[jdurkin]

Hi All.

Learned a lot from you guys so firstly a big thank you.

I am totally a virgin newbie however have good confidence with the
machanical engineers background I have and also an IT wizzard.

This will either be a total success or end with an auction on ebay .haha
(im going as much lazy here on the conversion as i can)

Anyway R8 Mill landed today from SPG in the UK - so far all good.
Ordered a few TTS tooling from USA yesterday just for the sake of it.

Next to order:
Stepper Mounts - ebay
Screws and Nuts - ebay (after mounts landed)

This is going to take some but determined to do this right.
I get as many pics and videos up here and hopefully
will help newbies with my path here good and bad.

So clock in guys and say hello and Ill get this post active

[Rikk]

I thought you were posting up to say you'd finished

[jdurkin]

I thought you were posting up to say you'd finished

Think I put "new machine build" instead of "Build Thread"

so changed it, I guess thats why you thought it was a finnished one?
Unless im missing something?

[Rikk]

Wooosh parrot needed there, I was just joking

[jdurkin]

Wooosh parrot needed there, I was just joking

Id had a fews beers celebrating.
Ill be watchin you rikk, LOL

[digits]

Good luck with the conversion, and please post lots of pics

Can you get at the Y-screw from the back of the column on your mill, or will you have to hang the motor off the front?

[Rikk]

Don't forget if you use belts you can also mount the Y motor under the table, works a treat, no sticking out the front or having the mill a foot away from the wall with it sticking out the back



I so need to redo my motor mounts, ooh I'll just get them rough mounted up for now and I'll redo them straight away....didn't happen

[jdurkin]

Good luck with the conversion, and please post lots of pics

Can you get at the Y-screw from the back of the column on your mill, or will you have to hang the motor off the front?

Cheers.

No access to Y Screw from the back of mine.
I may be wrong but it looks like Hoss has drilled a hole the same size as the 4 bolt holes there directly in between the 2 top ones and a few mm up.
(Unless the G0704 has this already as not checked one out)
and uses a longer Y-Screw that sticks out ( i have his plans which are informative even for some extra insight)

Myself Im going down what they call the lazy route (I call it - get it converted as fast as I can and sod the extra cost) and mounting from front with:
Ebay item number: 270876010944
with bigger Z mount for a nema 34

Lots of PICs I agree and will do
Attached is the Mill Mounted on its stand.
Took 2 of us to lift firstly onto a hopup then onto stand (if you have a glass back dont do it)

The drip tray of the stand is loose and the Mill bolts through the top of the drip tray with 4 bolts to the stand. I threaded in 2 bolts to keep the drip tray aligned then lifted on and slid the mill locating holes to the bolts.
Simple stuff but a good tip.

[jdurkin]

Don't forget if you use belts you can also mount the Y motor under the table, works a treat, no sticking out the front or having the mill a foot away from the wall with it sticking out the back

Cheers rikk for the input, Yes I like a lot that config which I may do on my next conversion on a bigger mill which will be easier for me as Ill have a mill to do the work with (yes im counting my chickens but this is the plan for my business)

The post below shows the mounts Im getting for this one.

--Thanks for the post rikk - I guess were back mates !

[digits]

Don't forget if you use belts you can also mount the Y motor under the table, works a treat, no sticking out the front or having the mill a foot away from the wall with it sticking out the back



I so need to redo my motor mounts, ooh I'll just get them rough mounted up for now and I'll redo them straight away....didn't happen

I'm planning to do that on my '30 at some point - at the moment it's off to one side, and so the back the Y-motor could foul the X-motor mount at the extremes of X and Y travel. I just need to get some big I-beams or C-channel to jack the mill up 100mm or so above the stand.

[digits]

Cheers.

No access to Y Screw from the back of mine.
I may be wrong but it looks like Hoss has drilled a hole the same size as the 4 bolt holes there directly in between the 2 top ones and a few mm up.
(Unless the G0704 has this already as not checked one out)
and uses a longer Y-Screw that sticks out ( i have his plans which are informative even for some extra insight)

Myself Im going down what they call the lazy route (I call it - get it converted as fast as I can and sod the extra cost) and mounting from front with:
Ebay item number: 270876010944
with bigger Z mount for a nema 34

Lots of PICs I agree and will do
Attached is the Mill Mounted on its stand.
Took 2 of us to lift firstly onto a hopup then onto stand (if you have a glass back dont do it)

The drip tray of the stand is loose and the Mill bolts through the top of the drip tray with 4 bolts to the stand. I threaded in 2 bolts to keep the drip tray aligned then lifted on and slid the mill locating holes to the bolts.
Simple stuff but a good tip.

