Getting my Russian shop set up

[jdurand]

Got the second box for the milling machine with the base and a space for all the accessories they'd sent like the wheel handles, drill chuck, x-axis motor, ...

I say space because they weren't there.

While I wait for box #3, I hooked up the mill with a long cord into the shop with the wire for the sub-panel hookup. The mill has the drill chuck adapter in it and fortunately it's the same chuck as the lathe (B16 taper) so I have a drill press! Used already, it is so nice to have a press again!

Ok, I have an ER-32 holder and set of collets so should be good to go (other than the lack of official handle-wheels).

NOT SO FAST!

The drill chuck adapter has an M12 draw bolt but the standard MTB4 taper on the ER-32 chuck is M16. So, yesterday I picked up a length of M16 all thread and nuts. We've had to go to Krasnodar a couple of times and have to go buy some wall paint today, but soon I will have the mill milling.

Ok, I did do some milling using the drill chuck, don't tell anyone!

I'm not used to how fast the mill stops, that variable speed drive works great. With the auto tapping mode, it does a Z feed automatically (dial to set the speed) until it hits the end stop you've set. Then cleanly stops and reverses and backs out until it's all the way up or you hit stop. I have a tapping chuck on order, this will be nice. I can also set it to a very low RPM which reduces my nervous condition when power tapping. I could also see this is a series of holes needs to be drilled. Hit go, and watch it do all the work. Not CNC but hey, not bad.

Oh, they apparently grabbed the DRO from their lathe stock, it was set to lathe mode when it got here. Had me a mite confused until I changed the setting to mill.

[Frank S]

jdurand; I saw your comment on girl wires shop thread and thought I would post my reply here. is the ridged pvc conduit you are using the black 1,5mm thick stuff, like is so popular all over Europe and most of Asia? I got really used to using it while overseas and rather liked it better than what is used here in the USA. One of the things I like about it was the ease of forming it with bends just insert a long spring to the area to be shaped then make the bends if you required a little tighter radius a little heat from a heat gun then holding the shape until cool and the bend would stay put. It was easy to swedge for making long runs without the need for couplings and didn't take up near as much space as what is common here in the USA,
For embedding in the plaster get you one of those cutters and just grind the groves to depth then plaster over the conduit and paint the area, Yes it can be a bit of a pain but far easier than having to route in a wood frame house with sheet rock. Be sure to have a locator sensor to determine if any plumbing or electrical is already in the area though and make notes of any additional runs on the original drawings

[jdurand]

The conduit I'm using is normal straight gray PVC pipe. I was surprised they have that but not the fittings.

The ridged stuff I've seen is very flexible. If you hold out a piece it droops. That's one thing I don't like about it for some installations, it's like installing hose and tends to droop from hanger to hanger.

A lot of people don't use any conduit, as you saw was in her shop from before. The surface mount electrical boxes generally come with glands or just rubber diaphragms that you cut a hole in and stuff the wire through. Since the subpanel will be in the shop which will have students in it, I opted for rigid pvc. When I run the long wire over to the greenhouse that will be in the super flex and just run through the attic and then under the patio roof over to the greenhouse.

Here's some red stuff, no metal, just plastic. It's not really split, that's just for illustration.


a junction box. The stepped cones are a flex rubber-like substance.

[jdurand]

Got the sub panel installed, but one of the Chinese outlets was bad, so I'll have to get a new one tomorrow. But, I hooked everything else up, plugged the saw in and it even goes in the right direction!

The electrician just left a VERY stiff cable hanging out of the wall so I put a junction box over it, then connected that to the sub panel.







About time to bring in the milling machine. We've got students coming in about 2 weeks.

[Frank S]

If your saw went in reverse, would it put wood back together?

[jdurand]

If your saw went in reverse, would it put wood back together?

That would be a welder then and the former welder would now be a saw.

