black85vette
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Over in my posts about the X2 mill we were discussing the spindle lock and several people gave links to plans or web sites that had various designs. The original thread is here:
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6698.0
I liked aspects of several of the designs but thought I could come up with something simple and easy to make. So here is what I came up with.
It is a piece of steel with 3 diameters and a hole drilled for a roll pin. I made some experimental measurements by poking a set of drills down the hole for the spindle lock and used the sizes that seemed to be a good fit without being too tight.
Start at the left with the end that actually inserts into the spindle. It is .294" diameter and .235" long. Then the part that slides in the motor mount plate is .345" diameter and .612" long. Finally the rod that sticks out is .260 diameter and 1.8" long. This last diameter was only picked to clear the ID of the spring I had on hand. The spring is about 1.5" long and fairly light. I wanted enough spring tension that the pin would eject if not held in place. The roll pin is .932" from the large diameter section. You just need to keep the roll pin positioned so that it does NOT extend past the cover for the fine Z axis shaft. This is so that you can put a retainer on that cover to hold the lock in place and not have any spring tension against the plate.
The only other parts are the washer which compresses the spring and the roll pin. Again I used a roll pin I had on hand. It is not critical and I made the washer out of aluminum round stock scrap.
The pictures show the piece out of the mill. Then in the locked and unlocked positions. The fourth picture shows the relationship of the roll pin to the metal cover below it.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6698.0
I liked aspects of several of the designs but thought I could come up with something simple and easy to make. So here is what I came up with.
It is a piece of steel with 3 diameters and a hole drilled for a roll pin. I made some experimental measurements by poking a set of drills down the hole for the spindle lock and used the sizes that seemed to be a good fit without being too tight.
Start at the left with the end that actually inserts into the spindle. It is .294" diameter and .235" long. Then the part that slides in the motor mount plate is .345" diameter and .612" long. Finally the rod that sticks out is .260 diameter and 1.8" long. This last diameter was only picked to clear the ID of the spring I had on hand. The spring is about 1.5" long and fairly light. I wanted enough spring tension that the pin would eject if not held in place. The roll pin is .932" from the large diameter section. You just need to keep the roll pin positioned so that it does NOT extend past the cover for the fine Z axis shaft. This is so that you can put a retainer on that cover to hold the lock in place and not have any spring tension against the plate.
The only other parts are the washer which compresses the spring and the roll pin. Again I used a roll pin I had on hand. It is not critical and I made the washer out of aluminum round stock scrap.
The pictures show the piece out of the mill. Then in the locked and unlocked positions. The fourth picture shows the relationship of the roll pin to the metal cover below it.
