Mill/Drill CNC Conversion

Hi Folks,

It's been a while since I've been active on the list but now that my
son is 13 mos. old I've got a little more time to work on my CNC
conversion.

For starters, you can check out some pictures I took last night in a
folder I created in the "Photos" section. Look for "Jeff's Mill-Drill
CNC Conversion"

Although I've had all the materials for quite some time, I've now
done the majority of the machining and can start putting things
together. Last night I was able to assemble the Y-Axis parts and lo
and behold - it worked! As you can see in the pictures, the system is
comprised of a bearing housing for the angular contact bearings, a
5/8" ballscrew with a stub shaft pinned into the end, a mount for the
ballnut (to replace the existing Acme nut), the ballnut and a pulley.
As you can see in the picture of the assembled axis, the stepper
motor is mounted to the left of the base. I still need to get the
correct-sized belt, but next to that I'm pretty much done with that
axis.

For the X-Axis I've made the mount and bored the holes in the ends of
the ballscrew. I've yet to turn the stub shafts and create a motor
mount. However, the X-Axis should be pretty easy since I'm planning
on using the existing thrust bearing mounting holes (my angular
contact bearings are the same size - woo hoo!) and tightening the
ballscrew up with nuts at both ends.

If anyone has questions or sees errors, please let me know. I'm
hoping to have both axes operational by next week, and the stepper
drivers and software ready by the week after.

I'm definitely going to do a Z-Axis, but not right away. I want to
get the X-Y working first. If anyone has suggestions on how to drive
the quill with a stepper, please let me know as well. I've seen Dan
Mauch's method, and currently my goal is to do something similar.

Enjoy the pictures. I'll update them as I make more progress.

-Jeff Swayze