Agree. Another idea would be a spring that keeps the motor disengaged requiring operator input. Your suggestion is preferable while mine is a bit easier and cheaper albeit more of a pain long term.
i would put an endstopon each site configuered as an NC and then put the power on there so that if it hits the end it shuts the power down to the circuit, in the end it is just a security option, normally you standing besides it when working on it but it can happen that you are looking at something else the longer you use the feature
I was thinking the same thing. My shop bought power feed has a 2 way switch and 2 end stops. And when the switch touches one of the end stop it stops the motor.
A nicely presented, designed and implemented project - you will never regret the time and effort you expended on this self-act! A real boon. I made one similar but when I converted my mill to CNC I then made a control box which could be used to drive any of the 3 axis stepper motors - constant torque at any speed - a great improvement!
Not only does it show all your skills & abilities it is also one of the best videos & explanations of how to overcome one's problems. I'm gona update my mill now. Thanks for the info.
Some detents on the shafts and a spring plunger replacing one of those socket screws that engages with the slots seem like a nice way to lock this assembly into engaged/disengaged positions
Hi Phil, I used your idea to build my powerfeed, but I made some adaptations and it worked perfectly, thanks for the idea, of all it is one of the simplest and most functional.
Excellent video... I have watched at least 50 videos trying to find the information you give in this video.. I wanted to use this same type of setup utilizing a windshield wiper motor on my metal lathe feed, this answered "every" concern and question I had and gave me some great design ideas to boot.
Absolutely excellent!! Very impressive! This is some top notch quality engineuity! It looks so good and professional. The average person would without question think that was a factory component. This project is definitely something to be proud of!
Very neat work. With a coat of paint on those chip guards it would pretty much look like a manufacturers option. I built something similar for my little antique lathe. I used a 12v car wiper motor that seems to be happy enough running at 18v (It's been running this voltage for over a year now and hasn't burnt out/caught fire yet. :) ). I didn't bother with a clutch as I can just twist it's adjuster 3 or 4 turns to slacken off and remove it's toothed drive belt. I used a wiper motor because they have 2 sets of windings in them for high and low speeds. Coupled with the PWM speed controller it gives me a brilliant feed speed range. One idea I had, that you might find useful, was to extend the direction switches wires and run them through the "Normally closed" side of a couple microswitches. With some mounting brackets you could use them as limit switches that only break the circuit for feeding in that direction (ie, you can still reverse the feed direction and back the bed away from the triggered switch using the powered feed). In your case it would prevent any chance of running out of bed travel and stalling your motor. In my case I want to do it to help me stop trashing ceramic cutter inserts. If I'm turning a long bar at a VERY slow feed, I'm not adverse to wandering a little way away from my lathe to do something else for a couple of minutes. Sometimes I've got distracted and had to jump back to the lathe when I've heard that familiar Click click click CLACK CRUNCH" sound of lathe tool hitting chuck Jaws !!! :D
simple and cheap, your going to put the shops out of business if you keep giving us these ideas, also well explained with proper video footage explaining the whole process. Loved it.
I like your videos a great deal. Not only are your projects worthy, your approach to them is admirable. What's more you have good sense in what I believe are called production values. Thank you.
Very nicely done, I did much the same thirty years ago, getting into my own shop and not able to afford to buy the professional setup. I really like the "clutch" connect/disconnect. That's almost as easy to use as the designed for power feed. Thanks for sharing this!
I really like this project as it covers different areas of manufacturing from mechanical to electrical work. The workflow is presented in a very calm way. I just enjoyed watching the video. Thanks for the effort.The only idea that came to my mind when watching the final operation was that it might be wise to install the limit switches so that the motor will stop automatically when the end position is reached.
I did the same thing on my 1936 atlas 10d lathe which was made without a power cross feed. i i used 12v wiper motor (free) and 6 amp pwm with reverse (less than $10.00}, cheap and works great, good vid thanx
A nice solution to your problem It turned out very good, you could also add some limit switches to it as well. I might do something similar to my mill having seen your video. Thanks.
Great design Phil, it's the most practical X axis feed I've seen so far - simple but solid and compact. I used the same motor by the look of it, 24V 45W 220 RPM , on a Z axis feed for my mini mill and it works fine for travel and 'mill turning'. Thanks for sharing, Mike
Very enjoyable to watch. Was just asking myself how one would somehow insert the turbo switch somewhere into the PWM circuit when you came up with the solution of bypassing the potentiometer. Brilliant idea, and ex post so simple and obvious..
