Nice illustration video. I’m an ex K & T Service Tech who installed many types of 3-4-5 axis CNC equipment in Aerospace back in the day. We verified alignments with a 14” precision Granite on most, sometimes a 24”. We also ran laser yaw, pitch and roll on our ways before the assembly. Finally lost motion correction on each ball screw and rotary table was performed. Keep up the good work.

Insightful video. Learned a lot. Thank you!

Great video thank you

Awesome video, thanks man!

Wow, this is fantastic! Nice job. Thanks for sharing it with the machining community!

Lovely finish and beautiful router too.

I have a project that I need to use 8 mm leadscrews and I have been trying to find a tap for the screws. Could you pass on to me your suppliers information? Thanks Charles

Planning on making a Coffee machine cart where the machine raises from it's lowest point to the working surface. What do you believe is the best ball screw to use considering the cart will be used over all types of terrains? e.g. transported inside a truck/van, pushed over grassy/muddy locations and towed on an e-bike over all terrains.

This is kinda a waste just to cut aluminum, as you can just use a miter saw with an ordinary wood cutting blade. I've cut extruded 2020 with my old Ryobi and it's stock blade without a problem (other than razor-sharp aluminum chips flying everywhere, but that's the fun of working with aluminum).

You should try kerosene and diesel

Can this be backlit?

Though I have not tried it myself I was told by an Engineer that kerosene is the best for aluminum.

WD40 is deoderized Kerosene with a wee skosh of hydrotreated light pump oil. Kero does the job too for a shit ton less $$

How loud is the machine while running ? I had a CNC router with a 2.2kw spindle and at max RPM my neighbors complained.

I use canola oil for milling, drilling, turning and tapping

Is that your CAM software with the chip load graphing, or is it an app or online tool? I like that.

I am using your dimensions and material list to make a mill like yours. I am a trade machinist 20 years. You could buy a bench mill but retro fitting a bench mill has limitations also. # 1 they have ways not linear bearings. The RPM is also limited due to gearbox. I will be substituting aluminum for steel and I am making it thicker. 3" Cold rolled for frame and column. I want it heavy to dampen vibration.

Noise has decreased. Do you think it comes from upgrading Ballscrews or high speed spindles? Thanks!

HI ! Can I ask you what tip do you use for engraving the words?

Does the feed rate affect the finish quality? I don’t get very clean looking finish, although it’s very smooth to touch, but one can see the scuff marks on the surface. The material is 6061 aluminum, 6.35 dia carbide end mill, 2 flute. Feed is F120. The coolant is cutting oil mixed with water, flood type with air blower.

Hi, It’s a magnificent piece of work, really very clean! Quick question: Isn't your panel too thick and too opaque, I mean can you use your cockpit in the dark and use a backlight?

Cool video .. very informative.. but are those chips on you lead screw when you were facing the table ... I have to call the cops on you

Many years ago kerosene was used as a coolant in surface grinding

The typical WD40, that you can get pretty much everywhere isn't actually a lubricant at all. It's the opposite and should not be used as such. That's why you notice it doesn't hold up as much for things like squeeky doors. Over time it removes every lubricant, that was on there before and makes it worse. It is supposed to loosen up rust and to clean parts and it removes thicker grease. Yes it does work very well as coolant on aluminium parts. For that purpose it is fine and is therefore used by many people for that purpose. You also can also use WD40 to clean parts, without making them vulnerable to rust (or actually protect them from rust), but never use it as lubricant. For lubrication the WD40 should be removed with alcohol, acetone or brake fluid (or similar) beforehands and then you can use a suitable lubricant afterwards. However WD40 is actually a brand name and not the name of a specific product. They also make a few other products, that appear to look very similar on first look, but some of these other products are actually lubricants for various purposes.

I'm a big fan of your diy mill. What spindle are you using (kw, diameter, er16?)

Great video! How much of alignemnt can be adjusted via the linear rails themselves? Thx!

great info, i like your mills setup

I used 3/8-8 4 start lead screws for my router build, and I'm quite satisfied. But then I only cutting wood so I don't need a powerhouse of a machine. I run a good size work area at 24"X46" So I'm contemplating adding a second screw to the Y axis, as I am currently running a single center screw.

90 degrees is overrated 😁👍 Imagine how much better the world would be f x, y, and z axis were at 84 degrees to each other.

