Laser Tramming for Mill.

[miker]

I didn't want these little gems to get buried too quickly.

smiller6912 01-07-2008 02:59 PM

2nd that

Quote:

Originally Posted by torker
No biggie...just mount a laser (cheap magnetic one from harware store) on the head that shoots cross the room. Mount a piece of paper with a crisp line on it and mount it on the far wall where the laser hits. Turn laser on before raising/lowering head to make sure it's on the line. Raise/lower...push back or forward to line it up, tighten clamp and yer done.
Russ


I 2nd this idea. I have a Smithy, and I purchased a $15 pistol laser sight on eBay that came with a nice ring mount and a remote switch. I mounted it to the head, trammed it in, went (30ft) across the room and set up a few scales (vertical lines) on the wall and, tada, it takes all of about 10 seconds to set it up at any vertical height to easily within .001.
Quick, easy, cheep, and accurate.


smiller6912 01-09-2008 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miker
smiller,torker could you post some pics of the laser tramming setup for the visualisationaly impaired? ME!!!

I hope to need something like that soon.

Rgds



I don't have any pix, unfortunately I'm in the market for a new camera right now as mine has given up the ghost. However, this- http://cgi.ebay.com/LASER-SIGHT-SCOP...em190188070593 -is like the laser I got and I simply pitched the botem half of the lower mounting ring and used the existing holes to screw it to the sheet metal pully cover. There is no need to be real precise locating it as you will create the scale across the room to match wherever it is pointing. Mount it as far away from the column as possible and aim it at the farthest wall, this will give you the best accuracy (longer sight radius). It's pretty neat, if I need to come back to an exact location, I just walk across the room and stick a carpet tack on the red dot and then when I need that location again I can just line up the laser on the tack and I'm ready to rock and roll. You'll be suprised at how utterly simple and amazingly accurate this is.


I had imagined a big yellow Laser Level whizzing around in the Mill chuck or something.

Thanks for the ebay link and the explanation. I think that even I can figure it out now.

Maybe one for the next Tips and Tricks book.

Rgds

[smiller6912]

I'm glad this was helpful.
They say "Necessity is the mother of invention", but I believe that lazy and tight are just as smart. I am a firm believer in the KISS principal.

[torker]

Mike..Sorry, I saw your post the other day but have been too busy to take any pics. I'll see if I can tonight. Got a rush job weldin a guys Bobcat back together.
My laser setup is so simple it'll make you ill
Russ

[tiptop]

Michael, not to steal the thread, but I would like to see Russ' setup also.

thanks, JAY

[torker]

Here you go guys! I finally got a couple minutes. This is a Jobmate laser sold by Canadian Tire. Got it on sale for about $20. BTW...I prefer the line type laser instead of the dot. The line doesn't care how high the head is. A dot on a dot may have that problem. This laser can be swiveled to horizontal or vertical.
The base is magnetic so it just sits up there all by its lonesome. I removed part of the original base. It was a screw type leveler. Don't need that here.
I shoot it across the room at a piece of white paper with a black line drawn on it.
The "Highly technical mounting system"

Looking down the barrel of the gun

Russ

[TGTool]

Russ,

I've thought about a similar system and have a laser for it, but haven't come upon a good method to assure myself the line on the wall is exactly parallel to the column. How did you do that?

I've considered leveling the table, then using a plumb line on the wall. Otherwise with a long accurate square reference and an indicator I could move the head up and down and see if my line is tracking correctly. There may be other schemes.

Jan

[torker]

Jan, I didn't ever take time to get too fancy. I do this the quick and dirty way. Lift the head up as high as I dare. I put a short square on the table, slide it back against the column, push it up against the column and hold the works with two welding magnets (who...me?). Then I slid the laser from the bottom to the top, marking the wall at the bottom and top then draw a line(on the drywall) with a sharp pencil. Uh huh...Not where the laser sits...so I put the laser in place with the head in mid travel and marked the wall with a dot. I then measured/transfered the first marks over to the true laser path. This gave me a line that was the same as the vertical movement. It doesn't matter that everything is plumb/ level then. Hope I've confused you Actually it only took a couple of minutes to do this.
Russ

[miker]

smiller/Russ thanks again for sharing.

The mill I am rebuilding has a Bridgeport base and a Fray All Angle head. So it is not a Round Column mill, but I figure that with a head capable of Tilting, Nodding, Revolving, and Twisting in all directions, any easy way of getting it back in Tram will be helpful.

Rgds

[smiller6912]

I went to all the trouble to tram and square the mill-head at it's lowest position then marked the first spot on the wall. I then moved it up several inches and repeated the process to mark a second spot. I connected the dots to get a good vertical line to index to. (by using a plumb bob I was able to check that I had leveled my entire machine to the world).
Still, only took less than a 1/2 hour and I am confident that I have a good setup.

[mayfieldtm]

I defy anyone to get any better accuracy than 0.005" using an inexpensive laser. If you don't believe me just ask Evan.

The beam diverges just too much in 30' to help, plus, do the math, the advantage is only about 40:1 at best. Thats only 0.040" for a change of 0.001" in the head rotation. Consider a Laser dot about 1/4"dia. and oblong at that, line about 0.020 narrow at best, and line not parallel to the Mill Column.

Someone here posted a simple method using a dial indicator that works simple and very accurate.

I've also seen someone attach a round rod (about 1"dia.) to the machine Base thats parallel to the column with a linear bearing and arm attached to the Head.
You can raise and lower the Head all day and never think about position accuracy.
Looked like a fun project. A little tricky to get just rite, but, thats what us HSM's are best at.

Best thing is to plan a milling session that does not require moving the head.
But, with my pee brain, I'll manage to even screw that up at the most inopportune time.

I know better now. The next time I buy a Mill, it WON'T have a round column!

Tom M.