What's new
What's new

mini mill harbor freight worth converting to cnc?

crlalas

Aluminum
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Can someone give me input if its worth converting it into a belt driven cnc, meaning the stepper motors drive the lead screws with belts? What are possible drawbacks beyond the higher rpms the motors run art?
 
Can someone give me input if its worth converting it into a belt driven cnc, meaning the stepper motors drive the lead screws with belts? What are possible drawbacks beyond the higher rpms the motors run art?

The machine-tool-shaped-object you opened with is itself not even an allowed topic of discussion here on PM.

Hobbyists, other forums, several such, can better assist you in any case.

They are the folks that actually HAVE these critters and do "stuff" to them and with them.

Not a "status" thing. Just kayaks and containerships different.
 
Last edited:
Anything is possible..
eBay - Page Not Found

Dribbler, just because you can google it. That doesn't make it right.

This is the "Largest Manufacturing Technology Community on the Web"

"mini mill harbor freight worth converting to cnc?". Seriously???

To the O.P. You need CNC Zone. Those blokes will sort you out with with an Arduino Control. Weed wacker powered CNC.

When you get to Fanuc, Siemens, Okuma, Heidenhain, you'll have a place here.

This was the bloke in his 7th post, had retrofitted a Bridgeport.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...-6-9-oclock-tool-markings-352070/#post3199046

Apologies for sounding rude. But we don't do Harry Home Shop Here.
 
Bad idea. I have a grizzly mill in my model shop most for milling plastic and tapping parts. It has at least .070 backlash in XY and the Z axis clutch is wimpy. This has the rigidity of a wet noodle. Without the DRO package this machine would be basically useless.

You will neither cut accurate nor good looking parts. You could save yourself a lot of headache and money by just buying a southwest prototrak.
 
That thing is a toy and a poorly made one at that, I would not use it to mill hard butter.
 
Yes, I think you'll find that a CNC-ified HF Mini-Mill will bring you hours of joy. But the real big thing is converting CNC machines to manual use. I took a brand new Haas VF-11, stripped the motors off it, added handwheels to the axis (axii?), and have been having a wonderful time making aircraft wing spars by hand.

Yes, there's a few drawbacks, such as having to endure showers of hot chips and coolant, and the occasional "runaway" when climb milling with a 1" endmill at .5" width and 3" DOC, but the upsides include my new massive biceps, my excellent hand-eye coordination (well, just one eye now), and being able to impress the ladies by circularly interpolating a radius to within a thousandth by hand.

So forget the mini-mill, go maxi-mill instead!
 
Yes, I think you'll find that a CNC-ified HF Mini-Mill will bring you hours of joy. But the real big thing is converting CNC machines to manual use. I took a brand new Haas VF-11, stripped the motors off it, added handwheels to the axis (axii?), and have been having a wonderful time making aircraft wing spars by hand.

Yes, there's a few drawbacks, such as having the endure showers of hot chips and coolant, and the occasional "runaway" when climb milling with a 1" endmill at .5" width and 3" DOC, but the upsides include my new massive biceps, my excellent hand-eye coordination (well, just one eye now), and being able to impress the ladies by circularly interpolating a radius to within a thousandth by hand.

So forget the mini-mill, go maxi-mill instead!

This sounds neat. Could you post a picture?
 
You can also get one of these;

89818_1000x1000.jpg


They are awesome, I had one when I was a kid. There are plenty of things you can do with them.

Milland, they are Axes--plural Axis. Just curious how you Interpolate a Circle with one hand wheel??

R
 
Milland, they are Axes--plural Axis. Just curious how you Interpolate a Circle with one hand wheel??

R

I had old-school Erector Sets when I was a pup. No fancy-Dan curved elements for me, just straight stamped tin-plate, with 6-32 screws and nuts to hold everything together. Colored pulleys? Plastic feet? Balderdash and humbug!

In fairness, I did start writing axes, but got confused with repetition and by the time I'd stopped I was up to axeseseseseses and said the heck with it.

Oh, forgot the handwheel aspect. I did actually write "handwheels" in my original response, but it turns out that was pointless, as the distance from X to Y to Z was so great that it was simpler to just detach one handle from the ballscrew and move it to the next axis to be moved.
 
I had old-school Erector Sets when I was a pup. No fancy-Dan curved elements for me, just straight stamped tin-plate, with 6-32 screws and nuts to hold everything together. Colored pulleys? Plastic feet? Balderdash and humbug!