Not altogether sure what problem is being solved here. AFAIK ball-screws originated as a solution to backlash. I'm left to wonder what tolerances you are working at that "backlash" with ball-screws is a problem. Thoughts?

Great video, thanks for sharing! I found this while looking to confirm the calculation for Torque, where did you find the calc in the video? It seems to be different to most that I have found which show T= PL/2Pi e, where the calc in the video shows T = PL e / 2Pi. Where should the efficiency be? Thanks!

seems legit... noticed that the el-cheapo ballscrews seem to come with the seals/wipers. being metric is the icing on the cake. the lack of wipers, along with the imperial 5TPI of the screws i got with the CNC kit for my little X2 mill? think it was "robson" brand? no end of troubles! stripped them at least 5 times getting chips out... along with the old "forget to throw g21 in code" on every power up... ouch. yeah, one day i might actually finish scraping and get it back together with the new screws sitting on the shelf.. in hindsight, linear rails and build from the ground up would have been a far better approach than convert chinese dovetails to cnc. that has been a journey! might STILL be a better option... even if i just hack the dovetails out altogether! at that point though, the beds still too small... sigh..

Interesting discussion...I was looking at some rather precise "stages" used in drilling PCBs ( about 400 x 400 mm), and they were driven with ball screws, I think a pair of them, one per side of each axis, with tooth belt drive between them. Motion control is always interesting... Strange that so much in these CNC systems is open loop?

What precision cast aluminum plate did you end up using? Same size as the 6061 flat bar you initially used? Thanks for the update on your machine. I plan on using 1204s as well.

Happy to see another video! I watched your series on the mini mill before I bought my first CNC.

What type of coupler did you end up using there? Looks slightly more complex than the spiral specials.

Great vid.

Hello, Recently got interested in making a small CNC mill for Aluminum. Was almost ready to start Milenium Milo v1.5 and then found your channel. I go your metric Fusion project. I will finish the CAD with bolts and whistles, I plan to make it Duet-based ( I think wifi will handle the steppers just well) Are you OK if I publish it as an open-source

they make a thing called a drill mill, it has the start of a drill and the flutes of an endmill.

Ethanol is good to keep everything cool, to avoid aluminium to stick on the cutter because of heat. The issue with aluminium is that a little bit of material tend to stick on the tip of the cutter during the cutting, so it leaves marks during the rest of the rotation. Best choice is the flood coolant with a % of 5~10% oil. If you can't, light oils like WD40, but also plain kero, diesel fuel and so on are good, but they make fumes and they're quite flammable. I'm a professional metalworker but also a hobbyist, since after work I'm playing with metals, so I have some experience in both the fields. In last months I'm playing with a DIY CNC to make alu molds for injection molding, on a small milling machine without flood coolant. For those I tried various fluids, especially because I'm working in recesses (so I can flood the recess with fluid) and since the process is long I need something who stays in the recess while the machine is working and I'm drinking a beer with friends. 😉 It turned out that ATF fluid is a very good cutting fluid for aluminium. It's quite messy to clean out after the work, but it give good surface finish and it avoid totally material sticking on the cutter. Cheers from Italy!

WD 40 is not a lubricant.

Thank you! Great pro test.

Thanks for the video. I am having fun turning a 90 dollar Cheap Chinese X-Y table into something useful and was looking at determining the squareness of the axis and top. Your video gives much the same methods for checking as I was thinking about using. Nice little mill you have built there, well done.

Hi, that looks really good, could you make a video about it being shown in the dark with backlighting or does that not work?

Not sure if you are still on here, but figured I would ask. I am planning on building one of these, but curious how you drilled the holes on the bottom of column? Most drill presses don't have room for the 17" or so inches the column is. Thanks!

I know I'm 2yrs late ~ Have you tried Methalated Spirit, in a hand held squirt bottle. It's what I grew up useing. It evaporates like the Ethanol but not as fast, it will stay pooled on the job for cooling, while having a mineral based lubricating action as well. I am impressed with the WD40 finish you got !

Excellent 😃

Not perpendicular spindle?

what is the dimensions of the aluminum bottom plate.?

How's the HGR15 holding up? I only ask cause I was thinking to get these cheap hgr15 as well for some aluminum cutting.