Convert a Bench Mill to CNC - Everything You Need to Know 

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm glad youre enjoying the videos & wish you good luck in your PM conversion!

That's great! I'm glad you found it useful. Best of luck on your build, and make sure to share some videos along the way! Care to share what you're building?

Hi WizardofHyd - I’m glad you found the video useful! Good luck with the build!

Thanks for the kind words, Alex - I’m glad, too! Haha. I’m happy you found the video useful. Cheers - Adam 🍻

Thanks for the kind words! Very glad you enjoyed it :)

Glad you enjoyed it, Owen!

he speaks too fast. imagine non native speakers trying to understand him. When you have a world wide audience it matters.

Hi Tamur - thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad you found the video useful.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks, Aaron - Cheers!

Hi Peter - thanks for the great feedback. That's good to hear - I'm pretty new to making these videos & can't help but feel I sound like the most boring guy on the planet. I'm trying to get better - Thanks for the encouragement! Cheers - Adam

Thanks for the great feedback and kind words, Bow Tie Bandit. I love this community, too, and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Cheers - Adam

Hi Vondeliusc - thanks for the incredibly positive feedback. I'm glad you were able to take something away from the video. It sounds like we live in similar worlds. From your previous messages, I'm gathering that you're likely using Solidworks for the CAD, is that right? What are you using for CAM? Do you ever use Fusion360 for CAD? Cheers - Adam

​@@adamdebowski2037 Adam-I went from DOS CAD of some sort to AutoCAD 12 for windows/DOS (600' long sheetrock dryers ~1995) to AutoCAD boolean solids/Mechanical Desktop (class motor coaches) to Inventor (lightly) to SW2007 (modeling aircraft/systems+architectural/steel detailing) and am expert in up to SolidWorks 2021. Moving into CAM, I added a lateral co-transition to Fusion 360 (still model primarily in SW and import). Last year I was VERY happy to learn that HSMWorks is basically a module to SolidWorks, which is fundamentally the same a F360 CAM, since the SW CAM is not so good. F360 CAD is still pretty immature, but the CAM is the best, intuitive, complete, and logical. For personal use, I use SW2013 with HSMWorks currently, with no expectation to change; but I am fluent up through SW2021. I also use VCarve Pro/Aspire. As far as personal projects, I have partially modeled our home, my shop, a number of tools and tons of projects since it is such an incredible visualization aid when designing and modding. A number of RU-vidrs like yourself are very encouraging to me, for me to continue to create more content, since I have many projects and knowledge to share; it is just finding the time and consistency to move forward, inside my busy schedule. -Christian

Great! It’s a fun journey. Enjoy the process!!

Thanks for watching! I’m glad you found it helpful 👍 cheers - Adam

Haha - thank you, kalpetkoff!

Hahaha - maybe my favourite comment yet. Thank you for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks Luke! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🍻

Nice! I hope you do - it’s a lot of fun and it’s amazing what you can make!

Thanks for the positive feedback, Greg! I'm glad you found it helpful :)

Thanks for commenting! I’m glad you found it useful. Good luck on your build and come back to share the journey if you can. I’m always curious about what everyone’s building. Cheers 🍻

@adamdebowski2037 You bet! I know how to build a rock solid accurate machine, I'm just stuck on what controller to pick. From what I can tell I need a controller that works well with a software that can take my Gcode out of solidworks cam..... I'm going to run nema 23 or maybe 34?? closed loop motors. Any thoughts on openbuilds BlackBox Motion Control System for the brains? Or just go with acorn? I like the looks of it but its a bit pricey. I look forward to more of your videos! Thanks again 🙂

@@-BlackBird7 sounds like the perfect storm! If you can build a straight/ rigid machine, I wouldn’t worry too much about the controller. Unfortunately, Acorn is the only platform I’ve ever used. I have friends that swear by linuxcnc and do awesome work. Nothing I ever do on the acorn is something they can’t do on LinuxCNC. I don’t know anything about the BlackBox system, and I’m not sure if solidworks CAM has a post of centroid/Acorn, but Fusion CAM and HSMWorks CAM (a plugin for solidworks) do. Closed loop steppers have been so great to great for me. I’d go Nema 34 because you’ll never have to worry, but people do use Nema 23 on X and Y axes. You should send Dave (from Arizonavideo99 on RU-vid) an email. He knows a lot about sizing motors for these machines.

