Surface Grinder Automation: Z Axis Drive | Part 4 | ClearPath

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Today is part 4 of the surface grinder CNC conversion project. We're going to make the parts for the Z axis drivetrain, tune the servo, and get it moving under power.
Tools used in this video:
*This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
PeWe Tools Multifix Tool Holders: pewetools.de/
Shars 3-Point Internal Micrometers (eBay*): ebay.us/nQ6UmG
Shars 3-Point Internal Micrometers (Amazon*): amzn.to/3RqkNuc
Shars .0005" dial test indicator (Amazon*): amzn.to/3lo3Stq
Noga Deburring Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2xMfiPz
NogaFlex Indicator Holder with Fine Adjust (Amazon*): amzn.to/33FwerY
Shars 6-Jaw Adjustable Chuck (Amazon*): amzn.to/3QGLWJT
Shars 6-Jaw Chuck Backing Plate (Amazon*): amzn.to/3SA0k84
Shars 1/2" CCXX32.5 lathe tool holder (Amazon*): amzn.to/3OduKg2
Tungaloy CCMT32.5 steel insert (eBay*): ebay.us/or5A8f
Bondhus Metric Hex Key Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3eqZzwb
Bondhus SAE Hex Key Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3h9bJLZ
HFS 190-Piece (0.061-0.250") Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/2DDSAf3
HFS 250-Piece (0.251-0.500") Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/3rGdnMT
HFS 125-Piece (0.501-0.625") Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/3PMIxKm
HFS 125-Piece (0.626-0.750") Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/46ssU1F
YG-1 1/4" 120 degree spotting drill (Amazon*): amzn.to/3sVSLgv
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Letter Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2PWx0dL
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Number Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2Qgss0S
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Fractional Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3mkmziD
Chicago Latrobe HSS Jobber Letter Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3Hpr2vI
Chicago Latrobe HSS Jobber Number Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/4241k9R
Chicago Latrobe HSS Jobber Fractional Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3Hq4URV
Drill America Chucking Reamers (Amazon*): amzn.to/3W3YkWx
Noga MC1700 Mini-Cool Kit (Amazon*): amzn.to/2qgemiM
CRC SL2512 Soluble Oil (Amazon*): amzn.to/2qhWswk
Mobilmet 766 Thread Cutting Oil (Amazon*): amzn.to/3Qt969z
A9 Cutting Fluid for aluminum (eBay*): ebay.to/2FBUi3Q
Tegara 690X 6" Mill Vise (eBay*): ebay.us/wjC7Ii
Tegara 690X 6" Mill Vise (Amazon*): amzn.to/3TMDjQb
Aventor Magnetic Indicator Holder (Amazon*): amzn.to/46IeoTl
5C Collets Set - Imperial (Amazon*): amzn.to/3mOcmcQ
5C Collet Set - Metric (Amazon*): amzn.to/3rsBz00
5C Collet Block Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2WG2vv1
Goldenrod 10oz Pump Oiler (Amazon*): amzn.to/3OP0hlD
HHIP Mill Vise Stop (*Amazon): amzn.to/2Ki5VeP
Raw Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
00:00 Introduction
00:41 The CAD model
03:32 Boring out the large pulley
06:51 Making the shaft adapter OP1
12:15 Making the shaft adapter OP2
15:23 Assembling the pulley to the shaft adapter
17:17 Drilling and tapping set screw holes
20:07 Boring and reaming the small pulley
21:40 Installing the motor pulley
23:18 Assembling the Z drivetrain
27:25 Tuning and testing
28:42 Conclusion

[@paulshermet535]

For an electronics engineer, this guy is a genies at machining. I bought his Electronic Lead Screw and am thrilled with the ease of changing thread pitches and feed rate. Won't go back to gears which make unnecessary noise and cost, let alone the dirty & time loss to change them.

[@oldfarthacks]

That setup does make it far easier. The next step is of course a full CNC. His setup is most of the way there, the motor setup is the hard part.

[@tpt100t]

I have been considering this for my surface grinder for some time. The mechanics are easy, the control is not. I was impressed with your approach to the ELS control, and am looking forward to how you approach the control on this project.

[@oldfarthacks]

Nice to see you grinding away on this project, the final result is starting to rise to the surface.

[@alanclarke4646]

Ouch!

[@aelliixx]

Your use of metric is delightful and a breath of fresh air. Subbed!

[@CezaryAkakios]

Chroma-keying out your desktop background is genius. I'm gonna keep that little one in the back pocket. Great video!

