Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

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armscor 1
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Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by armscor 1 »

As you are aware the most frustrating thing about round head mill drill's is losing the centre when raising or lowering the head, fitted a laser to the head and reflective tape marker 12 feet away on the concrete wall, would like more distance but unfortunately that is the width of my workshop.
I can get 2 thou repeatability which makes it a lot easier to do the final centring with DTI.
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spro
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by spro »

Looks good to me. I guess it is mounted rigid.
armscor 1
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by armscor 1 »

Hi Spro, Mill sits on a solid steel stand bolted to 4" reinforced concrete floor, the wall is 5" concrete hollow blocks, voids filled with cement.
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ctwo
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by ctwo »

put a mirror on the wall and reflect the laser back to the mill
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To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
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Bill Shields
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by Bill Shields »

or maybe a corner cube reflector
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John Hasler
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by John Hasler »

The returning beam from a corner reflector will be parallel to the outgoing beam. A flat mirror will effectively double the distance to the target as well as putting the spot right there on the mill.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by Bill Shields »

is what i thought...if returning beam is coaxial with originating beam then you know where you are.

if returning beam is not coaxial with originating beam, then head is tilted..and you know where you are not...

or am I missing something?
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John Hasler
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by John Hasler »

Bill writes:
> if returning beam is not coaxial with originating beam, then head is tilted..and you know where you are not...

Sure, but the displacement of the spot when tilted will be the same as what you would see with no mirror. It is also right on top of the laser. With a flat mirror the displacement is double because the lever arm is effectively doubled and by adjusting the laser and/or mirror and/or target you can direct the spot to a conveniently located target with a scale on it. This doubles your resolution.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by Bill Shields »

that is absolutely true..only....

I am not sure how you are sure that the mirror is truly normal to the desired position?
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John Hasler
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by John Hasler »

>I am not sure how you are sure that the mirror is truly normal to the desired position?

It doesn't need to be. It just has be rigidly mounted. You center the head by other means and then make adjustments to put the spot on your zero mark.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by Bill Shields »

ah...ok.....makes sense
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armscor 1
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Re: Laser Align Round Head Mill Drill.

Post by armscor 1 »

Some interesting comments guys, my column is not perfectly vertical.

Using an extension rod mounted in the chuck and a finger type DTI and a small holed bushing clamped to the table and zeroed it in.
Marked the laser spot on the wall and locked the X and Y on the table.
Lowered the head to lowest position and moved the head on the column to get zero, had to gently bump it to achieve zero.
Marked the laser point on the wall and drew a line between the two marks which I think exactly replicates the column position.
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