Crooked mill anon here again. Last time I couldn't get a part centered for the life of me and found out that loose gibs were throwing the head out of alignment and the table had a slope.
Well I took out all the play and found that the head still has minor alignment issues that throw holes off by a couple of thou when I feed the quill over a couple of inches.
Well the holes I plan on drilling are very short and minor angles won't have an effect on them, but they must be centered.
After some research this is the best and easiest solution I could find anywhere, a centering camera.
To make one I bought a cheap webcam to sacrifice for $10.
This particular camera has a resolution of 1024x768 and a very narrow FOV which makes it almost impossible to use as an actual webcam.
The wire that comes attached is a stiff positionable cable which I promptly replaced with a thinner more flexible one.
I milled out a piece of scrap plastic and drilled a hole to press in a shaft. The mill is still crooked so everything on this block is crooked, but it doesn't matter as long as the camera is looking close to center and you use a short fixed focal length.
To calibrate the camera I first pecked a small hole with a center drill on a piece of scrap.
The camera shaft fits into the same collet as the drill.
The initial result using a free software called centrecam.
Not bad at all, the camera wasn't perfectly centered, but the adjustment on the software compensates for it.
I have to say the FOV on the camera is shit. It's good for locating center marks but the focus is too narrow to use outside edges of round parts to center them.
The lens also wiggles so I need to glue it down.
I had not heard of using a cheapo webcam, breddy gud idea.
There are scopes made for shis (pic related) but they are kinda large, they're made for full-size machines.
And they aren't cheap, tho I have seen another China one out there for about $140.
OP's setup would be great if you could find a tiny monitor to mount right on the thing, so no PC was required.
I was pondering making a cheapo night-vision scope out of car video parts recently; you can get little ~4-inch monitors that run off 12 vdc, and have a BNC video connector for only $15,,,, and you can get night-vision-capable car backup cameras that run off 12v dc, and with a BNC connector for only $15.
So all you need then is a 12v battery to run them. But that 4.5" monitor is really kinda big to carry around. I've been looking for something down around 2 inches with RCA or BNC video feed, and not found anything so far.
(You can do this with a rpi too I know, but I dont wanna spend $40 for a rpi just to run a video camera to a little monitor,,,, and there's not really any tiny screens for pis that just snap-on anyway. it's all ~7" screens)
Pretty cool anon I might make one :)
Sherline cnc fag here I like to use pic related to help my center, I helps alot.
>>970176
With just a monitor you would need adjustments on the camera itself to center it and you would need to make cross hairs. That's what the program is for, plus it can do some other nifty things like measuring distance or finding center on unmarked stock.
I found a tutorial on making a center scope as well, but it seems much more difficult to do and like you said it's big.
https://sites.google.com/site/pjoptical/home/centering-microscope
>>970240
Can you really maintain squareness on that mill? This 8 direction head gimmick is reaally annoying to tram and I can never trust it because I know any kind of impact can throw off the alignment.
Yes the mill can remain square for a while, I usally re square before every operation.
If you take too big of cuts or your feed rate is too high, you'll be in for a bad time. I've had it snap out of alignment manytimes, ruining what ever part I was making.
The key is just to go slow and take shallow cuts. Please excuse sp errors on phone.
>>970295
I think I'm going to do this mod that I found:
http://ashermade.com/2014/05/27/sherline-2000-solid-column-conversion/
I'm working with stainless steel and a mill that goes out of square is useless to me. But instead of drilling the base I'll probably make a mounting plate to go between the two hole patterns.
Good read, I might do that too!
I also just ordered
http://sherline.com/product/5606-tall-rigid-column-base-for-2000-mill/
That might be an option for you, too.
>>970389
>http://sherline.com/product/5606-tall-rigid-column-base-for-2000-mill/
No that still leaves the tilt and nod adjustments which is the cause of a majority of the problem. I can't believe they make every configuration you can think of except the one part that would actually make the 2000 series mill useful.
Hell if I had access to a real CNC I would make a custom column that supports the z at both ends just like the lathe bed. With the standard column I can put a test indicator in the spindle and slightly push the z ways and it will swing by like 4 thou. There is also a lot of play on the motor side of the head for some reason while almost no play on the opposite side.
>>970295
>I usally re square before every operation
How have you not run this thing through a shredder yet?
GAHHHHH
There is so much play in this stoooopid machine. Even with the key inserted between the head to saddle, if you just slightly loosen the grub screw, there is enough play to angle the head by 1 degree I'd guess. And even if you squared that, as soon as you put the motor on the weight would fuck it up instantly.