[@RobertBrown-lf8yq]

James, Watching you work encourages me to be careful, deliberate, and NEAT 🤣 Thanks for putting in all those extra hours to bring your work to us. Regards Robert

[@swiftkick1471]

I really enjoy your videos! I always learn something and there is so much good info. But I also love your videos because.... they put me right to sleep. When I want to have a good nap, I always put on one of your videos. I fall straight to sleep and they are the perfect nap length! I'm not trying to make a joke, even my wife says her best naps have been while I have a video on. Anyone else find this?

[@rexmyers991]

Unfortunately I am also put fast asleep. I don’t understand as I don’t finding boring and I WANT to watch and learn. ( I just play James over)

[@neiljensen9585]

Just a comment on a video or 2 ago concerning upping the speed for using a cut off tool in the lathe. Wow! I have always used very low speed as many have suggested,needed the cutoff tool yesterday, kicked the spindle up to high range, I would never have believed it would make that much difference Thanks!! for the tip!!

[@MrSneakyGunz]

Love watching you work, and talking through your thoughts, James. Keep it up brother. 👍

[@ramtinnazeryan]

28:00 I'm not sure if that was the full range of motion on the z-axis, but if you take look at the pully on the lead screw shaft, the belt is sliding on it and it's about to slip off. just smt that caught my eyes and wanted to tell you. Great work BTW

[@jaxfrank]

Why did you choose to use Loctite instead of an interference fit to keep the pulley on the shaft?

[@nathaniellangston5130]

I'm really excited to see what the software side of this looks like in the end. I have been wanting to retrofit a surface grinder with servo motors but I haven't really seen what I consider a surface grinding specific CNC control in the hobby realm. Really what I want to be able to do is just set feeds, speeds, depth of cut and ability to grind up to a set shoulder or feature I didn't want it to grind. It'd be nice if it could be programmed conversationally as well so you didn't have to use CAM software just for simple little parts. So yeah I'm SUPER stoked to see this! Great video!

[@stevebell1128]

Nice clear work, thank you. For cheap small boring bars using single flute carbide milling cutters works great as relatively rigid and cheap, and possible to bore down to a 1/16" hole if felt inclined to

[@Sam_596]

Excited to see this coming together

[@alejoh90]

Just what my weekend was missing!

[@outsidescrewball]

Enjoyed…great video production/discussion/builds…looking forward to grinding

[@larrybud]

Your cad skills are excellent! Fun following this project.

[@crozwayne]

Nice work James!

[@ironhead65]

James, when you debur with the diamond cutters, I’m sure that works amazing in steel. What do you use in your NSK grinder for aluminum?

[@askquestionstrythings]

The motion is looking good.

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

That is the fanciest build I have seen on a surface grinder so far. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.

[@temyraverdana6421]

You are a magician!

[@opieshomeshop]

*_I know you're semi-sorta hobby shop so not sure how much use the surface grinder will get but over time I'm curious about the side loading on those shafts._*

[@daveb3910]

I was wondering that too

[@bobcarlson7729]

i used GARR spotting drills. may be worth checking into. Longer 140* center drills come in handy

[@markondaki1441]

Hi Clough, really enjoyed watching your video's regarding the electronic lead screw. I would like to try and make one for an old rivett lathe of mine for which I am unable to get change wheels. wondering what parts are available from your end ? how can I place an order? I am based in Essex, UK and will need it shipped here. if you could let me know? thanks.

[@Radoslaw1986xx]

if you have quick lock on tailstock, then you don't have to crank it, but just release and move out drill with the tailstock and back.

[@TheMoody876]

Micro 100 sells some very high quality solid carbide boring bars. I purchased a few after watching ABOM79 using them. Might be worth trying as an upgrade from your HSS boring bar

[@GenericAnimeBoy]

6:41 😮

[@DrFiero]

When you nailed 20.000 for some reason I expected to hear "Yahtzee!". Whoops. ;)

[@TitoRigatoni]

16:40 got an audible "wow" out of me 😀

[@erik_dk842]

Why didn't you make the shaft 20.00 dead on or slightly oversize for a good shrink fit?

[@mikebeacom4883]

As a kid, I spent a lot of time making metal shiny. Mills & lathes seem like cheating. And then I spent some of that time about mills & lathes.

[@nickmcquiston7873]

Isn't that the y axis. I didn't think grinders used boring mill axis notation.

