Product Description
If you already own a vertical milling column for use with your lathe but feel a sturdier base with a larger work area would be to your advantage, you may purchase the base of any of our vertical mills as an XY base. Your older vertical milling column can be returned to the factory to be re-machined and used with an XY base rather than purchasing the entire vertical milling machine. (Call for price.) Vertical milling columns made after 1995 do not need to be modified. This combination saves you the amount of money included in the cost of the vertical mill for the column, but gives you the same machine less headstock and motor/speed control. XY bases have also found their way into the industrial market and are used in various manufacturing setups. Each of the three mills is available as an XY base.
About the 12″ CNC-Ready XY Base
The Mill XY base is the same base used in our 5400-series mill. It has a 12″ base with stepper motor mounts installed on the X- and Y-axes ready for the installation of stepper motors, and laser engraved table and base. (Stepper motors not included, see the STEPPER MOTOR page.)
Travel: X=8.65″ (220 mm), Y=5.0″ (127 mm)
Included with the XY base are the handwheels that would normally come with the mill. If using Sherline or other dual shaft stepper motors, the handwheels can be mounted to the rear shaft to provide manual control in addition to CNC control. (NOTE: Manual control is not possible on CNC-ready bases until a dual shaft stepper motor has been installed. Handwheels cannot be installed directly onto the stepper motor mounts.) These slides have been popular items in the industry to control movement in small production line processes, and the addition of computer control extends the possibilities for automation. If you are taking the vertical milling column and motor/speed control from your lathe to add to this XY base to make up a full milling machine, you can also upgrade your milling column to CNC-ready by adding upgrade kit P/N 6740/6745 to add the stepper motor mount. Travels of each of these CNC-ready columns are the same as for the manually controlled versions shown above.
NOTE: CNC-ready machines cannot be operated manually until stepper motors are installed.
