Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Not new but it is tight. It was a school training machine and has very little real use.
The round column doesn't allow for long travel CNC, so only the quill for 3 axis.

Should I sell it or convert it anyway?
I've only used it for keyways and such.

Clay

I can't believe no one has an opinion on this. LOL

I didn’t know what that was but a google search educated me. I think that’s the same mill a friend of mine has. I say keep and convert!

Emco makes nice machines.
I say if you have a use for it as a CNC mill then by all means go for it. The concern I have about manual machines is the work it takes to refit the machine with ball screws, thrust bearings, ball nuts and ball nut mounts. If the machine has adjustable leadscrew nuts (like the Dyna DM2400) then sure give it a shot. You would have to mount your drive motor to the quill handle I would imagine. Not ideal but doable. Microkinetics did this with their round column mill drills.

We'd all be game in seeing such a conversion documented. Or tell me how much you want for it.
Marty

I have a couple of the EMCO Compact 8 lathes and have been really happy with them. I even converted one of them to cnc but sold it a while ago.

I have used the FB2 mill, it's a nice small machine but the round column won't be very good for CNC conversion.

You could always convert it to linear rails and ball screw operation if you're up for a fabrication project and you would want to convert x and y to ball screws as well.

My first suggestion would be to find another suitable machine to retrofit that already has ball screws. If you market the EMCO properly, I think you can find someone willing to pay you a fair amount for it. If you can find someone with a maximat lathe, they may be interested in having the matching mill and its column can be mounted to the lathe.

If you want to convert your machine to ball screws and linear rails I may be able to help you out in that regard.

Regards

Bill Griffin