It just occurred to me that I didn't show a follow up to the riser block for my mill. It turns out that I was ever so slightly off. My machines have limitations, after all. I work on bench top machines, not million dollar CNC's capable of sub .0001" accuracy. Small, light weight machines have to be coaxed a little more than their larger brethren.
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| A quick and dirty little rig for holding the head of my mill while I messed with the riser block. It supported the top while I moved stuff around and worked on the bolts. |
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| Off just a little. However, the Y axis needs to be as close to dead nuts as possible because I have no way of adjusting for it. A sliver in the X axis can be compensated for...but the Y is fixed, and totally dependent on the fit between the column and the base. There must be some solution, right? |
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| There IS a solution! I'm a creative guy. I just need to apply those creative problem solving skills that I'm known so well for in my professional life. One of the major weaknesses of a bench top dovetail column mill is the flex in the column. I decided to use that weakness to my advantage. I cut two angle brackets from steel. One will mount to the top of the column, the other to the riser block...the lower one could go to the base of the machine as well, I just elected to drill into the block. |
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| One bracket on top, one on the bottom. In between is a 1/2" - 13 rod. I can use the rod to apply tension to the column and correct the tram in the Y axis. |
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| BAM! Tram is back into spec. I can tension the column to make small adjustments, to the tune of .001" or less. This should come in handy as parts wear or flex or whatever. All I know is that my Y axis is better than when I started, which was also part of my endgame. I just had to figure out how to get there. |
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