Cheers! I hope you find them helpful 👍

Thanks for sharing that! One of my viewers just shared that he is using the Royal R8 quick change tooling system. It looks a little pricy but check it out. Looks like it has all the same benefits of TTS but even faster tool changes - you don’t have to touch the draw bar at all. It’s the first time I’m hearing about it but it looks freakin sweet. Worth some research. Good luck on your build!

You’re very welcome - that’s great to hear. I’m positive you won’t regret it! Come back to share your progress if you’re willing to 👍👍

Hi Glen - I’m glad to hear you found it useful. Cheers! 🍻

Nice! Love the triples 😁

Thanks for watching 🍻

If you’re comfortable with building the part in 3D (which you can start practicing w fusion360’s free version), you’ll do fine! Lots of good resources for fusion CAM programming on RU-vid. If you haven’t already, look up Lars Christensen (I hope I spelled his last name right) and NYCCNC!

Always great to hear - thanks for letting me know!

Glad you enjoyed it, Louis!

Glad you did! I sure will 👍

To be honest, I wish I had this video, too! Hoping it saves others the pain we’ve endured!

@@adamdebowski2037 I can see why you would say that. I am considering another CNC build which is how/why I found your video. Your video will be my go to source for sure.

@@Sam-kq2to which machine are you planning on converting?

@@adamdebowski2037 Great question. Probably either the PM940 or PM30 as you did. I like the idea of a more robust machine like the PM 940. I see Arizona has the ball screw kits for the 940. Not sure about the Servo motor and controller requirements for the 940 yet. I need to do a bunch of additional research. Your thoughts?

@@Sam-kq2to the 940 is going to be wayyy more rigid than the PM30. The down side is max spindle speed is less than 2000. On the PM30 it is 3000. You could always upgrade that down the road, though….

Cheers! It’s a process - a fun one, but still a process. You can definitely go bit by bit.

Cheers 🍻

Couldn’t agree more!

Haha - my pleasure - thanks for the feedback!

Glad you enjoyed it!

@@adamdebowski2037 waiting for the PM-940V to come in stock and do basically what you are doing with probing.

@@maloyaircraft1174 Very Cool - That's a nice big bench mill. Do you have any plans to upgrade the spindle? Share some videos of your build when you get to it!

Hi Michael - I’m glad you found it useful - cheers 🍻

Hey Tonyalto - sounds awesome. I didn't know you could buy a PM with motors/servos and a controller... or maybe you bought it used? Which mill did you get?

@@adamdebowski2037 Yep, they sure did sell them. Mine is a full CNC , model 940. It's big. The stand is solid cast iron. Had to bring it in the shop with the fork truck. Like I said, it has never had power hooked up. It runs a 3 phase main motor with a frequency drive so it takes single phase 240 to power up. I paid a little over 6 grand for it without the control board. Looks like 4.2" steppers with encoders.

Pretty sure they were having QC issues with the control boards/software. I hope the Centroid is a good, trouble free fix.

I went on their site. They still list my basic machine and the upgrades, hardened ways, full variable speed. But they no longer have the full CNC. My guess is they quit selling them due to the issues with the control boards. Pretty sure my machine was priced around 8 grand. I'll have to reach out to them and get the whole story.

@@tonyalto1014 thanks for the info! Learn something new every day…

I do have some videos up about the panel and electronics as I was building them. Check ‘em out!

Hi Alan - Didnt know they sold a ball screw kit for it. Seems like they’re catching on to the hobby CNC community. I’m curious how you’ll find the spindle motor. That machine sounds perfect for a spindle upgrade. Sounds like it has increased rigidity over the PM30-MV but a lower power spindle - which seems strange. Curious what you’ll think. Good luck w the build!

@@adamdebowski2037 Thanks. I'm still collecting parts. I like the brushless DC motors' variable speed and high low end torque, but I haven't really stressed the spindle much with the work I've done so far. CNC might change that. I don't have 240V so choose 120V machines. On the one hand they say it is 1hp on the other they say it requires a 120V 20A service which can easily make 2HP, so it is not consistent. It is certainly a big step up from a mini-mill.

Haha - sorry for the late reply, and thank you!

any videos ryan?

Glad you enjoyed the video - cheers!

Thanks for the sub :)

@@adamdebowski2037 How much would you say that you have in your setup total if you dont mind me asking?

