Thread: DRO & X axis power feed for RF-30 mill

Originally Posted by iron bark

Hi all,

Just picked up a Taiwanese RF30 mill and it looks to be in pretty good shape. One retired toolmaker owner since new, so am thinking of putting on a digital readout and X axis power feed. Has any body out there done either of these fits to the RF-30, and if so, any problems or advice to a newcomer to milling??

Need it be said?

Photos, dude, photos!

Other than that, no I can't help you. But I will be watching with interest!

Cheers,

Simon

I have fitted a DRO to my rf 30 although I need to rethink the y axis brackets as it's not reading accurately the X axis scale is very easy to fit.I also want to make a power feed so will be watching with interest.

OK, not much to show yet. More a question of whether it is possible, or worth it with this machine

Depending on the type of feed and readout you are looking for,they combined will be worth as much if not more than the mill.
If you make your own feed it should be cheaper.
If you wish not to go with the glass scale type of readout it will be cheaper although not sure about its accuracy over an extended period of time or its ability to with stand coolant.
If you go with a manufactured feed it will be around $395 for a 240 volt system,if you purchase some from overseas you may need a transformer,at the moment Titan have one advertised on ebay for what I believe to be a good price.
With the glass scale readout it could be anywhere from around $390 to $600 depending on how many axis you wish to cover.
The manufactured feeds and readouts are easy to fit.

Hi Ironbark
Could you tell me the size of your vice that is what i need for my new/sh table

Your mill looks in good nick, looks like it come with tooling too
Thanks

G'Day Ironbark,
Looks like your RF came pretty well equipped, I have fitted a power feed and scales to my RF 31, being a lazy old bugger I took the path of least resistance and went for a horizontal feed, installation is a breeze, remove handwheel,fit gear, fit adapter plate, fit feed unit,adjust gear clearance, about an hours work all up, as Pipeclay says if you can find a 240 volt unit go for it. While I would have preferred a glass scale DRO, I had to settle for remote display scales, a bit of work to fit, but do the job with some limitations and the all up cost of about $175.00 for 3 axis was within my budget.
Welder,
found a photo of a Y axis scale bracket the other day.
Regards,
Martin 700.jpg

Thanks for the info Pipeclay

Whitey, The mill came with the 4" swivel vice shown in the pic, plus a tilting 4" vice, set of clamps, stacks of parallels, end mills and slot drills, a 75mm face mill with brazed carbide cutters, Posi-lock collet chuck and collets for screw-type cutters and some other tooling that I have yet to identify.

Originally Posted by welder

I have fitted a DRO to my rf 30 although I need to rethink the y axis brackets as it's not reading accurately the X axis scale is very easy to fit.I also want to make a power feed so will be watching with interest.

Welder, Just out of interest I found this on the net - may be some food for thought - http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~thetink...eed/index.html

I made a power feed for my HM-45 ) same table as yours I think ) It took a long time, but I'm fussy and it was cheap.
I used a DC gearmotor was the shaft inline with the table screw. I bought a speed controller board of the net ( Ocean Controls I think ) and I made a Dog clutch so I could quickly engage and disengage it.
It works great and it not too noisy. I tried gear reduction and it was very noisy. You want to aim for a speed range of 0 to 200 rpm and fast traverse is 240 rpm. My fast traverse is a little slow but I can handle that...lol
I posted photos here about 2 years ago.

Steve