Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sherline Mill - Y Axis Extension

To start working larger pieces on my CNC Sherline I bought an 18" cross slide and lead screw. During installation I realized that the Y axis lead screw was a lot longer than it needed to be and thought of this modification.


The Z axis block is bolted to the bed plate with two screws, I decided to move the Z axis block back and use the rear fastener as the front. I then made this extension out of 3/8 aluminum angle. When I bolted it down for the final time I added 5 minute epoxy to the surfaces for added stiffness. I've been running like this for about two years. I use paper to shim the vertical axis ways into perpendicularity.

Because the Y axis lead screw nut is at the front cross slide saddle the rest of the lead screw is unused. Best of all this is a one morning project and you get about 2.0" extra Y travel for free!



As you can see the lead screw is plenty long enough to stay comfortably in the anti backlash assembly. 


This guy is on to something Laser Alignment for the Sherline Mill  *I*

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