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Hare and Forbes HM-50 / TopTec Milling machine
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From
Richard:
" Received the DRO Kit 6 days after I ordered it, excellent delivery and
speed of delivery, and packaged well. Just finished installing it onto my
Turret Mill and works well.
I’m not sure where to leave feedback on
your product but would recommend this site to others and the prices are half
what everyone else is selling here in Australia and America.
I ended up making my own brackets for
some of the install as it was awkward to install the scales neatly (what mill
isn’t).
The only issue I had was the female
screw threads in the back of the readout for the plugs some screws just fell
into the holes, seemed either the female thread was oversized or the screws in
the plugs undersized, but easily fixed with some different screws.
"
Thank you so much for
the information, I am sure it will help fellow DRO installer.
====================
This is a common Turret mill sold in Australia and overseas
that is made in China.
Hare and Forbes sell this mill as a HM-50, I bought mine a few years ago from another company
in Adelaide.
I have as best I could added some Tips along the way to
guide you in the right direction to take on some parts of the install to make some areas easier for you.
Hope this will help you when installing your DRO.
I have not put any measurements into the pictures either as
everyone will have there own way of mounting the Dro Kit.
Although well made I did not use the mounting kit supplied
opting to make my own, basically I have other planes for them on another project, all screws and other hardware supplied was
used.
X axis Tip,
As the Scales do not have squaring adjusting
screws, I found making two 8mm packers and fixing to the knee side where you
wan t to affix the Scale and bolt in place.
1. Install the drop plate with a 10mm or 3/8” hole roughly
25mm above the scale mounting blocks centre line making sure it is square with
a 5mm packer behind it.
2. From some 32 x 25 tube about 200mm long (used for fencing
rails) with a step drill, drill a large hole on one end on both sides to
receive the Dremel grinder male thread.
3. Drill a 10mm or 3/8” hole 150mm back from the large hole
end all the way threw and remove the burs.
4. Install the Dremel Grinder into the end making sure the
female cap is inside the tube and tighten up by turning the grinder , the nut shouldn’t
turn.
5. Using a 3mm or 1/8” end mill set the depth of cut require
by either cutting of some of the end mill or sliding back into the collet just
enough the remove the aluminium down to the
lowest spot. If you don’t have a 3mm end mill bit as I did
use a new 1/8” drill and grind off the cut end to length with a sh arp edged
grind wheel, put some back relief into the bit with a 2
Degree dish angle and this will work. Be careful doing this
with a drill bit and only take very light cuts or you will break the bit.
6. Bolt the jig to the outer side of the drop plate and
tighten the bolt enough to keep firm, do not use washers between the two faces.
7. Turn on the Dremel grinder and starting at the top of the
block “Carefully” wind the X axis across the block on one end it will cut
square to mount blocks for the scales. Just tap the jig
down a little and repeat until done.
You will need to file off the nub underneath the bolt
afterwards. Don’t forget to mark your blocks top back and top front you don’t
want t o undo all your hard work.
8. To do the other end just rotate the jig assembly 180
degrees and do the same but don’t change your bit length. I was only . 001” out
doing this on the X travel and zero across the Scale.
This may seem quite a long process to do but only took me ¾
of an hour from making the jig and milling the brackets also saved a lot of
stuffing around getting the brackets square
and true on an uneven surface.
Tip, with the top Z scale mount spacer, don’t try and get
the bracket angle too the scale to exactly match the full width or the scale
mounting face. If your slightly out and you tighten it up it will bow the scale
straining it in its longitude travel causing bad runout and will be impossible
to set it up with a dial indicator.
Just get it as accurate as possible in both
the X and Y directions and then slightly round off the top and
bottom of the face side leaving about 6mm of flat surface in the middle to
clamp against, this may include the bottom bracket as well.
Tip, with the top Z scale mount spacer, don’t try and get
the bracket angle too the scale to exactly match the full width or the scale
mounting face. If your slightly out and you tighten it up it will bow the scale
straining it in its longitude travel causing bad runout and will be impossible
to set it up with a dial indicator. Just get it as accurate as possible in both
the X
and Y directions and then slightly round off the top and
bottom of the face side leaving about 6mm of flat surface in the middle to
clamp against, this may include the bottom bracket as well.
It’s a good idea to make two crush tubes for the Digital
Read Out mount arm and insert them at each end, otherwise, your going to
damage/deform the arm tightening it up and could snap the mount bracket as
well, plus you'll never get it tight enough anyway.