I borrowed you design and built something similar for my Benchmaster mill. I used a Bodine gear drive. it works great and has really been an arm saver. Thanks.
Awesome design! I would change out the screw in the motor sliding mechanism, with a ballbearing, a spring and a grubscrew. and make two divots in the slot at each end of the sliding part, for that satisfying snap-action ;)
This was really awesome to watch . I recently aquired a lathe that has no cross feed and i think of implementing something similar . Well done ! It was carried out with great prescision and care to work just awesome .
Nicely done! If you add another power feed to one of the other axis, check out the motors that are used to move electric seats. They cost about $12 to $15 USD and are very similar to the wind shield wiper motors. I think I'm going to be adapting some of your ideas to my mill, Thanks.
tip: to make the display even easier to read, add a smoked piece of acrylic (like from a dead alarm clock) such that the display sections that are off don't show up as 'white' to your eye. Increases contrast a tonne.
Built the same years ago 12volt used a dog clutch so the motor was fixed for the Z Axis I used a window winder motor which is much smaller this was on Taiwan round columb mill
Great video, as usual! I don't know why, but no matter how bad my day is, I can watch one of your project vids & the troubles of the day just seem to disappear. No matter how many times I watch one of your vids, I always learn something. Keep posting them, I'm gonna keep watching them! 😃👍
I've been thinking about making my own drive but was stuck on the clutch mechanism, thanks to you I now know how easy to do it. Just like you have. I hope you don't mind me using your idea.. Cheers.
Your stuff is always so interesting and cool. I bought an Opti BF20 mill this year. I need a power feed and you have given me a lot of inspiration. Great content Phil. Dan from Australia.
Great! I chose to use your design on 2 of my machines, I used new Chrysler minivan wiper motors. Got tired of 250 to 350 for power feeds and have them fail.
Very nice. Probably It will be more ergonomic if you put a connecting bar under the table (if possible) to be able to engage and disengage the motor from the side of the handwheel.
I did sort of the same thing for a down feed. The only thing I did different was I slide the coupling back and forth instead of the whole motor. Good machining.
Hi Phil, Very nice work, I have the factory power feed on my SX4 which has developed an intermittent fault.....sometimes it doesn’t work, other times it’s fine.....problem is the fault is getting more frequent, now there is a solution! Cheers
Great work and great video. If you do you to add limit switches, you would wire them NC (normally closed) between the 'outputs' of that 3-position direction switch.
Very clean installation. Looked at a few builds and only one so far has made a listing of what the actual feed rates are. Maybe a lot just use it for moving the x axis quickly for positioning.
Thanks! As for the feed rates, I didn't bother calculating them because I feed by "gut feeling" with the handwheel and so far that has worked out fine, so I'm doing the same with the powerfeed. But that being said, even if I worked out the feed rates, there's no guarentee it would be the same on some other mill, since it depends on the pitch of the leadscrew which can be different between models. What I can tell you is that you probably want something roughly in the range of 10-250 rpm on the motor side to get a reasonable range of "normal" feed rates on a manual mill.
Outstanding! I've been looking for guidance in making a power feed for my Benchmaster mill. This, with minor modifications, would work very well for me. Thank you for the excellent video.
Just a transverse feed motor and a tool feed motor and then adding a CNC controller can make it into a brilliant mill. Excellent video, thanks. (Although they would need to be a bit more upscale than wiper motors) ;)
Nice, clean upgrade without commercial extras that most hobby users never use. Have seeen that some react on your gloves. Me too, but I,d never use medical/nitrit gloves as their fingertips very easily get winded around rotating components( thankfully I reached the STOP button in time). Best regards.
Phil, great video as always. What about using a solenoid to engage and disengage the drive motor? Electronic door lock, (DC) fuel cutoff solenoid,(AC) or through shaft solenoid would work perfectly I believe. Anyway, just a suggestion to an already great build.
MOST people don't learn from their own mistakes, and virtually never learn from the mistakes of others.
Nice video.
This is Absolutely the slickest diy build i've seen for this application!!!!
