Member postings for Les T

Sorry, I missed the '8TPI' and 'Crawford!

Looks like a Myford (or similar) thread and register on the holder that appears to match the

taper on the stepped chuck. It would need a drawbar for the split chuck. The thread for the drawbar will

depend on the collet make. Usually 0.625 mm pitch.

Hope this helps

Hi Colin,

To some extent, it depends on what you envisage doing with your Ward indexer rotary table.If you

are going to be using it mounted horizontally for e.g. drilling holes on a pitch circle or machining arcs then I agree with Chris, go for the larger one. If you want to use it in a vertical sense for example to cut gears then you need to ensure you have enough operating room under the cutter.

One small consideration is the worm wheel ratio that determines resolution. The larger tables tend to have 90:1 ratio while smaller ones have less resolution e.g. 72:1 or 60:1. However, in practice, it won't make a lot of difference.

I have motorised my Myford badged HV6 rotary table and use it in the vertical position under the KX3 CNC mill. It works very well but the biggest problem is getting the table from the mill stand cupboard to the mill table! It is a very heavy unit which led me to put a stepper on 4" ArcEurotrade (no connection) rotary table as it is so much easier to manhandle. Another advantage is the body is ground on all faces of the body which makes tramming it in the vertical position much easier.

You have made an excellent choice building the Ward indexer (no connection), it is a superb design that works flawlessly.

LesT

Checking the collet closing nuts is good advice. I have experienced excessive runout problems with an ER 32 collet system and blamed the collets as the taper clocked true. Eventually, I tried each of my 3 collet closing nuts and found the two plain ones 'off' but the ballbearing one gave consistent acceptable results. The plain ones have binned!

Hi Phil,

I would be interested in a PCB and component kit if you make them available

Very kind of you to share.

Thanks,
Les T

Hi Old School,

Sorry I can't be of more help. I have an earlier KX3 with a parallel port so my software may be different to the later USB machines.

I seems you don't have the Sieg screen. Have you loaded the Sieg XML file that came on the disc with the machine? That will change the tool information box.

I agree with you Sean, an excellent vice but the locking system is a bit hit and miss. I've often tightened the locking screw only to find the work isn't secure. When this happens you need to advance the T rod one notch further towards the fixed jaw. The newer version with a slot instead of the holes for clamping are supposed to be better in this respect.

Colin, It really depends on the type of work you want to do but I would suggest a 4-jaw chuck will be much more useful. I have both but very rarely have the need for a faceplate whereas the 4-jaw is used frequently.A common use for a 4-jaw is to chuck a round part and use a dial test indicator to get it running true.

I have one of the older KX3 machines currently running on a HP desktop with Windows 7 but like you, think that a USB motion control board is the way to go now that parallel ports are rare on computers. I will be very interested interested to hear how you get on with the modification to the KX3.

Les

Peter, you don't say what you may want to run with Mach 3 but if you are building a system you can use a motion control card which will connect with the computer's USB port (or ethernet) and it then doesn't matter what laptop you use.

Les

Peter, If you read the manuals for Mach 3 it is suggested that you will get a better performance with a desktop computer rather than a laptop. Some have found problems using laptops while others have not so it is a 'suck it and see' situation. If you read this thread:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=5981.0

it may help in your choice

Les

Hello,

I've been reading this forum for a long time but this is my first post. I live in West London and have a small workshop with a Myford Super 7 lathe, a Emco Compact 5 cnc lathe I've retro-fitted and a KX3 cnc milling machine. My main interest is in toolmaking and clocks. I'm an admirer of the expertise and of the contributors on this forum and would like to jump straight in with a problem encountered while converting the Myford to Poly V drive.

The spindle pulley has an Oilite and a plain bronze bearing that also has a gear for the back-gear. Both bearings were pressed out of the original Myford pulley and pressed into the new Poly V pulley. The pulley should be able to rotate freely on the spindle when in back gear and although the Oilite bush is a free fit on the spindle the bronze bearing is very tight and the bore needs easing. Anyone else met this problem and solved it?

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