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Perils of Sieg X3 (Quill DRO scale mounting)

Sorry, no poster comes with this...

Finally bought a 1" length of 6061 tubing with a 2.625 ID from Speedy Metals. Bored it out to 2.675 or so then faced it to .625 long. Milled a pocket, center drilled, ran a #25 in, followed with a #11 part way. Tapped 10x24, over to the bandsaw, cut about 1/16th out (two cuts). Tightened it up, nice and tight. Removed the collar, milled @ 1" flat for a mounting plate for the bottom scale mount.

Yes, it would have been possible to take a .625" thick square of 6061 and bore/turn it, but that's a heckuva lot of chips.

The base for the scale had me flummoxed. I dislike drilling freehand into cast iron. The current thought- I sawed off a length of .250 thick

6061 the same length as the scale's display, milled two bores in about 3mm deep for some rare earth magnets, then drilled and counterbored two holes for the scale mounting screws.

Perhaps, when all is done, the magnets will hold the scale tight enough to the cast iron mill head. Waiting on a 3/4" 2 flute mill to get here.

11/16ths just do not work (18mm dia magnets)
Reply to
Louis Ohland
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Look into getting a boring head.

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

I have two boring heads. This is America, if I choose to support the economy, so be it.

Reply to
Louis Ohland

Supporting the economy is laudable, especially if it involves getting more tools :-)

My point was more along the lines that a boring head will to a better job of an 18mm clearance hole than either of the end mills.

regards Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

To be clear, I was milling pockets that the magnets will fit into that will pull the scale display unit. These pockets are not thru, just very close. IIRC, aluminum will not block the magnetic attraction all that much. I hope...

Reply to
Louis Ohland

Made another scale mount for the quill DRO. This time, I measured the screw spacing and laid it out... Thankfully, they used a M3x.5 screw, which Ace Hardware has. Plus some lock washers to make up for c-bore depth differences. Screws up tight and in-line.

Now to saw up the offset from the quill collar to the bottom scale bracket... use some parallels and a piece of scrap in order to hold the piece out far enough so I can bandsaw it lengthwise...

Reply to
Louis Ohland

Everything is set except the 3/4 inch end mill for the magnet pockets. Enco sent the 1" linear shafting from this order the next day. Just unwrapped it and wiped it down with Starrett M1 spray. Tomorrow I'll check the G9972Z lathe for chuck run out...

I need to make a small wooden box for the shafting.

Reply to
Louis Ohland
3/4" endmill came from Enco this morning (Interstate brand is Red Chinese, no surprise), ran down into the basement and put two .200 deep pockets into the .250 thick 6061 bracket. A bit of curiosity when I attached the scale, but it pulls quite tightly onto the head.

Endstate: this looks decidedly clunky, BUT I didn't have to drill and tap the quill OR the head. Only "problem" is the damnable data port is not the same dimensions as the data cable plug.... Yet to figure out a mounting solution for the DRO 3 axis display. Right now it's attached to the mill head via the magnetic backing.

Reply to
Louis Ohland

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