@@hendrixlp1970 that’s a difficult question to answer. To get up and running, it’s the cost of the mill, the ball screws, the CNC controller, all the electrical, and a Compressor, So maybe 5-6K USD - but I’m In Toronto, and our Canadian pesos don’t get us as far - plus there are always higher shipping and customs/brokerage fees and I did other things like have an electrician run power and install a pony panel in my garage - then all the tooling (tool holders, endmills, tool boxes etc) starts adding up but it all happens in time. $40 here, $100 there…. Constantly… I don’t like talking about costs because the bottom line can discourage people… but if you can swallow the initial 5-6K pill, everything else happens on your own schedule and only if you want to keep upgrading… not to mention, you can make a pretty penny making parts for people if you have the demand. I just finished a job that took three days after work in the shop and paid almost $1000. I know people with my machine that make much more than that in niche markets and have way more demand than I do… so the costs are kind of relative. Personally, this stuff brings me great joy and that’s why I do it - I do jobs for other people from time to time, but only to help justify the next upgrade. If you want to get up and running to start a business, I’d say just buy a tormach or better (a used fadal or HAAS tool room mill or something). If you love tinkering - do a CNC conversion - it’s a lot of fun and you learn a ton along the way. I think that was a long winded way of not answering your question, but I stick by it - it’s the truth! Cheers 🍻 - Adam

@@adamdebowski2037 Hey Adam, thank you for your detailed response. You did in fact answer my question as I was asking to determine if this is the route that I would want to go, or buy a RTR tormach. I'm mostly interested to make my own car parts or even parts for my own 3d printer. I'm really looking forward to your future videos. These couple of videos have helped me more than a guy making cnc videos, telling you his motivational life story for 20 minutes while calling himself Titan and not really teaching you much about the machines. So thank you!

@@hendrixlp1970 Haha - I'm glad you found it useful! Cheers!

Highly recommend! It’s a fun journey

Cheers! Appreciate it :)

It is not an NTC thermistor, though it would make sense to use one! Please share if you do - I might switch to it.

That's a great point. I'd like to look into that. Do they heat up significantly? Wouldn't want a glowing cherry in the cabinet....

Hi Rob - it sounds like I stepped into this world a little late! How do you like your casted machine? I’m wondering if you could share how you squared up the casted rail mounting surfaces on your machine. How did you make make sure all the rails would be square? Are you happy w the runout when indicating around your table travels? Thanks for the comment!

@@adamdebowski2037 How i did it was casting steel plates and box tube into the concrete.. After it was set, i then mounted the linear rails, steppers , and so on.. It was 95%square when it set ,then some .005 shims came in handy when bolting down the linear guides ( thats really when all tramming was done , it literally cannot be done when the steel box tube and plates were in the setting concrete, because you wont know how the concrete will settle ) Its very accurate for a hobby machine somewhere in the .0015 range ) , more accurate than my 6040 router, but certainly not industrial grade .. The biggest benefit was cost and rigidity , its likely as rigid as my manual mill while being about 1/2 the weight ..Ideally , it would be cast , then the steel mounting surfaces machined in a massive manual mill but that wasnt possible in the home shop.

Yeah, try dissolving it using a lye

Definitely try using lye. if you try to pry the aluminium from the flutes it may come off with the edge of the endmill

If that is aluminum in that end mill, muriatic acid (home Depot cement department) will dissolve it in minutes. I use it to remove piston material from cylinders (cast iron, chrome, nikasil) all the time. Works great. Muriatic is a trade name for hydrochloric acid. Found in cement prep/etching solution and industrial toilet bowl cleaner.

Hi HydrationAppreciator - you’re asking all the right questions. I’ve been skeptical of the 728VT, but have ultimately heard good things about them, and have never used or seen one. For me, a little less X travel wouldn’t be a show stopper, but the 1HP and less mass might be. Not only do I find the 2hp motor on the 30 to be underpowered (then again - it IS just a hobby machine - how much can you really expect?), I have the same problem with the lack of rigidity. You’ve really got to dial back the feeds/speeds on these machines to cater to the low power and rigidity. That being said, I’ve heard the same things about Tormach machines. Re the accuracy of the PM30, I’m consistently amazed at how accurate it is, but I think that’s more of a testament to the ball screws and servos. I haven’t ever checked the straightness of a straight cut or something like that - to check how straight the tables are travelling. The PM30 is accurate to within about a thousandth or two easily when I measure final dimensions. Any more than that is usually a setup issue.

any links to servo and bearings?