[jdurand]

Ok, some more work done. Band saw stand built and saw attached. I still have to add the automatic shutoff, coolant pump and tank, and a hydraulic downfeed damper. I have all the parts but for now this is good enough and it's off to other things.





On to the adventure of moving the milling machine into the shop.

First, clean a space.



Next I removed anything that was easy to remove from the milling machine such as the motors. This made it lighter and shorter. Here’s some of the items I removed.



Here’s the milling machine with the parts removed and ready to be lifted onto the base.



With all parts I removed, it STILL weights 297 kg!

How to get this machine from the driveway into the shop. As always, carefully plan out how you’re going to do it. Things will never go exactly according to plan, but it’s much better to have a plan to start with.

Using a pallet and assorted wood including some nice smooth panels recovered from discarded furniture, I built a platform on the porch that was slightly higher than the door sill and tilted down towards the floor inside. It will turn out I got it a little too close to the floor and it made getting the wheels under the machine difficult.



Now it’s a “simple” matter to lift the machine up and set it gently on the base.



Bolts installed, ready for next step. There should be a drip tray like a giant cooking sheet that sits between the top and the base, but that was lost in shipping along with several other parts. Those are on their way, but that means I’ll have to lift the top part off the base again to install the tray. I will be a portable hoist for use inside the shop to do this.



The next pictures show carefully, slowly pulling this into the shop. The red strap is a tow strap for an automobile.









The little wheels under this are “Extra Heavy Duty” furniture moving wheels. They just barely held the load and were somewhat damaged.



And here is where it will sit. It will have to be moved for when we finish the floor, but after that it will be bolted down so it can’t tip over.



I decided to stop there for the day. Tomorrow I’ll put all the pieces back on that I have and connect it to power. I will have to 3D print some hand wheels for it as it will be some time before the replacement ones get here. Also the motor that moves the table right and left was also lost, so for now it’s all done by turning the hand wheels.

[jdurand]

Two of the things lost in shipping (seems the box was opened for "inspection" and all the not-bolted-down stuff "fell out") were the M16 draw bolt and the hand wheels.

While waiting for the replacement parts to arrive (it's becoming a Johnny Cash Cadillac), I bought a stick of M16 running thread (all thread) and nuts as well as designing hand wheels to 3D print.

Printed the wheels yesterday and when I got up this morning I started the handles printing. They would finish in a short while.

Went downstairs and started looking at the news while sipping on my tea. I went up to turn off the printer and get the handles, came downstairs and the power went off.

Turned off computers (battery backup), finished my tea and went to work.

First, I put all the bits back on the mill (all the stuff I'd removed to make it lighter).

Then make some set/grub screws for the wheels (after going to the store to get a hacksaw), and put the wheels and draw bolt on the mill. I waited for the power to come back to cut the M16 bolt.







I had to modify the recess for the handle nut, I hadn't left enough clearance. I simply cut out the plastic, these aren't for show.









And THEN, the power came back on late afternoon. That's the longest power failure we've had here since the big flood of 2021.

So, draw bolt cut off, mill powered up and tested. All good.

Tomorrow I have to modify the replacement 380V outlet and mount it on the wall. Then the saw and mill will each have their own outlet.

[jdurand]

Today I'm cleaning and adjusting the mill head. Peeled off the shipping plastic on the big name plate and used orange oil to clean off the glue. Looks a LOT better. Noticed some binding in the spindle DRO (just one of the bolt-on overgrown caliper ones). Got a big hammer and made some delicate adjustments

Anyway, cleaned, back together, automatic downfeed gears greased... looks and works well.

My wife determined she can definitely hear the variable speed drive whining and doesn't like it. I'll have to see if I can change the PWM frequency on that, can't be driving the spouse crazy (ok, she's lived with me for decades, don't driver her crazier or saner).

[jdurand]

The VFD was set to 4kHz, I moved it up to 5 and my wife says while she can still hear it, it doesn't bother her. Funny, now i can hear it more.