CX601 CNC conversion kit
- Thread starter lxs123
- Start date
Have a look at Arizona CNC Kits as the PM 30 is basically the same machine.
slow-poke
Ultra Member
Ballscrews are not very expensive, IIRC I paid about $100 each for double anti-backlash. You can make the brackets and nut mounts for about $100 of material. I have now done two roll-your-own CNC conversions and both were quite easy. It does take time though so that needs to be taken into consideration.
gerritv
Gerrit
https://einfach-cnc.de/umbau-fraesmaschinen/ provides free drawings for BF20 mills, e.g. G0704 and KC20VS. You could get inspiration from the approach. It uses belt drive and ball screws for a compact conversion. I agree with @slow-poke that rolling your own is much more affordable.
Use the auto-translate feature in Edge or Chrome in case you don't read German.
Use the auto-translate feature in Edge or Chrome in case you don't read German.
stuartweatherby
New Member
I also have a CX601 mill and have been (very slowly) converting it to CNC. I did succeed in converting it but there was some slop in the Z axis and ended up mothballing the project (for years) and am coming around to try to solve that issue. I ordered the ball screws direct from china. Power supply, steppers, drivers, and other electronics from US suppliers (some components like bearings were ordered from motioncanda dot com. The rest I made either on the mill itself or my lathe.
The conversion kits linked by gerritv, david_r8 look pretty nice. And honestly, unless you really like having to solve problems these might be a great way to go. On the flip side, I learned a ton about bearing loading, ball screws, thread pitch & torque, different screw support configurations and their impact on accuracy, rigidity. Hours sunk reading books (Mechanical Engineering Design & Machinery Handbook were helpful) Even spent some time with a NTN bearing engineer on the phone discussing matching bearing configurations, pros & cons.. and the list goes on. It was and still is a rewarding process.
The rabbit hole is pretty deep depending on what you want to do and what you want to get out of it.
The conversion kits linked by gerritv, david_r8 look pretty nice. And honestly, unless you really like having to solve problems these might be a great way to go. On the flip side, I learned a ton about bearing loading, ball screws, thread pitch & torque, different screw support configurations and their impact on accuracy, rigidity. Hours sunk reading books (Mechanical Engineering Design & Machinery Handbook were helpful) Even spent some time with a NTN bearing engineer on the phone discussing matching bearing configurations, pros & cons.. and the list goes on. It was and still is a rewarding process.
The rabbit hole is pretty deep depending on what you want to do and what you want to get out of it.
thriller007
Well-Known Member
were any on the cx 601?
thriller007
Well-Known Member
do you by chance have a list of parts you used? thanks
slow-poke
Ultra Member
No, the first one was a BB LC-30 round column mill and the second one is a BB A1S 8x30 knee mill.
When I did the LC-30 it was more out of necessity because I couldn't find a kit. When I started looking at kits and installation videos for those kits for somewhat similar mills, it became obvious I would be paying about $1k for motor mount brackets that I could simply make on my mill. Everything else is just generic stuff easily available from eBay, Amazon etc. Second time around I just built on what I learned first time around.
This time I decided to use ac servos instead of steppers, although trickier to setup they are near silent and more powerful for a given size in comparison to steppers. First mill I used a cogged belt between the stepper and leadscrew, on the new mill I just coupled the servo shaft directly to the ballscrew, much simpler. I still have to implement the Z axis on the new mill but I'm just thrilled with it already.
I made a lot of chips on the 8x30 yesterday and I was grinning the whole time;-)
My buddy has two PM square column mills (looks bigger than a CX601?) and he is converting one to CNC at this time, if you have specific questions I could ask. These style mills seem really popular so it should be easy to find installation pictures and videos showing how people have done it. Suggest you start with whatever axis is simplest when you have that working you will be more than motivated to figure out the others. If something isn't perfect you can always tweak it. A couple of motivational pictures.
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