A while back, I was introduced to a X-Y table for the drill press.   Now if you know me, you know how obsessed I can get with perfection.  My wife can tell you a story about when I was working on finishing my basement and I moved an entire wall to gain 4 inches more floor space in the downstairs bathroom.  So when I was introduced to the X-Y table and a drill press, I got into being able to place a hole or cut a slot very accurately.  I, however, was not impressed with the rigidity the drill press when trying to mill out a slot so I started looking into getting a manual mill.  It wasn't long until I found all kinds of web pages on small benchtop CNC mills.  After watching You Tube, I quickly came to realize how much more could be done if I only just sprung for a CNC mill instead of buying a manual mill.

Okay, I decided I was going to spring for the CNC mill....  I cancelled my order for a manual mill from Grizzly and searched for a CNC mill in my price range...

I ended up ordering a Syil Super X3 CNC mill from Syil America.

http://www.syilamerica.com 

This seemed to be a popular benchtop mill and majority of peopled on the CNC forums seemed to like them.   Accuracy was more than adequate for projects I could see in my foreseeable future (especially since I know didly about CNC).

So I placed my order and an excruciating month later, the mill shows up in my garage...  Just like Christmas.

Uncrating the beast was an effort all by itself.  I tried to move it with Tami and I off the pallet.  NOTHING DOING.  This thing weighs 445 pounds and there is really no good way to grab it.  So it stayed on the pallet until I got an engine hoist.

I anxiously hooked it up and tried to get it working.  There are a bunch of wires you have to connect prior to the picture you see below.  Anyway, after doing all the assembly, the mill still wasn't working.  I putzed with it for several hours and couldn't get it to communicate with the computer.  In a moment of clarity, I did end up solving the problem.

Anyway, the mill is a good looking unit.

Since I couldn't get it working right away, I started taking it apart.  You are supposed to do that to clean all the packing wax / grease off.

Syil overall does a nice job putting this together.  It looks more professional than some homemade CNC mills I have seen that have wires and boxes going everywhere.

I didn't like the fact tha these wires were coming through that hole without some type of bushing. Since I am building a plane, I have lots of snap bushings.  Snap in a bushing, wires protected, WooHoo.

The reason that I couldn't ge the mill to communicate was this little wire right here.  It was tucked in behind and not easily seen.  This is the primary wire to 120/5 step down transformers that feeds the CNC control board.  Anyway, after I re-landed this wire, the CNC mill fired up and worked like a champ.

I ended up also ordering a new computer to control the mill and run the Mach 3 CNC software.  I thought about using a laptop, but there were complaints out on the net that stated the 3.3 V system of a laptop didn't always communicate well with the CNC control equipment on the mill.  Since Mach 3 and the BobCAD software requires (prefers) Windows XP, I ended up having to order a Dell computer online.  I looked for a Windows XP machine at the usual retail stores in town, but everything has been converted over to Vista.  Anyway, I ended up with a Dell Vostro 400, Core 2 Duo, designed for Windows XP and sporting a 22" widescreen LCD monitor.  Woohoo.  It is a pretty snappy machine and has run the Mach 3 software and BobCAD software without any problems.

This is the table I built to set the mill on.  I could have purchased a steel stand to put the mill on, but I wouldn't have had any place to put tools, store vises, etc.  This thing is one beefy table.

I found pictures of this table in the CNC forums on the net.  The top is two 3/4" plywood sheets glued and screwed together.  I set the plywood on 4 x 4 timbers with steel corner brackets.

I decided to embed a Nebraska Aeronautical Map with pictures I have taken of people I have given rides to so far.  I embedded this under an epoxy coating that is nearly 1/8" thick.  I have used this table for about 4 months now and so far, the top is holding up great.  Since the mill was mainly purchased to help me with the plane project, I only thought that it was fitting to include aviatoin into the table...

The mill is around 445 pounts and table holds it with great rigidity.  I also added scrap from the 3/4" plywood to 3 sides to give additional rigitiy from swaying should the timbers get "sloppy" in the steel corner brackets.  There are some 200+ screws holding all the steel brackets in place.  This bench is held together like the old preverbial "brick shit house".