Thread: Ornamental Mill

just found this

http://www.legacywoodworking.com/demoVideo.cfm

I have the infomation on the Legacy mill, I don't want to pay the high dollars to buy it, I want to know if anyone knows how to build it. The gears and the timing would be the crucial factors I think.

Haven't built one yet, but a critical factor for positive results will be backlash, i.e. the amount of slop in the drive train. The Sears (Craftsman) Router Crafter uses aircraft cable IIRC. Cable stretch (or apparent stretch) could affect the precision of repeated passes.

For gear or chain drive, backlash is unavoidable. The way to accommodate both cable stretch and backlash is to provide pre-loads against the rotation of the workpiece or router traverse, and to always use the same direction of rotation or router traverse. I'd advise against using springs to provide pre-load, because the spring force is proportional to the amount of displacement. Better to use counterweights, which provide a constant force. For resistance to rotation, provide a drum with several wraps of cable terminating in a weight; the total amount of counterweight drop must be less than the height of the workpiece above the floor, or the end cuts will be wobbly. Similar for the counterweight resisting the router traverse.

Joe

Thanks for that Joe, counterweights must obviously be far superior to springs, will use them on my chain drive cnc machine.

Great information, I hadn't thought of that aspect.

In my quest to figure out how to make my own ornamental mill, I had a memory from long ago. I dug out the owners manual from my first Craftsman router I got from my Dad when I was 16 years old, and there it was; the "Craftsman Router Crafter". After a few Google searches I found a few of the Router Crafters on the internet for sale. The first one I came accross was an incomplete machine on Ebay for a substantial amount. The next was a brand new, still in the original box, Router Crafter in Tuscon, AZ for a meager $50.00 US. I was trying to figure out how to get this machine when I came accross a Router Crafter just over the border in Canada (about 25 miles from where I live). We took a little trip up there on Friday and lo and behold, this one was still in the original box and priced at $50.00 also. After further inspection, I doubt this machine was ever used, all the parts still sealed in the original bags, the owners manual intact. The price tag on the box showed this machine sold in the early 70's for $99.99 Candian. Sears quit making this machine in the mid 70's for lack of interest (talk about being ahead of your time). It's not a "Legacy Ornamental Mill" by any means, but it will serve it's purpose and I didn't have to lay out $900.00 US to buy it. Nor did I have to figure out how to build it. I did find out through all my searching, this type of machine is now called a "router lathe", also there is a European version of this machine (CanWest) on the market for about $150.00 US. Thank you to the people trying to help me. My quest seems to be over for now.

How about some photo's of it Imdusty

Edit just found this doing a gogle

http://www.twistedtimber.net/howto/stuff.html

That's a picture of the CanWood version, but you can get the jist of it. Pretty simple concept if you think about it.

I own 2 legacy mills worth every penny fantastic machines far to hard to make anything as good I think but this guy made a very big one
http://castlesimon.com/Projects/Orna...6/Default.aspx
might give you a few ideas
Bill