Home made power feed for HM-45

[Sterob]

I posted a question here about this a few weeks ago wondering if anyone had done this at all. I didn't get any responses so I guess not....
I have decided to have a go at making my own power feed, partly for fun and partly to save a few dollars. If it all gets too hard, I will look at buying one from the US as I can get one a bit cheaper over here. I will require building a 240/ 110V AC step-down transformer, but that won't be hard. The ones available locally use them anyway and cost $100!
I am planning on using a 24 V DC motor and have already built a PWM speed control , that is able to handle 20A. I have ordered a 100W motor and a 250 W motor with gearbox from Oatley Electronics to experiment with so it should be interesting.
If anyone is interested, I could post progress reports ( and pics when I work out how to do it) as it progresses, if anyone else is looking at having a go as well.
The most difficult part will be a cluch system which is simple, quick and robust. Early days yet.....

[garf]

Hey! more power to ya, keep us posted by all means regarding the power feed set up. Are you happy with the mill?, been looking at the same model for awhile now myself.
Regards,
Gary.

[watson]

I posted a question here about this a few weeks ago wondering if anyone had done this at all. I didn't get any responses so I guess not....
I have decided to have a go at making my own power feed, partly for fun and partly to save a few dollars. If it all gets too hard, I will look at buying one from the US as I can get one a bit cheaper over here. I will require building a 240/ 110V AC step-down transformer, but that won't be hard. The ones available locally use them anyway and cost $100!
I am planning on using a 24 V DC motor and have already built a PWM speed control , that is able to handle 20A. I have ordered a 100W motor and a 250 W motor with gearbox from Oatley Electronics to experiment with so it should be interesting.
If anyone is interested, I could post progress reports ( and pics when I work out how to do it) as it progresses, if anyone else is looking at having a go as well.
The most difficult part will be a cluch system which is simple, quick and robust. Early days yet.....

G'day Sterob,
The oatley motors have tons of grunt..they propel me (at 90 Kilos) in a home-made cart timed on the road at over 30Kmh. I've built the same speed control, from Oatley, and if your using the same circuit don't forget the reverse diode and Capacitor across the motor terminals. The motors manifest themselves in a dirty brown smell without them.
Keep us posted on progress.
Regards,
Noel

[Sterob]

Garf:I have not had the mill for long, but I think I have bought the right one for my situation. My space is a little limited. I appreciate the dovetaial column and the gear drive.
Watson: I did a test with a smaller motor, which was labouring and it was drawing about 36W so I am sure the 100W motor will do the job.
I actually bought a DS kit for the speed control but it is the same design as Oatleys and includes the protection components.

[Sterob]

I got my motors from Oatleys yesterday. I've decided to use the 250 W motor, for now, as it already has a gearbox fitted. I made a quick coupling and wired up the motor to my speed control. I had to hold the motor in my hands as I drove the table, but it was good enough to see if it was going to work or not. The motor seemed to have no problems driving the table (as you'd expect with 250W behind it) I was concerned that full speed may be too fast, but it doesn't seem to be atm. Hard to say until I start milling I guess.
Next problem is to decide how I am going to clutch the motor in and out quickely and easily. The 2 choses so far are: mount the shafts inline and have a sliding dog clutch, or mount a gear wheel on each shaft, mount them next to each other, but not engaged and then use a moving idler gear to engage/disengae the drive to the table. Each has pros and cons, so we will have to see which way I go.

[watson]

I have no idea how a mill works, but is the feed with the geared motor connected at all times, although not feeding?? If that is the case, would a simple switch suffice. As I said, I've no idea what you're up to.
Ignore if required...
Regards,
Noel

[Sterob]

Normally, the motor is disengaged from the leadscrew when not in use. If it wasn't the motor and gearbox would load the leadscrew to much and make manual use difficult. This operation needs to be quick and reliably otherwise it would quickly become annoying...:0)

[Sterob]

The last few days have seen the electrics/electronics all built and tested.I have a power switch, speed control, direction control switch and tranverse button, all working ok.
Obtained some 6 mm and 10 mm aluminium plate to manufacture the motor mount, and began milling out the odd shape so the end plate sits flush against the end of the table.
Also the three gears I ordered from RS arrived today, so I can start machining them to fit the motor and mill shaft.
Things are moving along nicely....

[watson]

Love to see a cupla pictures...as everything I build is a bit "agricultural".
Noel

[Sterob]

OK, there is not alot to see at the moment , but I'll upload a couple of pics.

[Sterob]

oops.....Worked out what I was doing wrong.
First pic is the endplate that will be mounted to the mill table.
The next one shows the approx position of the gears. The top one is the moving idler gear that will engage/disengage the motor.
The last one is the front of the control box. ( sorry, I had a better pic and uploaded it to a test and then it wouldn't let me attach it to this post. )
I made an extension shaft for the motor so I could fit the gear to it so will get a pic of that later. Still have to get a keyway cut.

[watson]

Salubrious Stuff!!
Noel

[Sterob]

I have now got the gears fitted and the housing basically finished and secured to the table. The next job is to make a movable arm to fix the idler gear to. Not sure how THAT is gpoing to work out yet. It might take a coulpe of versions to get something simple and working well.

[Sterob]

Still making progress. Just about finished now and everything seems ok so far.
A had a bit of trouble deciding how to lock the clutch lever and made 3 different models before getting something that would work. I ended up using a small piece of spring steel so as to get side movement ( with built in spring action) but no vertical movement. This will allow the lever to hold itself in the gate.
I have used the power feed when making the top of the housing and didn't have any problems , so I'm quite happy with it.

[Sterob]

Ok, I have pretty well have the power feed finished.
Today I tidied up the wiring in the speed control box and mounted the box on top of the main housing, all nice and neat like.....
I dispensed with the on/off switch as I am using the K.I.S.S. principle and the direction control has a 'off' position anyway. I will just have to remember to turn the unit off at the wall when I finish using it.
I also noticed that the housing seems to have reduced my 'X' travel somewhat, but I don't think it will matter that much for what I will be doing. If it does, I can trim the bottom of the housing a bit.
This the last post on this, unless anyone wants any more info.
Thank you for watching......