# my mini sX2 mill and mini 7x12 lathe mods (so far!)



## MCRIPPPer (May 10, 2013)

hey there. here are some mods i made to my machines. i have had my mini mill for a year now and have done a mod or two. i have had my mini lathe for a week. here are the mods i have done to each one. 

first is my mill. i have added a Z axis "DRO", and added a ball bearing supported shaft for the z axis feed. 













here are pix of the upper and lower mounts for the readout. one has side to side adjustment, and the other has up/down adjustment, so i dont have to drill holes in an exact location for it to work. 









this mod to the spring shaft lets the readout sit closer to the mill column. 






lathe mods:

replaced lame washers with a milled plate to retain half nut gib. 
it has a step machined in it so i can tighten the screws and still have the gib be a sliding fit, so the adjustment screws actually work correctly. 

before:




after:




a pic of the actual plate.




made swiveling handles for the cross slide and compound. 

they are knurled to look cool and have a little grip to them. 













next i plan to make some nice handles for my mill and make a carriage lock for the lathe.


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## aarggh (May 10, 2013)

Nice work there and a good idea with the gib retainer, might do that one myself!

cheers, Ian


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## MCRIPPPer (May 10, 2013)

thanks. those washers were not doing the trick! now the half nuts have almost no slop  even tho it doesn't really matter on the half nuts. the lever seems smoother tho.


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## Bob_P (May 11, 2013)

I like the Z axis feed mod. I've considered putting a larger feed hand wheel behind the smaller knurled dial to see if I can improve the constant feed. Have you fitted a gas spring? I can recommend that mod.
Bob..


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## Naiveambition (May 11, 2013)

Very nice idea on handles.How are they made.  If you dont mind sharing your work. I have this lathe and I know why you replaced them,  it was giving you blisters wasn't it.   


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## MCRIPPPer (May 11, 2013)

grip the original handles with vise grips and unscrew them. the cross slide has an m5 thread, and the compound has an m4 thread. get those size bolts in the length you want. basically the handles have a hole drilled into them to have a screw go through. the screw is adjusted to let the handles move freely but without much slop, and the jam nut is tightened to hold it. 

thankfully i have not gotten blisters yet. i have only had my lathe for a week, and knew right away it needed these mods. 

no i have not done the gas spring mod. i made a crank handle for my mill z axis, but dont use it much.


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## MCRIPPPer (Jun 1, 2013)

here are some more mods. power feed i have been working on, and worm gear for driving the lathe chuck to scribe divisions for dials and laying out holes in round objects. i still need to make a dial for the dial making attachment. lol. it is shown with the dial from my mill attached. 













here are the pics of the power feed motor. i was given some old cordless tools and this was an 18v 3 speed drill. the trigger was fried but the motor works good. i cleaned out the whole transmission when i got it and greased the gears. i made a coupling on my lathe that threads on. it uses the original left hand screw to keep it from unscrewing. there is a dowel pin to drive the lead screw held in with a brass clip that i turned on the lathe. the drill spindle had a spring on it that would allow for it to be pushed in slightly, so i removed the spring and now the spindle and adapter can move in and out enough to engage and disengage the lead screw, so im going to also make a knob to easily move the coupling back and forth. 
i still need to make a controller for it. the 3 speed tranny is a nice feature of this dead drill!


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## velocette (Jun 2, 2013)

Hi  MCRIPPPer
Nice work I see from your posting that you have not finished with modifications just  yet so Keep us posted.

to quote "BobP"
"I like the Z axis feed mod. I've considered putting a larger feed hand wheel behind the smaller knurled dial to see if I can improve the constant feed. Have you fitted a gas spring? I can recommend that mod".

This is another mod you may want to consider I have taken the liberty to add a photo of my setup.

Eric


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## MCRIPPPer (Aug 5, 2013)

more mods done. made a better handle for my a2z cnc QCTP. the one on there was garbage. 





i used my ball turning attachment i made. 





today i machined 6mm off the bottom of the compound in order to move the QCTools more toward the middle of the holder, and to hopefully increase rigidity(???). i used super glue and attached it right onto my milling table and used clamps just to keep it down. it held perfectly while milling. i used acetone to clean the super glue off the mill and the part after. only put a tiny drop on each corner if you do this! super glue is Xtremely strong when you have two perfectly flat and clean surfaces!


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## MCRIPPPer (Aug 25, 2013)

made a tailstock seal to keep swarf out and oil in a little better. 













here is the tool i made to cut the perfect circle in a piece of rubber. it adds hardly any drag to the tailstock so quickly moving the quill is still easy .


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## MCRIPPPer (Aug 28, 2013)

machined some aluminum spacers for the lathe spindle. only one needs to have the keyway cut in. i used a 1/8 inch end mill to machine the keyway.


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## MCRIPPPer (Aug 28, 2013)

a while back i also made some knurled handles for my mini mill. i also had to make an axle for them because the screws that come with the mill are fully threaded so they dig threads into the handles!


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## MCRIPPPer (Sep 1, 2013)

did the extended cross slide mod. milled out some of the carriage and made this extender. the lead screw stays in the same place. there is more than 5/8 inch extra thread on the lead screw that can be utilized without reducing the travel in the other direction.


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## MCRIPPPer (Sep 9, 2013)

dont have any pics but i did the taper gib mod for the carriage. wow that mod is worth the time! i can take 7mm depth of cut in aluminum without any chatter! and i dont even have the taper bearings yet. based on the thickness measurement of the chips i was taking .001" per rev feed, so i need to figure out a power feed with at least a 1000tpi ratio. i was able to take a cut of about 3mm in steel. and the best part is the carriage still moves nice and free. i used cast iron from a rear brake disk (2001 subaru outback) to make the tapered gib, and 6061 to make the holder. will get images asap.

i plan to use more of the disk brake to make better fitting gibs for the compound and cross slide.


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## MCRIPPPer (Sep 19, 2013)

made some tool holders for the a2z cnc tool post. also modified to the tool post.


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