Mill advice please?

kuraki said:
If it's a magnetic scale the first step will be to pull the sensor and reader and clean them thoroughly. Gunk on the scale or sensor will prevent them from reading, kind of like how an optical mouse doesn't want to track on certain surfaces. This does require some care.
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Thanks for the response, I appreciate it. When you say “pull the sensor and reader,” do you mean the x axis cover on the front of the table? What should I clean it with? I was thinking about just cleaning the outside as well as possible prior to opening and then using air duster to blast the inside out, and then finally use an aerosol electric cleaner to clean it. The guy who I bought it from came by yesterday and that was when we ran into the problem. He recommended the “electronics cleaner” as he said it doesn’t leave a residue. Does anyone know what the name of this type of cleaner would be, or where it could be bought?

Thanks for your response guys. You all are lifesavers. I think, if I get this DRO thing figured out I should be good. I’m gonna go out there and try to mess with it here in a few. I’ll report back.
 
You should be able to find spray cans of electronics cleaner in most decent hardware stores. Brand is not crucial. That's simply the name of it. Kind of like if you went to the store for penetrating oil... you'd get WD40, Liquid Wrench, PB Blaster etc.
The mill table will have a long scale on it... aluminum extruded shape most of the time. The knee will have a reader mounted on it that stays put and reads position while the table scale moves. You can unbolt both... the reader is easy to clean, the scale will likely have a glass surface inside and you want to get up in there with q-tips and cleaner, or better yet microfiber cloth and wipe that all clean.
 
Thanks again guys. I was able to download a manual for it off their website. They gave me a little troubleshooting trick that helped me learn that it IS the scale causing the problem and not the console. Switch the x and y axis lines and see if the problem persists, only on the other axis, as shown on the console, then the problem lies with the scale(or line going to the scale). That’s pretty much all that I could find in the manual that helped a good amount. Still looking though. I’m gonna give them a call and see what they say. It will likely be exactly what Salem said(which I appreciate and value), but when you couple my clumsy handedness with my incompetence regarding anything electrical, it quickly becomes a situation with depths of which I must wear floaties to wade into :D

Either way I’ll let you guys know what I find out, or what I break in an effort to fix
 
That’s exactly what I got count. The CRC brand.

I also called Acu-rite today and got some decent information. They said to use isopropyl alcohol to clean the glass scale. They didn’t have a scale cleaning instructional guide for my particular model, but they did for a new model. So the guy I spoke with emailed me that, along with a few other PDFs that he thought could be of use to me. I had a bunch of other stuff I had to take care of today, so I didn’t have a chance to delve into the manuals he sent me yet.

He DID offer a tidbit of info that seemed of particular value. He said that, if the problem persists after cleaning, and the glass scale isn’t cracked or broken, then the problem is likely with the “scanner head.” I’m super tired, and don’t have my notes in front of me, but I’m pretty sure “scanner head” was the term he used. I think those scanner heads, can be had on eBay. Either way, ima go full force at this SOB tomorrow, and will post an update
 
Yeah. What I called the "reader." It's just the component that slides over the glass or magnetic scale like a saddle.
 
Well I got the scale cleaned up nice. The thing even started working for about 5mins. Then it stopped working. I felt like I could have punched a hole through the table when it started giving me the scrambled number BS again. I almost wish it didn’t start working again.

So tomorrow I’m gonna pull the reader head off. The instructions in the manual are kind of screwy. Do you just undo one of the end caps and then unscrew the screw on the front of the head and then slide it out the side of the machine? Should I mark it’s position prior to removing the screws, to use as an index point? On the diagram it mentions “temporary alignment brackets.” I don’t have any of those. Once I get the head out, do I just hose the sucker down with the electric parts cleaner, wait for it to dry, then slide it back on? Is there anything I need to be careful of? I have lint free pads to clean the thing with. The problem with the manual is that it doesn’t have any instructions for cleaning the reader head. They just want you to replace the thing...
 
Well, I don't know exactly how yours comes undone. Don't soak it with cleaner but clean anything that can come close to or in contact with the scale.

You don't need an index point.

Are the temp brackets for holding the scale in place while you unbolt one end?
 
kuraki said:
Well, I don't know exactly how yours comes undone. Don't soak it with cleaner but clean anything that can come close to or in contact with the scale.

You don't need an index point.

Are the temp brackets for holding the scale in place while you unbolt one end?
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If you look at pages 27 on here:

http://www.acu-rite.com/pdf/manuals/obsolete/ACURITEIImanual.pdf

You’ll find a diagram of my reader head specifically. It’s the A-R/5 model. In the diagram the part number 5 is labeled the “temporary alignment brackets.” That’s what was making me wonder about doing a makeshift indexing point. If these brackets are something that are separate parts used in disassembly/reassembly, then I don’t have them.

So you DO completely remove the reader head from the unit when cleaning it? The whole mentioning of an “temporary alignment bracket” has me wondering if greater care must be taken to assure alignment.
 
Oh, that clears it up.

No, those are for when you're installing the scale on a machine and you have to drill and tap holes to position the scale and the reader not only in relation to each other, but in relation to the machine surfaces. So those are intended to hold the reader in place, in relation to the scale, in order to locate the holes you need to drill in the machine as well as whether or not spacers need to be made, etc.

Since yours is installed, they're not applicable. You just detach what you need to detach and slide the reader off of the scale. You need to take care that when you reinstall it, if it was shimmed in a specific way, you put it back in exactly the same position relative to the scale that it was in before you removed it.

There is no index point, metaphorically speaking think of the scale as being a ruler, and the reader a device reading the hashmarks and numbers on the ruler. It "sees" where 1 is whether or not you power it down and move it over to 12 and power it back up.
 
