Unimat Machinery - Ken - Nevadablue

[derekwarner_decoy]

Welcome Ken.......being an old hand member @ PD's .......I have taken the liberty of opening a thread on your behalf called "Unimat Machinery - Ken - Nevadablue"......under Paddler >>> Construction
There are many PD members interested in machining & the Unimat range falls well into this requirement....so please post away....

If you are comfortable with this.....possibly one of our PD moderators could transfer the previous postings to this new thread.... Derek 

  ......courtesy of Ken......."Yes, thank you. I got a lot of ideas from those sites. I'm making a hybrid machine with Taig and Sherline accessories and some shop made stuff. If there's interest I could post some pics of the progress. I'm not sure if that's appropriate or where to put it if it is.

[Nevadablue]

Thanks Derek! I'll start updating the thread. I made some progress today, getting closer to having a lathe I can use in the living room.

[Nevadablue]

I'll start with the Milling Machine first. Just to make it less confusing, I'll make this thread for the Mill and start another for the lathe.

I have started working on making a dedicated micro mill out of a Unimat lathe. The little beasts are designed to become a mill by mounting the headstock on a vertical column, but there are several limitations. I'll attempt to address these with this conversion.
I intend to design and build a vertical feed mechanism, using a Unimat feed screw mounted in 3 blocks on the vertical column. This will allow fine feed and much better control. The only feed in the mill setup as originally designed is to loosen a bolt and slide the head assembly up and down, and the 'drill press' style feed mechanism.

The large gap between the headstock and mounting clamp will be filled with a standard 20mm thick headstock raising block.

So, here is the machine set up essentially as designed. You can see the first bit of the feed mechanism, the cardboard mockup just below the column clamp. This piece will have the threaded hole for the feed screw and move the head up and down. The assembly will be made up of 3 aluminum plates, one mounted at the top of the column, one at the bottom and the one shown in the mockup. They will be aligned by 2 bars made of Unimat way bars which are ground 12 mm round stock. I also intend to make a new column about 4" taller. Note the limited overhead space above the milling vise.

[Nevadablue]

 I put the headstock raising block in place and mounted a couple of wooden stabilizing feet under the machine. I've made a motor mount for a sewing machine motor. I think it will have enough power. Since it rotates in the opposite direction from the Unimat motor, I had to mount it on top of the machine. This is actually better for the mill, lots more space.

[Nevadablue]

I finished the motor mount and got it put in place. It should work well, perfect, IMO.

[Nevadablue]

I found a split shaft collar that works perfectly for holding the mill head at a specific height. This is a shortcoming of the original setup, you need 3 hands and luck to avoid dropping the head or damaging the cutter or work. The post is .920" in diameter and this split collar is for a 1" shaft but it works perfectly.

This is how the support collar works. It supports the head at a specific height and the clamp bolt in the adapter holds the assembly from turning. Note the quick clamp handle from Little Machine Shop. Just a happy coincidence, they are M6x1 threads like the rest of the Unimat.

[Nevadablue]

Here's the milling head and the finished machine (for now, it is useable). I want to mount a dial indicator under the drive plate so I can use the 'drill press handle' with some accuracy.

[Nevadablue]

I also bought some flange nuts in M6x1. The "Unimat" tee nuts cost 5 bucks each!!!  These flange nuts cost a few cents and a few minutes with a file. I'll make some real T-nuts later.

[Nevadablue]

 This is a fun project for me. My longer term plan is to make the feed screw adjustable Z-axis thing so the split collar will become more of a backup or not used at all. Since I can't make metal chips in the house I'll have to do the work on the Z-axis thing in the shop. Gotta be really careful out there. This healing process is slow, the older the slower.

This is the inspiration feed setup that I want to copy. As found on the Yahoo Unimat group. Thanks to the original builder for his great pics.  This came from the Yahoo Unimat site. One of the members there sells this setup.

[Nevadablue]

I decided to take a pic of the planned indexer for the mill. This should work out well. I'll have to bring the tailstock assembly up to the same height as the indexer and drill a couple of rows of holes in the base plate for the indexer to bolt to. I may as well make the base plate into a fixture plate while I'm at it.

[Nevadablue]

That's where this project sits for now. I have some parts ordered for the vertical control and need to make an adapter for the collet holder I have. The collet holder is a standard E16 unit from Taig. Also, my collet set is still between here and China.  I have to make the adapter to fit the Unimat spindle. This will allow me to bore the supports for the vertical control. I also want to make a taller column to give more overhead space in the mill.