[@nickrivera2391]

18:30 James used the half function on his camera to get the shot. 😁

[@Hellsatanx]

drink every time he says screw

[@jhbonarius]

Do you need some broken end mills? I can help you there! Just seems me some of the good ones and I'll send them back in the wanted form. Glad to be of service.

[@tstanley01]

Gronk : The last turn on a bolt or nut, so as to insure it will not come loose.

[@jimktrains0]

Just curious, if you're already boring, why ream? You'd have to get pretty close with the boring head to allow for the reamer?

[@Clough42]

The reamer guarantees a very accurate hole without any effort.

[@andremariano3642]

The large pulley and adapter thingy would've been a 10 micron fit instead of 30 if he hadn't done that greedy 20 micron cut on the pulley bore

[@bobweiram6321]

How did UPS go from the best to the worse? I remember when they had ironclad service back in the 80s.

[@larrybud]

Maybe it's a regional thing. UPS where I live is excellent.

[@johannglaser]

Why are the set screws in the pulley as well as in your shaft 90° apart, and not 180°?

[@Clough42]

If they're 180 degrees apart, the pulley can rock, pivoting on the screw points.

[@johannglaser]

@@Clough42Oh, ok, thanks!

[@nigeleaton5715]

20.000000000000000000 Yeah! I'll take that! 😁

[@WillemvanLonden]

Gronk.....? Been watching too many Tom Lipton videos?🤣

[@georgevigue3982]

Hey James, I have been leaving you comments to see if you want some LED matrix boards that I have a bunch of. I hate to just through them away and I sure you would like them. Checkout my comments on your LED bezel video for a description of them. If you want some, let me know. I have about 120 of these. George

[@georgevigue3982]

I guess you're not interested

[@joell439]

👍👍😎👍👍

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

Apologies in advance for the dumb quotation, but why is what would be the Y axis on a CNC machine, the Z axis on a surface grinder?

[@justice0952]

I believe it’s because the z-axis on any given machine is always in line with the spindle. I could be wrong, but I think a horizontal mill is the same way.

[@Clough42]

@justice0952 is correct. The Z axis is in line with the spindle. This is the vertical axis on a vertical mill, the axis along the length of the bed on a lathe, and the axis toward and away from the operator on a typical surface grinder. Though you will see people using different terminology. I believe Kurtis (CEE Australia) called the long axis of his lathe the "Y axis" in his video yesterday.

[@g.tucker8682]

This standard seems to be slow to take hold, though. There are some holdouts. For example Mitutoyo DRO units for the lathe are still X (longitudinal) and Y (cross). At least they were the last I checked, maybe a year ago.

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

@@Clough42 Cheers, that makes sense.

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

@@g.tucker8682 when 3D modelling Z is always up/down so imo it’s a strange idea to apply Z to the spindle axis in a vertically oriented machine.

[@alanclarke4646]

UPS = Usually Poor Service 😂😂

[@DavidLindes]

23:29 - bummer. 😕 ... but wait... 23:34 - wait, what? I'm used to McMaster orders almost always showing up the next day -- which always kinda baffled me, but, that's what I've experienced. I guess I'm close to one of their distribution centers or something?? Sorry to hear you're not... it's... impressive and nice to get stuff next-day (I might have even gotten some same day, if I ordered early enough?? not sure.) Anyway, nice work, once again. It's really neat to see this coming together. Thanks! :)

[@frigzy3748]

Liberal coating?? C'mon - it's Idaho 😀

[@osumailguy]

Title (part 4) and description (part 3) don't match 🙃

[@djpenner34]

Who cares. Pretty petty to nit pick something like that

[@Clough42]

Thanks! I cut and pasted to get a starting point for the tool link list, and totally forgot to edit that. :)

[@saintchuck9857]

Pointing something out so it can get fixed isn't nitpicking or petty.@@djpenner34

[@BeefIngot]

@@djpenner34 There are douchey asshole comments, and then there are helpful corrections. This is a helpful correction. To me it didn't come across as mean spirited at all.

[@ryanfreeman125]

At this point that shirt HAS to smell so bad.

[@commodore64boy]

I started followig you when you had crap equipment and stil made decent stuff despite the struggle. Time has passed, and like every other youtube machining guy, you've gotten far too fancy with your free sponsored equipment. I'm very tempted to start a youtube channel that focuses on the average garage dude because of it. Go back to your roots man..