Mill: electronics, end-stops, bed, and vacuum...

I've been adding to my mill related to-do list for several weeks and am happy to say that I finally made some progress. First, I finished installing my electronics. I was planning on borrowing my stepper driver boards from my 3d printer in order to mill another set but finally got too annoyed by switching machines so I went ahead and bought them from MakerBot.



Next, I installed the x, y, and z end-stops respectively.





I then started working on my bed. I wanted some kind of setup that would allow me to screw on the material I was milling in any orientation or size. I settled on this approach. Thankfully I was able to mill all the grooves and drill all the holes right no my mill. To accomplish this I screwed down a 1 X 3 inch board and milled down the surface so that it was level. I then pinched these 1 X 1 inch pieces of wood between two screws and milled a groove. I Flipped and repeated. I then turned and drilled the holes in the pieces of wood. I then drilled corresponding holes in my base MDF bed.





A washer will now fit in the grooves and so I have a lot of flexibility in how I screw down my milling material. I also zip-tied a Husky Wet/Dry Vac to the mill. I should have done this a long time ago. I am now in the process of milling down and leveling my new bed.