In fairness, I did start writing axes, but got confused with repetition and by the time I'd stopped I was up to axeseseseseses and said the heck with it.

I had the old school erector set and used to lock up the motor and watch it smoke.
 
I had the old school erector set and used to lock up the motor and watch it smoke.

We couldn't afford smoke when I was young. I had to go outside and scavenge cigarette butts, wait for them to dry out (it was always raining back then), then hope for a moment's parting of the clouds for the sun to shine through. A correctly chosen fragment of broken bottle, a little patience for the focused sun's rays to light the butt, and Voilà, the closest I could get to Lucas guts.
 
Can someone give me input if its worth converting it into a belt driven cnc, meaning the stepper motors drive the lead screws with belts? What are possible drawbacks beyond the higher rpms the motors run art?

You could also add some of these, and call it a box way Machine;

419SlmEyVSL._SX342_.jpg


OR just use the boxes that the Machine came in, save some money. You are going to have to invest in Seafoam for something. You could use duct tape instead of actual hard rubber belts (in a pinch). You could take the drivers side window out of the broken down Station wagon sitting in the back yard and use it as door glass, or just take the whole door off and duct tape it to the front of the Machine, Open/Close, power windows woot!!! Zip ties!!! Don't forget zip ties, you are going to need a lot. And for the pro look get an empty can of Spagettio's, a small paint brush, and put some Molasses in there to give you just the right image of having a can of Moly-dee sitting around.

Pretending is fun!!

Robert
 
I understand the impulse to degrade people who ask questions such as the OP has.

But imagine what his/her position might be. Might be a person who is attracted to machining, and enjoys making/building things. This might be a person who has little money, and is not in a position to buy/place a full size vertical in their garage.

Most times, people excel in the very things they enjoy most. Reason is they give it their full attention and by default put every ounce of drive they have into it.

I do realize this forum doesn't allow hobby machines, and i agree with that.

But with the amount of "I can't find good help/employees" threads popping up. You guys ever think being total dickheads and discouraging people such as the Op contributes to this? We all know money isn't the main factor most of us got into manufacturing.
 
I understand the impulse to degrade people who ask questions such as the OP has.

But imagine what his/her position might be. Might be a person who is attracted to machining, and enjoys making/building things. This might be a person who has little money, and is not in a position to buy/place a full size vertical in their garage.

Most times, people excel in the very things they enjoy most. Reason is they give it their full attention and by default put every ounce of drive they have into it.

I do realize this forum doesn't allow hobby machines, and i agree with that.

But with the amount of "I can't find good help/employees" threads popping up. You guys ever think being total dickheads and discouraging people such as the Op contributes to this? We all know money isn't the main factor most of us got into manufacturing.

Can NOT understand how you make the leap from pointing out the "tool" isn't a fit to what PM's community own and use and work to keep in running order, to considering that a criticism of a person or even his economic limits.

Pointing him to hobby forums will actually get him HELP! Useful help. Appropriate help. FASTER help!

That's where the machines ARE discussed. That's where those who have them do "clever stuff" to and with them. Hooking-up with the right resources is a "win" for his being able to make the best of what he HAS (or is about to acquire.. whichever..)

Up to him what he learns next and what he does with that.

For all I know he may be sitting left-front-most seat, my next ride on a Boeing, doing heart surgery.. or writing me a speeding ticket. Wasn't intent on pissing him off.

The machine choice does not define who the man is.

Everybody knows that only pickup-trucks can do THAT!

:)
 
Last edited:
Can NOT understand how you make the leap from pointing out the "tool" isn't a fit to what PM's community own and use and work to keep in running order, to considering that a criticism of a person or even his economic limits.

Pointing him to hobby forums will actually get him HELP! Useful help. Appropriate help. FASTER help!

That's where the machines ARE discussed. That's where those who have them do "clever stuff" to and with them. Hooking-up with the right resources is a "win" for his being able to make the best of what he HAS (or is about to acquire.. whichever..)

Up to him what he learns next and what he does with that.

For all I know he may be sitting left-front-most seat, my next ride on a Boeing, doing heart surgery.. or writing me a speeding ticket. Wasn't intent on pissing him off.

The machine choice does not define who the man is.

Everybody know that only pickup-trucks can do THAT!

:)

With how clever and long winded you seem to be, you don't address the point I make.

The tone on these type of posts is many times borderline insulting....For what reason? What goal does that achieve?

With all the talking you do on this forum, much of which I believe goes right over the heads of most these guys....You missed my simple point?
 








 
Back
Top