Those look pretty nice mounts if they fit - there certainly seems to be some variation in the castings between the various '30 clones - I don't think I could swap mounts with Longrat's machine or a real Opti-BF30...

Also mind your crown jewls on that Y-motor - it will right in the way sticking out the front!

[Rikk]

Took 2 of us to lift firstly onto a hopup then onto stand (if you have a glass back dont do it)

I asked a couple of friends over "to help me get something up the stairs" (I live in a 1st floor flat) ended up taking 2 friends + one of their sons who came along for the ride(he won't do that again) + a neighbour to get it up, sometimes being disabled is handy as I just stood watching looking all pathetic

[jdurkin]

Im glad I never got the size up for my first machine Rikk as it shocked me the weight for such a small mill

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spindle break-in
Not sure how these machines are set-up and no info on Spindle break-in in the manual.

From what I know I think the USA G0704's have it in there instructions but not on this one from SPG in the UK?

Done it anyway on first run as back in the day when I was a Vauxhall Mechanic all the boss's used to run-in there engines on there new cars.
Basically X amount of miles no higher than X revs then X amount no higher than X and so forth.
And Im telling you what the first time I drove one of there cars my jaw dropped with the amount of torque, speed and acceleration they had against the same spec cars I was driving that day.

So here what I done all at High Speed:

600 rpm for 10 minutes
1000 RPM for 10 minutes
Full rpm for 10 minutes (got 1168 rpm with no red hot motor as Ive seen reported)
1000 RPM for 10 minutes - IN REVERSE



No harm HEH

[arizonavideo]

On my Weiss 30 it took forever for the head to break in and start running cooler.

After you do the pre break in I would run it at 1000 RPM for half a day checking that it is not too hot. It will take even long before it start too run a fair bit cooler.

[jdurkin]

On my Weiss 30 it took forever for the head to break in and start running cooler.

After you do the pre break in I would run it at 1000 RPM for half a day checking that it is not too hot. It will take even long before it start too run a fair bit cooler.

Cheers

[jdurkin]

Hi Guys

Latest update:

Got PDF off billy to check hole patterns on his mounts for my mill
Will check over weekend and hopefully make the purchase
Grizzly G0704 Mill BF20 CNC Conversion Kit Mounts | eBay

Started to purchase tooling etc (had nothing to start with) which got me thinking !!
For someone doing a first CNC Conversion like me its taken me an age
to gather all the info from the many great posts here and organise them
for future reference in my bookmarks and find the suppliers (and bookmark them) for the parts and tooling etc.

Ive not come across yet a build on here listing all purchases for there build with costs, suppliers etc

A post with this would have been the icing on the cake with such a comprehensive list - even just for guide purposes?

So to give back here for all the help Ive had so far Ive started a Spreadsheet
that will end up listing every item Ive purchased that may help newbies and also give them an idea of the actual costs of such a ventutre.

The speadsheet includes , product, supplier, link to product on there website and cost.

Im based in the UK however my buying will be from where I think best.

Tell us what ye think chaps and if this helps Ill upload regularly after a few purchases or a critical purchase for my build, Ill name the file with the date of current update.

[digits]

I think you'll enjoy that TTS tooling - I really like mine already. I would highly recommend you get their touch-off tool too - it's a lot nicer taking a z-reading off the stock with a spindle mounted indicator than jogging a tool down against a shim on the stock...

If you're completely tool-less, you probably need to invest in a height gauge and small surface plate (unless you already bought Tormach's ones).

I didn't get my drill-chucks from the US, but I did buy the arbors from Tormach - I reckoned I'd end up paying more in shipping even if they seem cheaper to start with, and they are off the shelf items...

Good luck with your conversion - and please keep posting pics! Cheers.

[Rikk]

Just wire up a touch off plate(single wire and some circuit board), pop it on top of the stock and using a macro or if it's built into the screenset your using, click a button and it drops and auto sets the Z zero.

you can use that and one fixed plate to use master tool mode and it will auto set the height of each tool as you change them.

[jdurkin]

I think you'll enjoy that TTS tooling - I really like mine already. I would highly recommend you get their touch-off tool too - it's a lot nicer taking a z-reading off the stock with a spindle mounted indicator than jogging a tool down against a shim on the stock...

If you're completely tool-less, you probably need to invest in a height gauge and small surface plate (unless you already bought Tormach's ones).

Did you get the Mechanical or digital touch off?

What height gauge do you have mate?

Cheers

[jdurkin]

Just wire up a touch off plate(single wire and some circuit board), pop it on top of the stock and using a macro or if it's built into the screenset your using, click a button and it drops and auto sets the Z zero.

you can use that and one fixed plate to use master tool mode and it will auto set the height of each tool as you change them.

Ill look into that too when im setup - cheers