Brilliant ! You have a very effective presentation style; your unhidden “learning opportunities” are hugely valuable to many. Great work.
awesome job, just need to add some end stops, these could be added to the directional switch circuit to cut power when it reaches the end of travel.
Agree. Another idea would be a spring that keeps the motor disengaged requiring operator input. Your suggestion is preferable while mine is a bit easier and cheaper albeit more of a pain long term.
i would put an endstopon each site configuered as an NC and then put the power on there so that if it hits the end it shuts the power down to the circuit, in the end it is just a security option, normally you standing besides it when working on it but it can happen that you are looking at something else the longer you use the feature
I was thinking the same thing. My shop bought power feed has a 2 way switch and 2 end stops. And when the switch touches one of the end stop it stops the motor.
A nicely presented, designed and implemented project - you will never regret the time and effort you expended on this self-act! A real boon. I made one similar but when I converted my mill to CNC I then made a control box which could be used to drive any of the 3 axis stepper motors - constant torque at any speed - a great improvement!
Excellent result Phil. I love the clutch mechanism. Nice and simple, but it works great.
Very clever and efficient design! Simple, effective, low-cost and reasonable reliability. Another great build, Phil.
Not only does it show all your skills & abilities it is also one of the best videos & explanations of how to overcome one's problems. I'm gona update my mill now. Thanks for the info.
Some detents on the shafts and a spring plunger replacing one of those socket screws that engages with the slots seem like a nice way to lock this assembly into engaged/disengaged positions
Saturday morning breakfast watching yet another therapeutic video from Mr Vandelay of beautiful engineering and inspirational talent...great stuff!
Incredibly nice integration of the powerfeed whilst maintaining the original function, great job!
Hi Phil, I used your idea to build my powerfeed, but I made some adaptations and it worked perfectly, thanks for the idea, of all it is one of the simplest and most functional.
Excellent video... I have watched at least 50 videos trying to find the information you give in this video..
I wanted to use this same type of setup utilizing a windshield wiper motor on my metal lathe feed, this answered "every" concern and question I had and gave me some great design ideas to boot.
First class work and video , you have a talent, no none stop talking, just to the point well done.
Outstanding. Rapids and all, well done sir.
Very well done from start to finish. You are gifted.
Absolutely excellent!! Very impressive! This is some top notch quality engineuity! It looks so good and professional. The average person would without question think that was a factory component. This project is definitely something to be proud of!
Very neat work. With a coat of paint on those chip guards it would pretty much look like a manufacturers option.
I built something similar for my little antique lathe. I used a 12v car wiper motor that seems to be happy enough running at 18v (It's been running this voltage for over a year now and hasn't burnt out/caught fire yet. :) ). I didn't bother with a clutch as I can just twist it's adjuster 3 or 4 turns to slacken off and remove it's toothed drive belt. I used a wiper motor because they have 2 sets of windings in them for high and low speeds. Coupled with the PWM speed controller it gives me a brilliant feed speed range.
One idea I had, that you might find useful, was to extend the direction switches wires and run them through the "Normally closed" side of a couple microswitches. With some mounting brackets you could use them as limit switches that only break the circuit for feeding in that direction (ie, you can still reverse the feed direction and back the bed away from the triggered switch using the powered feed). In your case it would prevent any chance of running out of bed travel and stalling your motor. In my case I want to do it to help me stop trashing ceramic cutter inserts. If I'm turning a long bar at a VERY slow feed, I'm not adverse to wandering a little way away from my lathe to do something else for a couple of minutes. Sometimes I've got distracted and had to jump back to the lathe when I've heard that familiar Click click click CLACK CRUNCH" sound of lathe tool hitting chuck Jaws !!! :D
simple and cheap, your going to put the shops out of business if you keep giving us these ideas, also well explained with proper video footage explaining the whole process. Loved it.
I like your videos a great deal. Not only are your projects worthy, your approach to them is admirable. What's more you have good sense in what I believe are called production values. Thank you.
Good job.
Should hold hex collet block with the flats against the vise jaws though. Gripping on the points allows it to come loose.
Nice clever solid design man......you never dissapoint.......lovin the keyway broach. Congratulations on the new place look forward to seeing it
Wow, great build in all aspects. Great design, great fab, great fit and finish, very nice!
