Backlash and First Part

I checked the X-axis backlash.  From my measurements I am getting .002 on the X-axis.  I have set this value in Mach3 for backlash compensation.  I;m quite impressed how accurate Mach3 compensates for the slop.  Below is a photo of my backlash testing setup.

I continued to tram the mill and made my first part.  Boy was it awful.  I threw it away. But I've learned many lessons in that short hour of mistakes.  The piece was supposed to be a mount for my X-axis limit and home switch.  It turns out it will not meet my needs.  Having the limit switch mounted horizontal proved to hinder the movement of the trigger arm in both direction because it hit the table.  I was able to turn the trigger arm around to face the back of the switch by loosening the four top screws.  By mounting the switch vertical I was able to achieve my goal of having one switch for both limits of X-axis travel.

I now have homing capability on the X-axis. Tomorrow I will tackle creating a mount for the Z-axis home.  Y will be the most difficult, i'm not looking forward to that.

Motion!

Today was a pretty exciting day.  I moved my computer and controller equipment out into the shop and wired everything up.

Motion now happens on the X and Y axis!  I'm waiting on a coupling from Mcmastercarr to finish the Z-axis assembly.

I've also began experimenting with my limit and home switch setup.  I have the switches arranged in parallel using the normally open (NO) circuitry option.  This allows activation of the limit stop in Mach3 no matter which limit switch is activated.  More importantly this wiring option only uses 1 input of the MX3660.  Which is advantageous because later on those extra inputs could be useful for other operations such as probing or an automatic tool changer.

I noticed the ball screw steel block on the original mill is a perfect size to adapted into a mount for the X-axis limit switch.  When the first chips are produced, this will be the first stock the G0704 biting.