Small Scale Machining

Mini-Mill and Mini Lathe Projects, Reviews and Tutorials

Small Machining is a growing industry which includes hobbyists, small businesses and light commercial manufacturing.  In contrast to industrial machining, the small machining movement focuses on small machines that are often very affordable to the hobbyist or small business.  In many cases, the small machine equipment size allows the unit to be placed into service on a home workbench or within a small shop.

Join us as we introduce a new series of articles focusing on the small machining movement.  Articles will include tutorials, reviews and projects.

Reducing Electrical Noise on the Mini-Mill and Mini-Lathe

The Mini-Mill and Mini-Lathe have become very popular tools in the hobby and light machining workshop.  Often, the iGaging DRO units are used for accurate machining on these platforms due to the low-cost of the iGaging DRO.  Unfortunately, many installations of the iGaging DRO result in bouncing reading or skipped readings.  Often, this is not the fault of the DRO, but rather the result of electrical noise and poor grounding on the machine.  In this article, we will discuss several methods for reducing electrical noise on the machine, and improving the grounding.

 

Mini Mill Column Stiffening Project

The Mini Mill is a great platform for home shop, hobby and light machining.  With it’s affordable price, small size and large community support, it has become an extremely popular machine. The key to the success of the Mini Mill however, lies in understanding it’s uses, and it’s limitations.  In this article, we will address two of the most common issues faced by users of the Mini Mill.  Mass and Rigidity.  In this article we present one approach to increasing the rigidity of the Mini Mill.

CNC is everywhere, but what toolchain to use?

Our latest project is a CNC plasma cutting table.  As part of the pre-build research, we are putting together a list of the components that may be part of an open-source plasma CNC tool-chain.

Review of the BL-123 Precision Steel 123 Blocks

Check out our review of the BL-123 blocks.  We review the measurement and accuracy details along with the fit and finish of the blocks.