Sieg X2 Mini-Mill (aka Harbor Freight 44991, Grizzly G8689, Micro-Mark 82573, Homier 3947, Cummins 7877)! Harbor Freight 8x12 and Sieg X2 Mini Mill, DRO, CNC Conversion Plans, Machining/Metalworking How-tos and Resources

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SIEG X2 MINI MILL

HOW-TO Drill and Tap Centered, Accurate Holes

Here's a fast way to get holes and taps to line up properly. We're going to eyeball it using a wiggler.

here we go, in a few basic steps..
what's a wiggler and how do you use it? one common use is to find the center of a hole.	click to see video
move the table until the tip of the wiggler is right on the center of your hole.
start the hole with a center drill
see it action.	click to see video
in this example, we're making an acetal/delrin nut to replace the stock nuts in the X and Y axes (plus upgrading the leadscrews). we often times find ourselves using a 1/2" or larger drill bit. in the X2, Z-axis clearance is an issue. since we can't get the bit in with the head raised to the top, we need to move the bed. this is a great time for DRO since we can easily move the table and relocate the center again.
here we start drilling the hole. it's best to use the final drill bit to avoid misaligned holes by stepping up drill bits as they tend to flex.
we're going to tap right in the same place. a trick is to use a transfer punch or something similar (here a philips bit) chucked into the drill chuck to help us align the tap. a 5/8" acme tap is used here. that's it!

Looking for mini-mill help and how-tos? How about lathe help and how-tos?

We're prototyping a benchtop CNC vertical mill using the DigiSpeed-XL interface card for Mach, Dart Controls and KB Electronics KBIC/KBMM 90VDC motor controllers, 1.5HP treadmill motor from Surplus Center and a R8-spindle head from the X2 mini-mill - not to mention Gecko servo drives and an entirely closed-loop system. Come take a look!

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