Harbor Freight Seig X2 3 axis CNC conversion
This CNC
project started out as a plain
Harbor Freight mini milling machine. After milling a
few
basic parts manually and
having the desire to cut circles and odd shapes accurately I
started
doing
research on what it would take to convert the machine into a 3 axis
CNC.
I
found
that there were number of CNC conversion kits available that were
reasonably
priced
and which would provide greater functionality over a just basic
milling
machine.
Being
able
to reproduce a single part faster was just an added bonus.
I ended
up
purchasing
a complete 3 axis ball screw kit with preloaded ball nuts and heli-coil
zero
backlash couplings from CNCfusion. For the motor controller portion of
the
conversion I
purchased a 3 axis kit from Xylotex that I assembled
myself. The
assembly and fabrication of
the kit required fitting all the parts in a
box
which included
a method of cooling the box
and doing all the wiring, drilling, cutting
etc… Only the 3 motors, controller board and
power
supply are part of the kit so it’s more assembly work and it’s
considerably more
work
to build it yourself.
For the
software
to configure and run the
CNC I
found a program called EMC2 that is bundled
with Ubuntu. The LiveCD is
free and
down loadable on the web and is supported by a community
of developers
for Ubuntu and EMC2.
Free is
good if it works and this software package works
perfectly. The good
thing about EMC2
is it has a profile in the setup for the Xylotex
controller board which
does
make it a little easier to get the CNC up and running.
I also did
some
research and
added a joystick to manually control the CNC when not running
Gcode.
Using
a mouse was just not acceptable in my opinion. This required some
programming
in Hal to integrate the joy pad to EMC2 but the results were
well worth the effort.
Prior to
this
project I
did not
have any experience with a milling machine let alone a CNC
and setting
one up.
I think the whole project took about a month before I was up and
running
and
cutting parts.
Some of the other modification to the CNC are listed below:
* Replaced
the stock gear box with a belt drive because the stock gear
box was excessively
noisy and this
modification really quieted things down considerably.
* The
stock spring
counter balance was replaced with a kit I purchased from The Little
Machine Shop. The kit uses a small shock like the ones
that are used
on
automobile
trunks and hatch backs. You know, the things that keep
the
trunk from
falling on your
head when you least expect it.
* To
stiffen the Z axis plane I installed a 1/4" x 4" x 12" horizontal steel
plate on the
back Z axis arm.
Currently
I'm in
the
process of
extending the Y axis from a measly 4.25" to just over 10".
Basically
I'm going to extend the base by pigging backing another base and then
purchase
a
longer ball screw. This will also require extending the cutting
head
out
6" but that’s not
going to be that difficult. When I'm finished it
will
greatly enhance the capability of this
little machine. I really do not miss the manual controls at all
and am pleased with the
results and accuracy of the conversion.
CNC Cabinet Finished Before Conversion
Not much to say about this except I had to have a sturdy cabinet to put the milling machine on so I built one. Don't worry, I
don't carry that pink bucket in public. Now that I think about it, I might have to paint that thing just for posterity sake.
First CNC project was to design and mill a fork brace for the Wing
If at all
possible I like to do things as
cheap as possible without out actually being
cheap. In order to run a
CNC you
have to have a software program to first draw the object
in (CAD) and
then
another
software program is needed to generate the Gcode which controls
the CNC
(CAM). I
found a
free software package that I really like called Heekscnc. There
is a
learning
curve and the Gcode generated does need some minor tweaking but it does
work
quite well. Also Heekscnc is continually being improved so
updates are
available
on a
somewhat regular basis. After I checked the prices of
CAD/CAM software packages I was
appreciative of the efforts made by Dan Heeks in making
Heekscnc available for free.
My first
project
on the CNC was a fork
brace for
my Goldwing which I think turned out quite
nicely. I noticed the
difference in
handling immediately when pulling out of my driveway and
it really
does stabilize
the front end on this heavy bike. The bike weighs 900lbs and the
fork
brace makes slow maneuvering
easier,
especially with a passenger. I consider the fork
brace a must have on
this
bike. Note that my design is a 4 piece design that allows
adjustment
for slight
differences in manufacturing tolerances in the spacing between the
in fork widths will cause some
amount
of binding on a fixed width fork brace which in turn
can cause premature wear on the internals of the forks.
Second project on the CNC was a Keltec P3AT stainless steel magazine release
The second
project was a stainless steel magazine
release for a Keltec P3AT and Heekscnc
was used for this project as
well. I
consider the
stock plastic release in the Keltecs to
be a weakness in the design so
this
modification was a necessity. The CNC does most of the
heavy work but
there is
still a bit of manual fabrication that needs to be done to fit the
release to
the grip. Almost every corner on the release needs some kind of shaping
for it
to fit to the grip and hold the magazine in place. Actually the
CNC
part of the
fabrication
is the easy part of the whole process now after the CNC
conversion.
I know the
picture is large but the actually size of the release is
actually quite small.
Height
=
.375 Width = .25 Length = .695
Gold Mining trommel project
The
trommel you
see in the pictures below
would work 3 full grown men to exhaustion. The
person shoveling into
the
trommel could only last about an hour before he had to switch with
the
guy
cleaning the tailings from the output of the sluice and trommel. The
clay and gravel
shoveled into the hopper would come out clean
and free
of clay and dirt. For the gold to
stay trapped in the expanded metal the gold needs to be free of
clay. I used a riffle less
sluice design because the material going
into the
sluice was classified by the trommel down
to 1/2" dia so I caught very
fine gold. Samples of the tailings revealed no color at all.
Not using standard riffles in the sluice allows you to use less
water which results in less
turbulence in the sluice and in turn prevents small gold from
being displaced by large rocks
tumbling down the sluice. You have to setup your equipment for
the size of gold in the area
that is being worked. I eventually
got tired of feeding the beast and just sold it.
This
project took
me a
couple of
months to complete but it was a fun and challenging project
with very positive results.
The trommel design you see below is a result of years of
prospecting as a
hobby and in trial and error building sluices and high bankers. This
thing would really catch the fine gold. See the last picture as
an
example of a normal take
of gold for a day of shoveling.
ribbed carpet and expanded metal.
This pile of clay and rock was a LOT bigger when we started so the picture shows
about 1/3 of what we started with.
Here's the yellow stuff we were going after! Note that this is a small clean up pan
which is considerably smaller then a normal pan.
Home page