Frustration
While building a tooling plate and some hold-downs for my MaxNC mill, I found myself irritated with the small mill’s lack of weight and rigidity. It was finally able to make the cuts, but it was immediately clear that my small aluminum mill would be unable to anything but occasional cuts in aluminum.
The fix? A Grizzly X3. Since I don’t know how to use a mill, I decided that this would need to have a CNC conversion done on it. This blog will detail the progress of the mill, and it’s conversion.
Arrival
This crate arrived Monday. Ok, a semi-tractor\trailer pulled up on front of my house. The shipping weight on this particular mill is 350lbs. Fortunately I asked for lift-gate service. The driver pulled around to the opening to our alley behind our house. Both the driver and I were able to get the crate tipped up onto the dolly. I didn’t dare put it down until until it was safely on the back porch.
Now, permit me to illuminate you on a small problem. My workshop is in our basement, and the steps to the “Secret Laboratory” are plenty steep.
(Note: The music just seemed funny, but it’s way better than the autofocus noise)
I could spin a wonderful yarn about how I picked the mill up and carried it downstairs, but that seems pretty unlikely. The truth is that I broke it into four pieces. The entire machine was covered in packing grease, and moving the 85lb pieces down the stairs was surprisingly difficult.
Welcome Home
In this photo, you can see the bench I built for the new machine. Although I don’t have the exact numbers, my engineers tell me that it can hold something between a lot of weight, and a shitload of weight. Notice the 6 4x4 posts, 2x6 construction, and cross members every two feet.
This evening I only intended to finish the bench, but then (of course) I thought “Gee, I might as well get all these parts off the floor". Once all the parts were on the bench, I naturally thought “Well, I might as well assemble the table”. About an hour later, it was pretty much put together.
