Where are you getting the screws from?

Yes its fluorescent but its a head off a street sign so if its good enough to withstand the weather in Scotland I dont think the lathe can do any damage to it

Regarding Mercury, thats where the saying Mad as a hatter comes from, seemingly mercury was used in the process of making hats at one time, think it was to do with felt. Anyway the mercury poisoned the hat makers making them a bit loopy

Hood

Shipping my friend, when you live 5 miles from the arse end of the universe you must consider every thing you buy cost you a whole bunch in freight. CNC4PC wanted another $5 in freight for the SS board. CNC said only a few days on back order (he thinks) but even if he sent it today it would still take a week and a half min via USPS.
If I have not herd from him by week end I may get PH to send one of his (I got to get some couplers off him as well).

Where are you getting the screws from?

A place down the south Island, they are normally in stock but i wanted them cut and machined to a specific profile (included in the standard cost)

I ended up having to work yesterday so i didn't get much done, since i was sitting behind a computer I began the design work for the controller, there sure is a lot on there:





I'm going to re cut this, I used the measurements off the manufacturers website for the Ethernet plugs  because i was waiting for them to turn up in the post, they arrived and were out by about 2mm, i could make it work still but why bother.

Hi

Your AL54B looks very similar to my AL from Hare&Forbes. I have had it for a number of years now.

Comments:

* They are both made in China, with the inevitable consequences. However, the consequences are not always as expected. I find the bearings are still pretty good, the headstock alignment is pretty good, but all the fasteners are rubbish. Any cap-heap bolr which is active will have to be replaced with an Unbrako.

* I hope the ball screw has the same pitch as the lead-screw you are replacing, because the back-gearing is designed to work with the lead screw to get all the thread combinations. As this is very unlikely to be the case, you may have an interesting time getting the thread cutting going. Good luck.

* The use of a ball screw may place extra loading on the main lead-screw bearings. Check adequacy.

* The back gears do need changing for different threads. I hope you have left enough room/access for this. In addition, those cast iron gears get extremely filthy with iron and carbon dust after a while. Trust me, I KNOW!

* I have the standard small Qwik-change tool-post holder on my machine, and haven't had any problems with its rigidity. But I tend to machine fairly gently most of the time.

* The gibs on the saddle do need regular adjustment in my experience. But, that is not too difficult.

* I still have the 3 and 4 jaw chucks which came with the machine of course, but these days I tend to use an ER32 collet system as much as possible.

Cheers

* They are both made in China, with the inevitable consequences. However, the consequences are not always as expected. I find the bearings are still pretty good, the headstock alignment is pretty good, but all the fasteners are rubbish. Any cap-heap bolr which is active will have to be replaced with an Unbrako.


All gone only cap screws remain


* I hope the ball screw has the same pitch as the lead-screw you are replacing, because the back-gearing is designed to work with the lead screw to get all the thread combinations. As this is very unlikely to be the case, you may have an interesting time getting the thread cutting going. Good luck.


Not sure why id keep any of that junk, the computer will cut the threads not the bucket of gears and crappy lead screw (only has about 3mm of backlash - I must have got a good one)


* The use of a ball screw may place extra loading on the main lead-screw bearings. Check adequacy.


Bearings are gone too


* The back gears do need changing for different threads. I hope you have left enough room/access for this. In addition, those cast iron gears get extremely filthy with iron and carbon dust after a while. Trust me, I KNOW!


Gearbox is gone as well as the gears - wana buy them?



* I have the standard small Qwik-change tool-post holder on my machine, and haven't had any problems with its rigidity. But I tend to machine fairly gently most of the time.


The machine did not come with a quick change and i didnt want to use the pathetic 12mm tooling, with the 2hp motor with free machining i can take about 2-2.5mm passes.


* The gibs on the saddle do need regular adjustment in my experience. But, that is not too difficult.


Yep i saw that when I had it in the mill the other day.


* I still have the 3 and 4 jaw chucks which came with the machine of course, but these days I tend to use an ER32 collet system as much as possible.


Me too, the MT4 headstock is real easy to get col lets for, works great.


thanks.

I got a decent amount done today, the morning was dedicated to the 19" rack system and making sure everything lined up perfect. After that i spent a few hours pulling all of the top sheet metal off and again lining up all of the holes and edges. Its surprising how much time this sort of stuff takes you really have to do it though it it will fight you the whole time when you reassemble after paint.
While i had the sheet metal off i took some pics of some of the stuff i may have missed, the internal panel comes down and covers the motor to get it to all line up we had to modify some of the housing, im not worried about the cooling of the motor as the internal panel will assist with ducting the air around the motor, I have tested it and i am getting good air flow still.



A good pic showing the penatration for the wiring, i have learned that there is no point in trying to stop the coolant from getting back here with silicon etc the stuff will work its way up there your better off figuring how to drain it away rather than stopping it. 



by lunch time the paint had dried on the side panel, it looks good:

The afternoon was dedicated to I spent some time on the keyboard set up and how its going to work, this is what i have come up with for the keyboard:





The monitor idea is a simple one, pulling it off though was a pain the 1mm sheet metal roof is rust not strong enough, I cut this plate out of 2mm SS to help:



and the top:

And all that equals this:



The bracket give me pan, tilt, swing and hight adjustment



Like I said not a bad way to spend a Friday, have a good weekend guys I'm going dirt bike riding.