Very nicely done, I did much the same thirty years ago, getting into my own shop and not able to afford to buy the professional setup. I really like the "clutch" connect/disconnect. That's almost as easy to use as the designed for power feed. Thanks for sharing this!
Very elegant design. Thank you for taking the time to make a video.
What an excellent video. It's so useful to hear your thinking as you design it. Really excellent.
What an outstanding video and build. Your amazing and must stay awake most nights thinking about things to build,
CAD program and all. Loved it Phil.
I really like this project as it covers different areas of manufacturing from mechanical to electrical work. The workflow is presented in a very calm way. I just enjoyed watching the video. Thanks for the effort.The only idea that came to my mind when watching the final operation was that it might be wise to install the limit switches so that the motor will stop automatically when the end position is reached.
Definitely one my favorite designs for this I've seen!
What about setting safety stops? What happens when the screw runs out of threads, and jams at the end of travel?
Now you’re just showing off.
Well done sir.
I did the same thing on my 1936 atlas 10d lathe which was made without a power cross feed.
i i used 12v wiper motor (free) and 6 amp pwm with reverse (less than $10.00}, cheap and works great, good vid thanx
A nice solution to your problem It turned out very good, you could also add some limit switches to it as well. I might do something similar to my mill having seen your video. Thanks.
That was excellent work. People like the idea of wiper motors. I made two videos of them and one of them was my most popular video.
Nice upgrade, good design, professional workmanship, great video! Thumbs up!
Hi folks. I've been researching this topic and this is one of the simplest and best implemented self build designs I have come across. BobUK.
It is kinda fun watching parts fly from the lathe at crazy speeds.
Thank you for such a professional looking and functional build.
Great design Phil, it's the most practical X axis feed I've seen so far - simple but solid and compact. I used the same motor by the look of it, 24V 45W 220 RPM , on a Z axis feed for my mini mill and it works fine for travel and 'mill turning'.
Thanks for sharing, Mike
Very enjoyable to watch. Was just asking myself how one would somehow insert the turbo switch somewhere into the PWM circuit when you came up with the solution of bypassing the potentiometer. Brilliant idea, and ex post so simple and obvious..
You are awesome. Just purchased my first small mill. Great idea. 💡 thanks
Hi Phil,
A good design and well implemented.
Take care
Paul,,
I borrowed you design and built something similar for my Benchmaster mill. I used a Bodine gear drive. it works great and has really been an arm saver. Thanks.
Super simple and so elegant! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome design! I would change out the screw in the motor sliding mechanism, with a ballbearing, a spring and a grubscrew. and make two divots in the slot at each end of the sliding part, for that satisfying snap-action ;)
detent!!
Nice build and great video! I think NC switches for limiting table travel would be a good idea.
This was really awesome to watch . I recently aquired a lathe that has no cross feed and i think of implementing something similar . Well done ! It was carried out with great prescision and care to work just awesome .
You are a true artist sir! Very nice job!
Nicely done! If you add another power feed to one of the other axis, check out the motors that are used to move electric seats. They cost about $12 to $15 USD and are very similar to the wind shield wiper motors. I think I'm going to be adapting some of your ideas to my mill, Thanks.
This is exactly what I want to do to my mill. Thank you for such a professional looking and functional build.
tip: to make the display even easier to read, add a smoked piece of acrylic (like from a dead alarm clock) such that the display sections that are off don't show up as 'white' to your eye. Increases contrast a tonne.
Super clean and well done. I'll be copieing this one.
absolutely brilliant, loved every bit of this.
Built the same years ago 12volt used a dog clutch so the motor was fixed for the Z Axis I used a window winder motor which is much smaller this was on Taiwan round columb mill
Great video, as usual! I don't know why, but no matter how bad my day is, I can watch one of your project vids & the troubles of the day just seem to disappear. No matter how many times I watch one of your vids, I always learn something. Keep posting them, I'm gonna keep watching them!
😃👍
There’s only one word to describe this mate absolutely brilliant😀😀👍
Nice build. Very clean and professional. My only comment would be to add some limit switches for both ends of travel.
Absolutely - those worm drives have massive torque and would destroy the gears if not stopped.
I've been thinking about making my own drive but was stuck on the clutch mechanism, thanks to you I now know how easy to do it. Just like you have. I hope you don't mind me using your idea..
Cheers.
Sure you can use it, that's why I showed it 🙂
Neat project and outstanding CGI and matching transitions.
