Beefed up Minimill

I wanted to use the minimill to mill aluminum.
At first, I had some wobble due to the wheels, so that didn't really work.

So I changed it up:

I already had a 500mm long C-beam to use for the X-axis.
I stiffened up the column by adding 2 C-beams together and filling the inside cavity with epoxy granite mix (which added about 4.5 kg or roughly 10 pounds), which I mounted this using some stiffer L-brackets. I also made two 3D printed "stabilisers" these are big black prints in the back. They are hollow and filled up with epoxy granite as well (adding about 1.5 kg (~3,3 lbs) in total I believe. My idea was, that more weight in the back (and using the stabilisers under tension to keep the column from swinging back) would help keep the column ridgid and straight up.

Next, I mounted all the axis on HG15 linear rails (which made it nice and stiff!)
I designed a stiffer router mount with 2 eccentric nuts to easily tram it to the table, a Y-axis plate to easily mount it (it has a small ridge unto which the C-beam clicks before tightening it with screws) and an X-axis plate, on which I can mount a fixture plate (see picture) or have 2 big 8mm inserted nuts to mount my vise

And finally, I ordered some nice bellow covers for all the axis and printed some mounts for them as well as some covers for the motors as well as put covers in all the unused V-slots of the extrusions

I printed all the plates for now, so that I can mill them out of aluminum later.
The mill is mounted onto a 25 mm (about 1") steel plate which weighs about 48 kg (105 lbs)

All in all, the mill feels super sturdy and stiff, can't wait to try aluminum yet!

To do = Add airblast. I already have a pump, but it seems a bit too heavy duty and it's single speed, so might look for something a bit smaller.

If I forgot something, I'll probably update this later!