic electronics box that came with the mill with a larger aluminum box (12” x 12” x 3”) that would hold everything. I mounted a 90mm 120v box fan on the rear of the case to keep it cool inside and wired the new power supply and the fan up to the switch in the mill so everything is controlled by one switch. I was able to find the same black plastic conduit as the mill comes with but finding the same connectors proved impossible. Chris Wood at LMS said that he has them on order from China so I will replace the six non matching connectors when the nicer ones arrive.
I also provided space for a CNC controlled 4th axis which I will be adding very soon. I still haven’t decided on which unit to purchase.
I have a very small shop area (4’ x 10’) so every inch counts as you can see by the photo there is probably no flood cooling system in my future. You can see part of my Harbor Freight 7 x 10 lathe to the right of the mill. That was the first mini machine that I acquired and I found it at a garage sale. The guy selling it thought it was broken, but it only needed a tune-up, so I paid almost nothing for it.
This machine building project was so much fun that I am getting ready to build another one for a friend!
Major components used:
- Little Machine Shop HiTorque Mini Mill
- CNC Fusion Kit #4
- 3-Axis Monster Stepper Motor Driver Kit (three 400 oz steppers)