@@minskmade there is another video out there where a guy did the bearings on a pm30 and has all the bearings listed. Instead of the expensive 1mm shims he lists, mcmaster has them cheaper. As for servos, I'm using a 110st-m06030 from aliexpress and a 25mm htd 5m belt. Pulleys can be found there too and all you need to do is bore out the spindle side pulley with a lathe as ut has a 50mm bore

That's an interesting idea. Have you ever seen somebody do it? I haven't seen it, but it sure sounds like it would work.

Nice! It’s quite a bit beefier than the PM30 - I think you’ll be happy. Will make a nice addition to that sweet shop of yours! Keep me posted - I’d love to follow along 👍👍

@@adamdebowski2037 deff

Interesting. Thanks for the tip!

No - I control the motor manually from the mill. I turn it on manually and then start the program.

You have a good point. I don't think it would be lifted while milling - most cutting forces should only pull the head down towards the table. I don't know of anyone who has converted x & y only, but I would be interested in the results!

@@adamdebowski2037 I know that this old tony while converting his MAHO did only x and y ballscrew conversion, but it was a knee-mill, not column one though.

hehe dzięki Adamie! na zdrowie 🍻🍻

The mill uses double ball nuts. I don’t think the nuts are preloaded - but you could ask Dave (arizonavideo99 on RU-vid). I got the ball screw kit from him.

@@adamdebowski2037 thanks for quick reply.

Hi sharplines - I don’t use a NUC. I run the control software on my laptop.

There are several tool holders to choose from. I use mostly ER20 Collet TTS tool Holders. You'd use ER32 if you need to hold tools larger than 1/2", and ER 16 for smaller tools. In my opinion, the smaller the better if you can get away with it. Gives more clearance.

Hi Henry. The 728 sounds like a pretty nice machine. I like the 4000 rpm, longer y travel, and increased column rigidity... I think the 120V 1hp BLDC motor will be the Achilles heel. Kind of strange to increase rigidity and decrease power. Even on the PM30, the biggest limitation is the low power (2hp BLDC) - not the rigidity. The spindle motor bogs all the time. Going into a cut it'll drop 500RPM, coming out it'll spike back up - RPMs are all over the place. If you're planning on machining mostly plastics, the 728 is the move. If you're planning on upgrading the spindle motor, the 728 is the move (if the column is in fact more rigid than the one on the 30). If you're planning on using the machine bone stock to cut metals (even aluminum) - I'd get all the spindle power you can get your hands on. The 728 will cut metal, too - just more slowly - so i guess it's all relative. But I find myself really wanting to upgrade my spindle motor. It's just not powerful or fast enough to do some of the things I want to do.

Hi RobotGibson - I don’t lubricate the ball screws nearly as often as the ways. I give the ways a squirt every other-ish time I run the mill, and I lubricate the ball nuts (spreading some iso68 on the screw and running the ball nut over it) every few weeks or so. I check them frequently and they’re always oily - that iso68 is nice and sticky. Agreed - it’s a bit of a routing nightmare to run lines to the nuts. For me, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze and I do it manually.

Nice 👍 I have not worked with a Masso personally, but I’ve only heard good things. You will be fine - just make sure to confirm you’ll have a post for it. Fusion and HSMWorks come with a Centroid post that I’ve not ever had a problem with.

I'm very happy with it and other than the pricing (which I think is reasonable) I haven't heard complaints from anybody. Are you running the acorn?

@@adamdebowski2037 yes and I love it it has been great you could watch my video (cutting aluminum) gary larson

That's some interesting insight. Do you ever think about machining full time out of your garage? What are you doing for power? Do you have 3 phase at home? Using a phase converter?

@@adamdebowski2037 7HP phase converter $400 a month electric, I do fixtures for friends I dont need money machining is now for fun on time parts people required you to have tooling and material on hand I only do time and material now for friends I fill in, I will sometimes go to their shops and run a machine, I LOVE MACHINING if you dont know what you are doing you can make scrap for 8 hours

Cheers for the tip! Does the solution affect the carbide/cutting edges at all?

