I uploaded some photos of the clutch mechanism I made to engage/disengage the X-axis powerfeed on my mini mill. Although it's a bit "crude" compared to some of the other nice examples from the group, (real nice work guys), its been in use for almost five years now, without any problems at all. It's simply made from the shank from one of those cheapo 5 or 6 way screwdrivers, and a simple mechanism that shuttles it back and forth, via a brass fork that rides between two brass shaft collars set screwed to the shank. The fork is set screwed to a piece of 1/4" rod that is attached to the shift lever. Since my mill is several years old, it dosen't have a slot in the end of the leadscrew. I put the leadscrew in the lathe, turned down the first 3 or 4 threads to approx 1/2" or so. Then bored the end approx 3/4" deep so that the round end of one of the phillips bits that came with the screwdriver just "finger pressed" into it, and brazed it to the leadscrew. The other end of the bit was cut off approx 3/16" before it tapers up from round to 5/16" hex. A steel "coupling" was turned on the lathe, bored to fit on the motor shaft, and attached with two 8/32 set screws. The other end of the coupling has a cut down hex bit brazed in it just as the leadscrew. The extra piece of 1/8"x1/2" flat iron that attaches the the shift lever to the 1/4" fork rod, swivels to compensate for the arc the lever moves in. The entire assembly screws to the end of the table using the original holes for the stock end plate. The only "change" to the mill was the hex brazed in the end of the leadscrew. The motor and PWM get their 12V power from a salvaged computer power supply mounted under the bench, out of harms way. The controller is a bidirectional PWM purchased from Electronics 123 .com as a kit. I was able to solder it together in about 4-5hrs. With my limited electronics skills, just about anyone could assemble. Think I paid $16 or so. Now it's about $20. It's mounted in a 4x4x4 PVC elec. box from Home Cheapo on a homemade stand.
Frank
--- In GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com, "chucketn" <chunk07@...> wrote:
>
> I need to build a dog clutch to connect/disconnect a power feed on the X Axis of my X2 mill. I will be using a cordless drill motor and a pwm controller. I have searched the web, and found examples but nothing that grabs my fancy. Anyone built a simple, lever operated dog clutch for the X2 Mill?
>
> Chuck in E. TN
>
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