7 Easy Milling Machine Improvements and Mods

That’s polycarbonate

Milling Improvements: Floormats!? Really? Come on…

Kerosin ist toxisch, es kannst bei der Vaporisation durch Aerosole bis tief in die Lunge gelangen, zu husten, zittern, Atemnot führen und in schwerwiegenden Fällen zu Lungenödem und somit bei Nutzung in unbelüfteten Räumen bis zum Tod führen. Lies bitte nochmal nach, du erzählst hier gefährliche Unwahrheiten.

Zu deinem zweiten Tipp mit den Einlegeleisten für den T-Nutentisch: Magnetklebeband und Faltenbalg sind günstig, leicht zu montieren und super leicht zu säubern und arbeiten mit ihrer leichten Gewichtsklasse dem Spänefang zu. Funktioniert an meiner herrlich.

Zu deinem ersten Tipp mit der Feder nach dem Handrad: Die Feder auf die andere Seite des Handrades zu machen ist konstruktiv, eher schlecht, da du ja bei dem automatischen Vorschub rotierende Kräfte hast. Mit der Feder an der Position ist gesichert, das du diese Handrad-Unwucht als Schwingungen nicht auf die ganze Maschine bis zum Werkstück weitergeben wirst. Sondern nur dann per Hand arbeiten sollst, wenn du gegen die Feder arbeitest.

I use air to cool.

I know it's an older video, but I wonder if spraying that plastic with clear coat wouldn't have cleared it right up. Great video!

Good luck keeping chips 🍟 out of the drainage port😢

for a cutting fluid, i use denatured ethyl alcohol, same as datron, zero mess to clean afterwords as there is nothing to clean up

Thank you for all the tips. I wonder why not use plumbing PTFE tape on the drain joint, rather than silicone grease ?
Best wishes from a Brit/Ozzie in Japan !
[ Sieg SC4 lathe; SX2P mill coming shortly. X2.7L mills not available in Japan, unfortunately. ]

Spray some clearcoat on the shield.....that sould make it clear again. Not really durable but should work for a while!

why are you forced to manually feed for threading?

clear coat spray paint will sometimes fix a dull scratched plastic when nothing else will

Could have glued magnets to the jar and it would keep its place on the metal table

Great video. I love it how it was concise and to the point, unlike some content creators that want to tell you their life story, about their pets, etc.. Subscribed.

For the plastic screen (chip gaurd) try some braso to polish it up will take you awhile but it works a treat

G’day one good thing that I learnt in plastics we used to use car X-cut past just on a rag but you can use very fine wet and dry paper. Good luck John PS it’s the cutting compound that you would use on cars.

Micromesh sanding pads will work. They go up to 12,000 grit and come with a plastic polishing compound for the final pass.

Go over that chip shield w a torch and it’ll become clear again

If you glue a microwave magnet in the bottom is better, I think

Those plastic pieces on blow moulded boxes are almost certainly polycarbonate. Styrene if it is floppier than spaghetti, polycarbonate if it is stiff.

Paint that plastic thing with some clear coat might make it a lil clearer do like two wet coats with just a spray paint can clear coat

It would’ve been amazing if you used a bandsaw to cut that piece of wood as a joke 😀

Maybe a torch to get the plastic chip guard see through again.

Do not use kerosene! As soon as you take a piece of steel to the grinder you will regret it.

When soldering use a torch with a rose bud for better heating. Nice work otherwise - very good ideas.

Like the glass jar idea . Nice work 🤙🏾

now that you have both, which one would you buy first: lathe or mill ?

I will be mostly drilling the 23 mm hole in the rectangular aluminium block, and a few smaller holes in the corners, which I can handle with my drill press. but that large 23 mm hole is a tough one to make in batches, and I don;t feel safe doing it on the drill press either. I clamped it as hard as you can imagine, and the drill press is still vibrating like mad, and the table is bending slightly downwards from the force, and that also makes the hole slightly out of perfectly parallel to the block's walls.

unfortunately I can't afford 2 machines, and I need to wait maybe a year to buy another machine.

your advice would be greatly appreciated

A quick lick of flame on the screen guard should de-haze it. Enjoying your videos dude. GG

to get the haze out of the acrylic, try hitting it gently with a blue torch

Very good ideas. The best ones I did for mine were
3 axis magnetic DRO
30 inch 50 lbs gas spring to help lift the head. It is now pretty easy
A collar to lock the top of the spindle instead of the spanner. See the one LMS sells
Replace the table locking lever on the front with a large thumb screw. It snapped when it got bound up while moving the table

Plastic can be made transparent by covering with acrylic varnish for headlights.

Kerosene vapour exposure can lead to leukemia. Use a proper coolant.

Get yourself a fluorinated HDPE bottle for the Kerosene. It's the same material used to store Gasoline and other hydrocarbon fuels.

The plastic would have been polycarbonate most likely, try a heat gun lightly

Try using a heat gun to see if the plastic goes back to being clear.

Heya - Have you thought of using polycarbonate instead of acrylic for the shield? Acrylic is quite brittle and heat sensitive - doesn't like small, hot and sharp impacts. Polycarbonate is pretty good at that (although does scratch a bit easier). The plastic in the video looks like PETG to me.

Try pledge floor polish on your screen. Used a lot in modelling for make scuffed plastic clear again.

Did it come with a DRO? If so, link to it or???

Wow this mill is allot better then mine :( Mine looks like X2D which is a complete junk.
Where do you this ?

use carbide if you worried about tool life on small milling machines.. just dont go too big

Hey for your lathe, not sure why you can't use for threading it under power (just found your channel today, this is the first video I've seen), but check out Clough42 and his ELS [Electronic lead screw] project, it might just be the solution you need. Otherwise, great suggestions for the mill upgrades!

For aluminium, try metholated spirits (or rubbing alcohol, as we call it where I live) as a cutting fluid. It prevents edge build-up, evaporates quickly, and leaves no waxy residue like WD40. I've never used kerosene, but it does make sense that it would work. From using it for other things, though, I'd think it would leave some sort of residue. But if it slows or prevents rust, so much the better. I enjoy your channel, by the way. Thank you for sharing.