Your stuff is always so interesting and cool. I bought an Opti BF20 mill this year. I need a power feed and you have given me a lot of inspiration. Great content Phil. Dan from Australia.
I used a cordless drill - the clutch is adjustable. 2speed too!
Great! I chose to use your design on 2 of my machines, I used new Chrysler minivan wiper motors. Got tired of 250 to 350 for power feeds and have them fail.
Very nicely done! Been wanting to do this on my mill for a while
Excellent design and build!!
Simplest conversion I have seen to date. Good job.
Brilliant, Phil, well done!!
Satisfying watch. Well executed design and build.
Dude that is so professional, great job!
Very nice. Probably It will be more ergonomic if you put a connecting bar under the table (if possible) to be able to engage and disengage the motor from the side of the handwheel.
Better than the ones you can buy and will last longer, great job
An incredibly elegant design, expertly accomplished. Thank you for showing your work. 👏👏👍😀
Very nice, simple and robust looking
"You would think I'd learn from my mistakes... *part flies off into the workshop*"
We've all been there. More than once :)
Great work, Phil.
Sehr gut gemacht, ich werde Deine Ausführung übernehmen. Danke für die klasse Erklärung.
Very nice work. I like a solution for a problem and unique as well. Brilliant.
I did sort of the same thing for a down feed. The only thing I did different was I slide the coupling back and forth instead of the whole motor. Good machining.
Hi Phil,
Very nice work, I have the factory power feed on my SX4 which has developed an intermittent fault.....sometimes it doesn’t work, other times it’s fine.....problem is the fault is getting more frequent, now there is a solution! Cheers
Nice plan and execution. Inspire one of the next project. Could be perfect including two travel limit switches.
Very clean and impressive install!
Great work and great video. If you do you to add limit switches, you would wire them NC (normally closed) between the 'outputs' of that 3-position direction switch.
Yeah I've actually added those since I made this
👏👏👏
I am going to build this. Thank you for your great video.
Really nice and clean solution!
Cool Phil.. I like the rubber swarf mats..
Very clean installation. Looked at a few builds and only one so far has made a listing of what the actual feed rates are. Maybe a lot just use it for moving the x axis quickly for positioning.
Thanks! As for the feed rates, I didn't bother calculating them because I feed by "gut feeling" with the handwheel and so far that has worked out fine, so I'm doing the same with the powerfeed. But that being said, even if I worked out the feed rates, there's no guarentee it would be the same on some other mill, since it depends on the pitch of the leadscrew which can be different between models. What I can tell you is that you probably want something roughly in the range of 10-250 rpm on the motor side to get a reasonable range of "normal" feed rates on a manual mill.
Outstanding! I've been looking for guidance in making a power feed for my Benchmaster mill. This, with minor modifications, would work very well for me. Thank you for the excellent video.
Just a transverse feed motor and a tool feed motor and then adding a CNC controller can make it into a brilliant mill. Excellent video, thanks. (Although they would need to be a bit more upscale than wiper motors) ;)
Nice, clean upgrade without commercial extras that most hobby users never use. Have seeen that some react on your gloves. Me too, but I,d never use medical/nitrit gloves as their fingertips very easily get winded around rotating components( thankfully I reached the STOP button in time). Best regards.
I made similar only i used an 18 notch socket for the clutch to align on the drive head😀 Also on my unit only the drive tube slid not the whole drive
Nice job!!! Very professional.
Did the same on my machine. Works great.
Nice... everything you make is 1st class
Beautiful job Sir. I need to do the same you my mill.
И не важно на каком языке мы говорим, главное что мы "технари" из одного "теста". Респект от души Бро, ты делаешь крутые вещи!!!
Artem(?) The Google Translate app on my iPhone allowed me to decipher your comment. Well said, Techie.
Phil, great video as always. What about using a solenoid to engage and disengage the drive motor? Electronic door lock, (DC) fuel cutoff solenoid,(AC) or through shaft solenoid would work perfectly I believe. Anyway, just a suggestion to an already great build.
16:48 I'd have overlapped them the other way. As they are, chips moving towards the guards could get under the second one.
Super! Really nice work!
Great job. Will do the same with mine.
Absolutely brilliant thank you for sharing 🙂
You did a great job on that !,
very precise mechanics ... good!