Champion 16V DIY X&Y-Axis Power Feed
by Gareth Rook

After only a few months of using my new mill I was soon getting very tired of feeding the x axis table by hand and winding the y axis head up and down. After searching several forums on the internet I noticed other people had had good results using 12v windscreen wiper style motors as they are geared and give good torque.

After discussing this with a friend he mentioned he could get me a couple of 24volt dc wiper motors and a suitable power supply. Now the only problem was mounting the motors and sourcing a suitable motor speed controller circuit to allow me to vary the feed rate without losing any torque. I eventually found a company that sold either kit or ready assembled motor speed controller circuits www.quasarelectronics.com.

All the enclosures, switches brackets etc in the following pictures are all readily available from Maplins electronics, B&Q, argos etc.

As far as the mounting of the motors goes i dident realy make any drawrings or notes i generally just designed measured marked out and machined as i went along. The electronics where to be the biggest hurdle for me as its been a long time since i did anything with electronics in my apprenticeship and have been stuck on lathes and machining centres ever since so i was a bit rusty. Luckly ive got an electrician friend who i was able to run everything by and double check.

Thanks for looking and if anyone has any questions please feel free to pm me on the forum happy machining rx8gaz.

This photo shows the left hand end of the x axis table the two upper holes are drilled and tapped m8 to accept the motor and bracket. The milled slot in the bottom of the end plate is required for the drive sleeve below it to clear the end plate. The milled slot in the top of the plate was where i got carried away and marked out the wrong edge of the plate. Oh well live and learn.

This photo shows the motor assemble with the bracket bolted to it and the drive sleeve fitted over the motor shaft.

This picture shows how the whole of the x axis motor assembly fits together.The sleeve fixes to the leadscrew with a grub screw which locates in  a hole machined halway into the diameter of the leadscrew and the motors shaft simply sits in the drive sleeve and drives in the slot via the roll pin in the motor shaft.

This photo shows the y axis motor fitted it is basically the same as the x axis except the drive sleeve grub screws locate on flats on the motor shaft and the same on the lead screw.

All the electronics are housed in a hinged front box the power comes from a 24v 6 amp supply. The power then feeds into the dc motor speed control circuit then exits that passes through a three position switch for up/down left/right control. And finally passes through a rotary switch for the different axis. Then power is taken off the rotary switch to the motors.

This picture shows all the electronics mounted to a cheep TV wall bracket from  Argos.