NuTools Md350m head rotation help

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

Yes, I think they are a good machine – when I bought mine there seemed to be endless articles and videos dedicated to highlighting their deficiencies and providing increasingly complex ‘solutions’ to this perceived problem; some years later, I still haven’t found myself troubled enough by it to bother implementing any of them..

I did quickly discover that a decent edge-finder was a great benefit for relatively little outlay.

Nice Amolco!

 

 

i too have one of these machines i soon got used to it and found the round colloum  “problem”to be all in my head. no need to drill the machine to fix a lazer just glue the thing in place

[martin haysom]

On martin haysom Said:

On Diogenes Said:

Yes, I think they are a good machine – when I bought mine there seemed to be endless articles and videos dedicated to highlighting their deficiencies and providing increasingly complex ‘solutions’ to this perceived problem; some years later, I still haven’t found myself troubled enough by it to bother implementing any of them..

I did quickly discover that a decent edge-finder was a great benefit for relatively little outlay.

Nice Amolco!

 

 

i too have one of these machines i soon got used to it and found the round colloum  “problem”to be all in my head. no need to drill the machine to fix a lazer just glue the thing in place

Not everybody will have the length of shop, or a clear path to the other side of the shop to have the distance to get good enough precision.

Honestly, the ‘longest tool’ technique as talked about by That Lazy Machinist seems the best ‘no major mods’ solution.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

..it’s kind of a ‘non-problem’ – ‘picking-up’ a feature on a part is a pretty fundamental skill, whatever machine one has.

 

 

 

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

..it’s kind of a ‘non-problem’ – ‘picking-up’ a feature on a part is a pretty fundamental skill, whatever machine one has.

 

 

 

Yep, if you have a reference zero, you can always get back where you were, even if you had to move the head up or down.

That said, Z moves can often be avoided with the longest tool technique, which is just a fancy name for planning ahead.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I’ve only speed read the above replies, but haven’t seen my proposed solution to the issue, as I also currently lack the line of sight to a wall for the laser in my current setup for the Dore Westbury.
I will go down that route eventually.
Height Gauge makers go to great lengths to ensure the column is vertical with respect to the base.
My plan is to use a height gauge on the mill’s table when required, with any easily removable clamp.
On the sliding part, affix a suitable DTI/Clock.

Set it to impinge on a particular vertical flat bit of the mills head.
Raise/lower the head to the required position, slide the DTI up or down  the column, and then reposition the head accordingly.
A cheap height gauge off ebay won’t break the bank, and if it comes with enough bits, it will have other uses anyway.

Also, don’t discount the possibility of swinging the head about the column during a machining operation.
I occasionally do that with the DW mill, when table traverse is too short to accommodate the job.

Bill

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Not the best of photos, but I nipped out to the garage with the phone as a camera, just in case my explanation above isn’t clear.
I will make a bracket, so the height gauge is turned through 90°

Swing head away from a zero’d DTI, raise head, raise height gauge, swing head back.

Bill

[trevor gettyParticipant @trevor-getty]

Southern chap

thanks for the links to the Canadian you tube videos,  I have watched some of his content or blondihacks also as both of them are great.  Ill catch up now I see the RF mill is a similar setup or clone on his opinions on it.

 

Peak4

I totally understand your proposal and was looking at similar but using a drill rod as they are super cheap and straight.  And then use a dti against it to dial it back in.  But I think if it’s to pick up a feature again having a little locating hole on table or vice that you can use to realign to afterwards, between that and maybe using the edge finder which is very close it could probably deal with 99.9 percent of feature work where I did need to move.

The small cases where I work on small clock wheels or accurate parts, z travel isn’t an option as even spindle extension can cause issues. So they just all get done in the same close up setup.

 

For now all of the above are great options especially the ones at length from the column to give better accuracy.

Thanks everyone for your input, and I’ve got my immediate answer which is don’t change within a given setup.

Short term I am also fixing the rack to the column as it simply allows a stupid amount of ration for any head move and stopping this will actually help my z travel by another and hopefully with only a very small deviation.

If the rotation is important I can then decide if it’s a part that I am happy simply to pick up the vice edge or drilled hole on, or do I need more accuracy.

Most cases I will be happy to edge find or pick up the hole I’m usually accurate enough doing this as I still have no vice stop, so I hole find regularly enough lol.

Otherwise for edge cases the entire list gives me loads of simple solutions that can be setup in minutes and allow the head move without a permanent solution that needs fixing to the mill.

 

Thanks again to everyone for pictures, welcoming support and participation in this request.

[trevor gettyParticipant @trevor-getty]

Ps.  I wish I had not got auto correct turned on, as typing messages on the mobile leads to some very dodgy English corrections happening above.

Sorry.

 

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