SX2p mill gas struts

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

I've been trying to find the Thread on a gas strut for the sx2p mill, I've seen it, and a manufactures address was given with the best strut for the mill.

Any help please

Bob.

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

**LINK**

some info here

mike

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Hi Bob,

If you go into search and look for Another new mill by Martin Shaw you will find the thread, scroll down and find the post by Geoff Walker, he gives the supplier and strut part number.

I fitted one to my SX2P it makes a world of difference.

Ron

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

I made a gas strut assembly to go inside the column, photo in my album. Been fitted and working for probably 18 months now. I think the struts were 6mm rod.

[Dennis DParticipant @dennisd]

Check out this video **LINK**

Dennis

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Bob, I forgot to say that you need to consider that when you fit a gas strut the size of which most do (including me) you will find that you lose a good 50-60mm of head travel at the bottom of the column. This is because the strut bottoms out holding the head short of its full travel.

In most situations its not a problem but if the workpiece is shallow and fastened directly to the table you can find that the tooling falls short of the work especially the smaller tooling. You can of course pack up the workpiece from the table buts its worth keeping in mind. I,ve not given it much thought but I guess a strut with longer travel could be the answer but it would mean an extension fixing bracket fixed to the head (a bit like the one in Dennis,s video) that extends up above the head probably by around a 100mm.

Ron

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Thanks for the replies,

The video, he calls for G56 15 220 260, on the thread,Another new mill its G56 15 220 250, any idea of the difference.

Bob.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

If you look at the specs of examples, the 250/260 refers to the cylinder length.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

15 = Body diameter

220=stroke

260= body length

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Hi Bob,

Re the loss of head travel with the fitting of the gas strut, I have attached a picture of the head at its lowest position with the gas strut at the end of its stroke. It shows a 4mm std length tool fitted via a finger collet and as you can see its some way above the table, 50mm in fact. A 10mm std tool is 35 mm above and even a 10mm long series would be 15mm above.

As I mentioned previously its not a problem if the work piece is vice mounted or packed up from the table plus I would imagine it would be just about ok with a collet chuck. I used the 220-250 strut as recommended which has a 220mm stroke but I see on the SGS website the 6mm struts are also available with a 240, 260 and 300mm stroke.

I have only roughed it out in my head but it could be worth having a measure up i.e. head travel top to bottom, mounting positions for the strut top and bottom and required stroke length. It would mean an extension bracket that gives a mounting position above the head but that would be easy to do.

Just thought I would mention it in case you would prefer to keep the full travel of the head, I am going to look into changing the strut on mine.

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Hi Bob,

Should it be of interest and assuming my calculations are correct a gas strut with a 300mm stroke will give the spindle full travel from top of the column down to the table. It would mean an extension bracket that sits above the head but easy to do.

I am going to order a 300mm strut, will let you know how it works out.

Ron

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

I will order a 260mm today Ron, as I will be happy for the gap between bed and collet.

But thanks all for the replies.

Bob.

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

I thought ordering this gas strut was going to be a simple task. When trying to order on SGS a newton force is needed, I asked the sales rep, but not very helpful.

I thought that G56 15 220 260 was all that was needed, help needed please.

Bob.

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

If you take the weight of the head assembly in kilograms multiplied by Gravity ( 9.81m/s2 ) that will give you the Newton figure needed….

I think its in the 300-400 N region if I remember when I did mine…

Got my strut from Struts Direct…it was nitrogen filled, was just a matter of letting out some of the nitrogen to get the strut set just right…not an exact scientific approach but worked….

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

On my SX2P, 3MT, I weighed the head at around 15kg. I used two GS6-160-200 at £16 each. The assembly was made with the rods pointed down as required.

[geoff walker 1Participant @geoffwalker1]

Hi John

I used 120n on mine which easily supports the head and doesn't offer too much resistance

Geoff

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Thanks for the replies.

On the video link a question was asked on what force was used and 150n was given, John used 300n to 400n,and Geoff used 120n.

It seems that the newton force is more important than actual size needed of the strut, you can measure the strut needed for whatever with a tape rule.

Bob.

[ZebethyalParticipant @zebethyal]

I have a 500mm (210mm stroke) 15kg (33lb) gas spring on my SX2, bought for about £13.00 on Ebay, this allows full travel and has been mounted on both tilting and fixed column variants of my mill.

You can see it here sat alongside my Z axis scale when the mill still had a tilting column

and again with a fixed column

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Hi Bob,

Like Geoff I also went with 120N which on my machine has left the head feeling nicely balanced. It feels the same both up and down and the feel I find just about right, not too heavy or too light.

Ron

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

I fitted the gas strut 150n, Its ok I can tap 2mm with out power on just using the balance of the strut, but 120n I think would of been better. They are cheap enough so would consider 120n for a swap later, I would recommend any SX2p owner to fit one, I've used the spring set up for three years now, I should of fitted the strut when I brought the mill, It would of made so much difference.

Bob.

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