Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Newbie Questions

>> 2) Judging by others' comments, it appears that one of the biggest
>> disadvantages to the little Mill/Drills is that you lose your position
>> when you move the head up and down. Has anyone done anything to address
>> this?
>
>Two suggestions
>
>1/ Try to plan your work so you don't have to move the head. Measure up
>your various tools eg your R8 collet chuck, drill chuck etc so you know in
>advance how much room you need to change from one to another. Then when
>starting a job you can set the head just far enough above the work to
>extract one tool holder and replace it with another.

Yeah, I've tried that.. Mostly my problem has been in drilling/taping
1/2"+ holes where if I have the head high enough to get my drill bit out
of the chuck, it is too high for my center drill. I guess I could buy
longer center drills but that doesn't really 'solve' the problem.

>2/ Have a look in Model Engineers Workshop there have been a numbe of
>articles on this. Quite a good suggestion was to bolt a laser pointer on the
>mill head (Horizontal plane) and aim it at a wall some distance away. Draw a
>vertical line on the wall. If the mill head is rotated when it is raised or
>lowered then you can get it back into alignment by moving the head until the
>laser spot is on the line again.

Now that is a very interesting and novel solution. I think I like that!
Is Model Engineers Workshop a magazine?

--C.S.