SX2P Mill Power feed

Mind you, thinking about it, a 'Maker Project' person would say I am stupid for even considering that a 'Maker' would want to pay anything more than £20.00 for the components.

Ketan at ARC.

I'll echo Ketan's comments - the unit is geared too high. If you take care to get the feed/speed right you get good results but if not >ping<.

That said it's hard to imagine ghing back to no power feed.

Neil

Thank you Ketan,

That will be helpful to many of us looking at this thread with interest, and wondering if.... some of the other social media networks seem to O.D. on pimping machines. Clearly sometimes it's worth it, but not this mod for now.

It is refreshing to find a supplier who is more interested in getting things right, than in simply shifting the boxes.

I have quickly come to trust your judgement at ARC ( and have credit card bills to prove it). Expect an order for the rotary table for my X2P shortly. I am mostly just making very very accurate swarfe at the moment: if I don't make something that works/moves/is useful/looks nice soon, I will have serious questions from 'household management'.

Matthew

built my powerfeed from a 12v battery drill motor and an eBay speed control unit. Cost @ £30 in total. I drilled the end of the leadscrew, tapped it and screwed and loctited an extension piece. This has a hole drilled through it which I just push a pin through which engages in a hole in a collar fitted to the drive shaft. Powered from an old laptop psi. Not over engineered but works well and has been reliable.

**LINK**

I've now built 2 table drives for milling machines. The first had gear drive from a DC motor with feedback circuit to control speed, just disengage the gears when not wanted like a lathe leadscrew. The second, which is much easier, is just a stepper motor, tooth belt drive to the leadscrew. No need to disengage, the motor backwinds freely when not energised. Stepper is driven by a PIC, would use Arduino if I did it again.

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps!

The parts which I have ordered total a cost of around £25 so far. To that, I'll have to add some pieces of metal and a bit of my time. Hopefully, I'll end up with a usable power feed which has the controllability that I'm seeking, though it may not look as good as a £350 unit. I may consider starting a build thread once I get started.

I'v built a power feed from a 12V Lucas wiper motor. The shaft from the worm wheel is extended and has a 10 T sprocket on it, this drives a 20 T sprocket on the lead screw via a bit of bike chain. The chain is loose enough to be lifted off the sprockets, and no clutch is used. It was knocked up in a couple of hours about twenty years ago. Speed is controlled by switched resistors. When using tools like my 3 tipped face cutter I could use about double the feed rate, but I doubt if the motor would take it, but I must try a larger sprocket on the motor, maybe 15 T.

Ian S C

Gordon,

Would love to see a build thread, I want to do this on my SX3.

Geoff~