Milling Machine Upgrade

[Steve Lewington]

Good evening all

Over the past few months I have been thinking about a new milling machine with a DRO and spindle readout but could not justify the cost as my SEIG super X2 PLUS is in good working order.
So a few weeks ago I remembered a good article in one of my engineering mags by a very talented engineer named Howard Winwood.
So I made lots of notes and put them in my maybe file for latter use so that latter is now.
I started by fitting angle eyes (e-bay} under the spindle powered by a 12 v wall plug.
Next a spindle speed readout by fitting a Hall Effect Sensor (e-bay) to the top of the head by using a very simple bracket and a magnet to the top of the spindle.
Next job was to remove the head spring locking the head at its high point first and replacing this with a 500mm Gus Strut part number GS6-15-220-260 from SGS Engineering UK Ltd.
Last of all was the DRO on the X,Y,and Z axis for these I brought three 300mm/ 12 inch digital readout bars with remote display from (arc euro trade).
The photos pretty much show everything I done.
Next job is to start my ZD KFZ 251 build.
Take care all and stay safe.
Steve

[Phil Woollard]

Lovely upgrade mate!

[Gian Marco Menozzi]

HI,
good job,
can you give me some more information on:
the DRO on the X, Y, and Z axis for these I brought three 300mm / 12 inch digital readout bars with remote display from (arc euro trade).
cost where you bought them,
I would like to mount them on my lathe.
Thank you
Marco

[Steve Lewington]

Hi Phil
Thank you for the lovely comment mate.

Hi Gian
The readout bars were £44.22 each.
The whole upgrade cost less than £150.
Here is the link to the web page of Arc euro trade.
https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogu ... te-Display
I hope this is helpful to you
If you require any more information / help then please do not hesitate to PM me.
Take care and keep safe

Steve

[David Battson]

Hi Steve,
Nice job, DROs are are a really worthwhile upgrade for any machine . Before using, can I suggest you make up some covers for the slides to stop swarf collecting and throwing out the readings.
David

[Gian Marco Menozzi]

HI,
Thanks for the answer Steve,
really interesting and at a good price
Marco

[Steve Lewington]

Hi Gian
Your very welcome.

Steve

[Steve Lewington]

Hi David
Thank you for the constructive comment I was thinking the same thing so your comment was the deciding factor.
I put the guards on the X and Y axis only the Z axis is set back slightly so hopefully it will not require one.
I popped into B & Q and picked up some 30mm cheep plastic angle all of £3.
A nice simple cheep fix to the problem if it works OK then I will replace them with aluminium angle.
Take care and stay safe

Regards Steve