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Feb 2023 — Building the tools to build the tools
If we were going to make this work properly, we needed a CNC milling machine. Not to buy one — that would have been too easy — but to build one from scratch. Space in our small workshop is extremely limited, so a full CNC mill and separate lathe was never going to be an option. We needed one machine that could do both.
We settled on converting a Warco WM16B manual milling machine, designing the entire CNC conversion and enclosure ourselves in Fusion 360. The sheet metal parts were laser cut and bent by a local engineering firm, Luffman Engineering, then brought back to the workshop for welding, painting, and assembly.
Feb 2023 — Building the tools to build the tools
If we were going to make this work properly, we needed a CNC milling machine. Not to buy one — that would have been too easy — but to build one from scratch. Space in our small workshop is extremely limited, so a full CNC mill and separate lathe was never going to be an option. We needed one machine that could do both.
We settled on converting a Warco WM16B manual milling machine, designing the entire CNC conversion and enclosure ourselves in Fusion 360. The sheet metal parts were laser cut and bent by a local engineering firm, Luffman Engineering, then brought back to the workshop for welding, painting, and assembly.
A model of the design for the enclosure including the electronics control enclosure.
From there came the base frame, the chip tray, the enclosure panels, the electronics cabinet, the lubrication system — each one a project in itself. The whole conversion took around three years of weekends to complete.
From there came the base frame, the chip tray, the enclosure panels, the electronics cabinet, the lubrication system — each one a project in itself. The whole conversion took around three years of weekends to complete.
But before any of that could happen, the machine itself needed to be rebuilt properly. Once we stripped it back to its bare castings, it was clear that almost every axis would need hand scraping — a traditional technique where a carbide scraper is used to level metal surfaces by hand, removing tiny amounts at a time until the surface is as flat as any surface grinder could achieve. It's slow, painstaking work, and it took months of weekends to complete. But getting it right at this stage was the difference between a machine that drifts and one that holds tolerance.
But before any of that could happen, the machine itself needed to be rebuilt properly. Once we stripped it back to its bare castings, it was clear that almost every axis would need hand scraping — a traditional technique where a carbide scraper is used to level metal surfaces by hand, removing tiny amounts at a time until the surface is as flat as any surface grinder could achieve. It's slow, painstaking work, and it took months of weekends to complete. But getting it right at this stage was the difference between a machine that drifts and one that holds tolerance.
Here it is all stripped down to its castings
Checking how parallel the spindle is to the head.
Here is the base frame completed with some parts fitted.
Here is some fabrication of the base.
The chip tray assembly.
The chip tray complete.
Here we are testing the machine assembly before we start on the main enclosure.
It wasn't the plan to spend three years building a machine before making a single tonearm part. But there was no shortcut. If the machine isn't right, nothing that comes out of it will be either.
It wasn't the plan to spend three years building a machine before making a single tonearm part. But there was no shortcut. If the machine isn't right, nothing that comes out of it will be either.
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