Yep, the machine is just the beginning, how well I know. I don't even think about what I have invested. Watch and investigate estate sales. Or machine shop closing. Just today I went to a shop closing and found a couple small things good price. I wish I knew how to use and had room for a surface grinder cause there are several there. My Jet mill probably weighs over 2K lbs its pretty good size. Then all the other things mentioned, collets , end mills and on and on.
 

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I got the scale and reader head disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. It looked as if the ball and socket joint was a little misaligned. But everything else looked to be in place. All connections to the circuitry looked sound.

Right after it was back together it worked perfectly for after running the table back and forth a twice. Then the x axis shut off and started screwing up again. I swear I could have taken a sledge to that damn thing. It was a good thing the garage door was shut. So I turned it off and began taking it apart again. I figured, what the hell, I’ll try it one more time before taking it back apart. It worked again. So far it’s been working okay from that point. I have that feeling like it could go at anytime it chooses. Pretty frustrating. Especially since the hash marks that index with the spindle hash marks are corroded. It’s not really doable to use without a DRO. So I’ll just continue to use it as is and if it craps out on me, at least I know I’ve done everything I can.

The guy I got it from has a big magnetic chuck he wants to sell me for the Brown and Sharp surface grinder. Maybe I’ll offer to trade him a unreliable DRO :D...

Oh, so I went and looked at that other machinery. I got the Delta Toolmaker surface grinder lol. I’m gonna make the guys wife a chef knife for it. She doesn’t need anything pretty and wants a plain micarta handle with a rough, grippy finish. Just a user that balances well in the hand. Should be an easy one to get done. I already have some heat treated and ready to grind. The Delta surface grinder needs a motor though, but that’s it. It even has a magnetic chuck on it. He said he’d drop it off too. It’s not really gonna cost me much other than the material for one knife and the time it takes to make it. And I’ll have another half-assed broke down machine in my shop. Whoo hoo! :D


I know I’ve said it a bunch already, but thanks for helping me with the dro. I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out without you guys. The manual only barely even told me how to disassemble. It’s working better than it ever has since I’ve had it. I’m gonna try and mount this power feed on it tomorrow and that should be the real test.
 
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Awesome! Also make sure that you have any compensation factor on that DRO set for zero etc., we had an Anilam DRO that read like 1/4" off over the full table travel, until after cleaning and futzing with it we found that the dro was set for a compensation factor yet the "CF" light was not on, on the display. That was very frustrating.
Pretty flippin cool that you're getting a bunch of machines all of a sudden, enjoy!
 
That sucks. Now it's kind of a guessing game but there's probably something wrong with the reader. Depending on the cost I would probably just deal with it until I could replace it with a cheap Chinese DRO.
 
kuraki said:
That sucks. Now it's kind of a guessing game but there's probably something wrong with the reader. Depending on the cost I would probably just deal with it until I could replace it with a cheap Chinese DRO.
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Bingo. I’m gonna use it a decent amount and see if it will hold up. If not I’ll feed the chicoms more money. These old acu-rites come up for parts every now and then, so I might see if I can fin a reader head somewhere for cheap. Better believe I’m gonna use it to my advantage on this magnetic chuck haggling ;)

In other news, it seems the cool kids over on practical machinist don’t wanna even talk about Chinese machines. My thread got deleted ASAP.

My next conundrum is whether I should stone my table. It looks as an old table should. It’s not rusty per say. But it does have a good amount of discoloration. Which means, when measuring to the nth degree, it causes variation on the surface. So should I clean the table off? I don’t have one of those fancy circular surfacing stones but I have a brand new sharpening stone with a coarse and fine side on it. The machinist shop I visited the other day, a guy showed me his surfacing stones and they didn’t look like much more than a soft sharpening stone. Soft being the key point of course. His were pretty worn down. I’ve seen guys stone their tables on YouTube using figure eight patterns, but I wondered if I couldn’t just make straight pulls down the entire length of the table.

I have a brand new big vise I want to put on the table but want it good and level to the head. I want things to be “right” with things for once with this. Lol yeah right, I know.
 
Salem Straub said:
Awesome! Also make sure that you have any compensation factor on that DRO set for zero etc., we had an Anilam DRO that read like 1/4" off over the full table travel, until after cleaning and futzing with it we found that the dro was set for a compensation factor yet the "CF" light was not on, on the display. That was very frustrating.
Pretty flippin cool that you're getting a bunch of machines all of a sudden, enjoy!
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I read about that in the manual a bit. Thanks for reminding me. It’s a weird effect that makes the reader read like the scale is bowed like a damn canoe if I remember correctly? That’s what the illustration made it look like. I’m sure it was exaggerated of course.
 
If there are high spots you can stone them down but you're not going to correct more than dings and dents with a stone, so don't go crazy.
 
I'd sell the Accurite on eBay for what I could get out of it, and just upgrade to a Chinese DRO from AliExpress. You should be able to find a basic unit for around $100 per axis, scales and hardware included. There's often a bit of a language barrier, and you'll likely have to call your bank ahead of time, to authorize a payment to China, but the cost savings vs going through an eBay seller or a US based distributor is worth it, IMO.
As far as I can tell, you're getting nearly the same package as you would from somebody like DROPros, but at a fraction of the cost, albeit without any US based customer service, and maybe a slightly more complicated return policy, if necessary.
Most sellers will also offer upgraded scales for a little more $$. You will also have to specify length of each scale.
The extra functions and features that they come standard with are really nice as well, versus just having linear measurement.
 
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