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Installing iGaging Scales to the Wabeco F1200 - Z Axis

17/11/2012

7 Comments

 
It was in July this year that I installed the scale on X axis and that was many months after I purchased the sets of scales.  I've been thinking about how to mount the scale on Z axis without drilling and tapping on any part of the mill.  This is mainly due to my lack of confident in accomplishing what many think as an easy task.

I ran across a YouTube video posted by rjkflyer sometime ago and decided to roughly follow what he did to his Wabeco F1200 mill.  His video can be found here: http://youtu.be/2z_xZFiNa14.

First order of the day is to find a way to mount the base of the scale.  This one is simple, I merely make a piece of 5mm thick aluminium plate with 2 clearance holes for the M4 screws to mount the plate on and a M4 hole to hold the scale.
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The simplest part to make.

The challenge I faced when finding a way to attached the reading head to the spindle saddle is the availability of suitable brackets.   I contemplated buying a sheet metal bending brake to make my own but there are none available locally that is small enough for my already congested shop.  Harbor Freight in US sells an 8" version which is what I need at USD199.  But the shipping cost too much as the bending brake is rather heavy.   In the end, I settle on fabricating my own from a piece of aluminium. 
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The closest aluminium plate I can find in my box is this 13mm piece.  It is too small to clamp on the bandsaw to cut it to near required size.  A long piece of square stock and the machinist jack help were employed to hold it properly during sawing.

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Facing the plate to required thickness of 10mm.  I've been looking for opportunity to use the facemill.  Since I've quite some meat to remove after clean up the first side, I put all all the 4 inserts to see if it works for me in this configuration.

Sad to say it didn't.  The surface finish sucks!  I tried different speed, feed, and used WD40 as lubrication.  Nothing works.  1 piece of insert came off at a time and rather sad to say that I'm back to 1 insert on it.

The DOC tried were 0.1mm, 0.2mm, and 0.25mm.  The mill has an MT2 spindle bore.  If anyone has success in using this with all 4 inserts on , let me know please.

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This is from using 3 inserts.  The surface is not even.

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This is from using 2 inserts. Almost the same as when I was using 3 inserts.

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Back to 1 insert.  Better.  With WD40 and at faster speed, I achieved good finishes than what you see here.

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Took me a long time to get to the dimension I want.

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Milling off the area that the reading head will be mounted on to.  This is about 2mm thick, just before the last pass to bring it down to 1.5mm (so that I can reuse the M3 screws that came with the scales).

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This was the scary moment.  I was left with a couple of hair before hitting the vise jaws.

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The basic shape done.  Time for mounting holes.

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But before that, I did a dry fitting to also mark the mounting holes for the reading head (the black box with the wire sticking out of).

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The 2 M4 holes from factory.  Thanks to emcomachineTools.co.uk, I found all the mounting holes dimensions and distance.

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Running an indicator along the edge of the scale.  

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Took me a while to get it to within 0.02mm.  The edge of the reading head was then marked on the bracket.  The M4 holes on the underside of the reading head is 20mm away for its edge.

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Drilling the mounting holes.

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Perfect fit again!

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Done!  It works beautifully!  No binding along the entire length of travel.

Once I finished up with Y axis, I'll think of how I should mount the 3 DROs on the mill.

At least something being accomplished today.  Have not been productive in the shop for many months.  I'll get on with Y axis after thinking through how I should mount it.
7 Comments
Kok
19/11/2012 09:32:51 am

I suspect that the poor surface finish for your fly cutter with more than one insert install is because the fly cutter not completely level to the work piece thus each insert cut a different surface. If your mill is square, perhaps the inserts is slightly off to each other.

Reply
Loke-Yeow Wong
19/11/2012 04:34:17 pm

Thanks for you input. Think its time to check the squareness of the mill. Seemed trammed, based on the few surfacing I did with just 1 insert. But it's good to check again.

As to the face mill, I need to figure out a way to check. Any suggestion? It has an MT2 shank.

Regards,
Wong

Reply
metaladdict link
22/11/2012 03:30:20 am

I don't know, but I always hear that HSS left better finish than carbide working over aluminum. BTW great work and nice machine!.

Reply
Loke-Yeow Wong
22/11/2012 03:55:26 am

Thank you.

That's what I read about too. I'll be asking AR Warner if they have the same insert but HSS. Bought from them HSS inserts for all my Sherline tools thru LMS.

Hope they have it.

Regards,
Wong

Reply
Edmund Tam
16/12/2018 02:09:11 pm

Hi wongster,
Very nice blog. Rare to come across an individual with this much passion.
I have some machining experience,the surface finish for fly cutters are better than facet cutters typically because they only have one cutting point, re -llustrated when you removed all the other cutters for the face mill.
I've come across a link below describing the issue.
https://www.cnccookbook.com/fly-cutter/

Reply
Kyle
16/12/2018 02:58:53 pm

Thanks for dropping by. I’ve not been updating the site for a long time and haven’t been doing much in the shop except for rather small jobs for some friends. Much of what I’m doing are posted on my FB instead.

The problem, i found out later, was due to the type of inserts that came with the face mill. These are for harder stock like steel. I found some for aluminium from Tao Bao and bought them despite being told of questionable quality of Chinese toppings. They are really cheap, at about $2 per piece. The surface they produced are beautiful! Used them a few times and even at greater depth of cut. Very pleased with them.

Reply
Edmund
17/12/2018 07:20:55 pm

Nice. Another knowledge nugget.
I am in the midst of getting a mini mill mostly for work.
Starting to converge on a Taig. Know anyone with a Taig around here in Singapore?
I'd like to connect to your facebook if you don't mind.


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