I know. I know. There are a ton of G0704 builds on here, some are incredibly well done! I thought I'd share my build as I'm coming at this from the standpoint of having absolutely zero background in the practice of machining. I've always been fascinated by the dark art of the Machinist but I always felt it was outside my abilities. I'm trained as an architect so I work with ideal situations and abstract concepts all day. The practicalities and realities of machining are very interesting and new to me. I picked up a G0704 mill last August (2013) but between a move to a new house, a new job and a 2 year old I'm just now getting to the build. Below are some shots of the small sliver of space I have carved out for my "shop" (don't laugh).
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I have been using the mill off and on for the past year and it definitely worked out of the box but the finish and accuracy was all over the map. The Z axis was very hard to crank and would stick at certain points. I could never get the head trimmed properly, there were just some weird geometries going on. Enough is enough, it's time to tear down and see what shape things are in. Disassembly of the x and y axis was straight forward and I potted with Prussian blue on my surface plate. Yikes...
Y Axis on the saddle.
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Y Axis Gib, only a few points of contact.
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X Axis on the saddle appears to be warped.
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X Axis Gib
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Table ways, these were rediculous! I need to order a larger surface plate (only have a 12x18) to do a proper spotting and measurement but first glance shows that on one side there is only a 1" x 1/8" zone of contact! On the other side there is a very thin knife edge that is running down the table.
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At the very end of the table bearing surface there is a 1/2" patch of raw casting. This won't ever impact the function of the machine but is still representative of the quality of the castings.
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The ways on the bed looked like the teeth of a file. These surfaces were not ground, just raw milled and left "gud 'nuf". Like I said, I'm no expert in these machines but I'm pretty sure that this surface shouldn't double as a nail file.
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The gib bearing surface on the bed has serious gouges in it.
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In fact, the only things that were "scraped" were the gibs and the Z saddle / head surface. The Z column has the same nail file finish.
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I have a lot of scraping in my future to say the least. I will tackle this in little bites as time permits. Bear with me as I'm sure to have questions and this is going to take some time. The next couple of steps I want to tackle in their week or two are:
-Measure for any warp / twist in the ways.
-Mill / scrape a dovetail straight edge.
You will probably see techniques borrowed from Hoss and Ryan's G0704 builds (and others) so I will try to make sure I give credit and link to resources when I can. The build will come in phases from basic to more advanced as I become more familiar with the techniques and technologies involved (not to mention cash and time).
Thanks and stay tuned!