Hi James - thanks for the kind feedback! I’m glad you found the video helpful. I’m not an expert on 3D scanning, but I’ve crossed paths with it several times in my career and I’ll talk a little bit about what I’ve learned. 1. You can’t typically increase the X/Y/Z travels on a machine. You can sometimes squeeze out a little more by cutting away parts of the mill that interfere with the motion, but it’ll only be incremental gains. 2. 3D scanners generate “cloud point data” - millions of points in space (like a floating cloud) that software “stitches together” into a mesh. They’re great for 3D printing, but not so suitable for machining directly. You could, however, use the scanned model as a reference and accurately (and manually) build a 3D model based on the scanned dimensions, then machine something based on the manually created model. 3. This is actually a really good analogy for the kind of models that 3D scanners generate! All those pins would give you a bunch of points in space to stitch into a mesh, but it wouldn’t be suitable for machining for the same reasons. Also, the pins wouldn’t be able to detect undercuts. Imagine a miniature table that you’re trying to “scan” with your pin apparatus- using the apparatus from the top. The pins wouldn’t be able to detect the air under the table, nor the size or location of the table legs.

@@adamdebowski2037 My 3d printing experience has been horrendous. I bought a Creality pro v10 and it would always screw up. So after a year ignoring it and literally discarding it, then RU-vid showed me the Bambu x1 Carbon. It arrived yesterday. Waiting for something to be wrong I unboxed it. All ok to the point of setting up and then came printing. I selected pre set boat and used glue stick. Then it tried and messed up big time. second time failed again. Third it printed round discs with Bambu in them. Fourth a Spartan warrior holding shield. Epic fail. I won't waste my time with 3d printing if by end of today the machines not fixed. Drives me insane. Can't be the only one experiencing errors. The machine had calibrated itself at the beginning then print tested and done it xy mech synch whatever that is. Still failed. My way of doing parts would be to remove the part. Make a mould. That sets. Use that to make inside mould to copy part. Then put that in sand and get the shape then pour in boiling aluminium. Part made. 3d printing what a bore.

Sounds awfully frustrating. Did you end up working out the kinks in the 3D printing process? I've heard great things about the Bambu machines.

@@adamdebowski2037 nope. This morning for two hours it sat there nozzle tapping away in the middle of the table and the power off button on the top having zero effect to turning it off. Even reset it to factory settings to remove the update. Nothing. Then after four hours switched off, tonight it printed like there was no fault with it. Strangely it did that the day before too. Its not a morning printer. 🤣

@@adamdebowski2037 hey precision mathews PM728VT. Have you any thoughts on it. They wont export to UK, but I did track down the Taiwanese manufacturer and they are most accommodating to my idea of buying direct from them. Do you like this machine?

Very true! Thanks for the feedback, CNC Keith 👍

Thank you - Cheers!

Yes - you got it 👍

Great! Thanks for the reply Adam! Really cool project.@@adamdebowski2037

No I’m just using a laptop. Same computer that runs Fusion and Solidworks. I’ve never had a problem, but they say you shouldn’t, and that you should have a dedicated computer. I’d never do that. Being able to post code and upload it right to the control without USB sticks is great.

That’s a good question. Typically - not really. I often use my mill as a “manual” mill by spinning the wheel on the centroid pendant to make the axes move, but I have no hand wheels on any axes. If you’re set on having hand wheels on a little CNC mill like this, you can get servo motors with a shaft that passes all the way thru them so you can attach a hand wheel. It’s a less common setup, but can be done.

Hi Pony Down. With Acorn, you only need the "Mill Pro" software upgrade to do probing. Thanks for the positive feedback - Adam

@@adamdebowski2037 thanks for the info Adam. I have the pro software and a drewtronics probe. I'll have to look into it. Thanks.

@@ponydown4189 If you've used the probing routings in Acorn with the drewtronics probe - you've already done everything I do for copying parts. It's quite manual. Measuring bores, noting their locations, and flipping over to CAD to model it. Measure, model, measure, model over and over. Using the probe, it's really not as tedious as it sounds. Good luck! Adam

@@adamdebowski2037 thanks Bud. Yea the most I have done with my probe is probe a hole to get my xyz. But I'll jump on it and play around. Thanks again.

Hi Naneko - they’re 20mm screws. I got them from Arizona99 check it out: www.arizonacnckits.com/pm-30-cnc-kit.html