Mill up and running

[Woodlee]

Some time before Christmas you may recall a mate giving me a lathe and milling machine .
Well they are both here at my shed now , the Mill is up and running I have been making a few small items , just some tee nuts and stuff .

I decided to not mount the mill directly to the floor for two reasons ,One , because I'm fairly tall and have a bad dorsal fin I didn't want to be half bent over most of the time,rather stand on a milk crate to change speeds than be getting around like a half opened pocket knife.

Two ,with the set up I have I can move the machine easily to any where in the shed with out too much trouble , just wind up the levelling jacks so it sits on the wheels and away we go.

Have a few things to do to it still ,some fine tuning of the gibs ,make some decent micrometer dial thumblocking screws .A spindle lock for changing cutters and a couple of bearings for the intermediate drive pulley and a couple of new bets.
The machine sat in storage for 12 years so I expect some brinelling of the bearings ,no big deal to swap them out.

So far it runs fine except for the mentioned bearings which are a bit noisy .

The screw jacks are made from 20mm all thread with a 1/2 ball bearing set into one end which locates in a center drilled depression in the foot plate
The foot plate is silver soldered to a piece of steel tube which has a slot cut through on each side where a spring clip is placed to hold the foot plate onto the threaded rod. I squared the end of the threaded rod (on the mill of course) for a spanner to get a grip.

Kev.

[bollie7]

Kev
you won't know yourself now. You will wonder how you got by without a mill.
Interesting looking dividing head on the end of the table. I couldn't make out the detail though. Whats the story?

How did you go wih the lathe?

bollie7

[blackfrancis]

What do you think of this type of Mill Kev? I'm considering buying a similar machine in the future and would be interested to hear your thoughts. Is the machine reasonably rigid for its size or not?

[wannabe]

That looks very similar to my Mill Woodlee. Mines a Hafco brand manufactured around 1994. Lots of fun to be had with one of these.
Hope those wheels are strong enough. These beasts weight in at about 500kg I think.

[blackfrancis]

So do you think yours is a good machine Peter? Can it take a decent cut with a half inch slot drill in steel?

[Woodlee]

Kev
you won't know yourself now. You will wonder how you got by without a mill.
Interesting looking dividing head on the end of the table. I couldn't make out the detail though. Whats the story?

How did you go wih the lathe?

bollie7

Bollie
The dividing head is from my Myford lathe I was trying to adapt it for use on the mill.I was planning on making base mount for it for it .
But had a brain fart and realised I already had a base ,in the way of the Myford milling slide ,two new larger locating dowels to fit the table slots in the mill was all it took.

The lathe is in limbo until I can get the concrete floor down in the shed extension.It sitting in my drive way lathered in grease and covered with water proof tarps.

Kev.

[Woodlee]

What do you think of this type of Mill Kev? I'm considering buying a similar machine in the future and would be interested to hear your thoughts. Is the machine reasonably rigid for its size or not?

So far with what I've done with it I'm very pleased with it .It takes 2,mm cuts with a half inch end mill no problems , but I just got the bearings today for the intermediate drive pulley .I may have to replace the spindle bearings as well but will see after I change the one s I have now.
From my research the spindle has a roller ball bearing at the top and an angular contact bearing at the bottom ,the bottom one is the expensive one.
This machine was made around 1978 if the loose Id plate that came with is the correct one.
Hafco marketed these mills as I have seen a picture of one with the Hafco plate on the belt drive guard at the front.I'm not sure they still sell these ,they dont appear in thier online catalogue .
If you come across one with the ID plates on it I would appreciate the model number and any other info from it.
The Ebay one below was shown as a HD-VH model in the Ebay listing
Also drive belt sizes .
Mine has had a another motor fitted and the rear drive belt is not the right length.
I bought a belt for it today and hope it will be ok.

The wheels under it are made from 6mm plate , good for about 200 -250 kilos each ,they are there only to move it if I need to . It will be sitting on the screw jacks until I want to move it.
This mill weighs in at around 700kilo.

Here is a pic from Ebay of a Hafco one that was for sale a couple of weeks ago.Its identical to mine which is in the second pic , badging has been removed for some reason by the previous owner.

Kev.

[blackfrancis]

Thanks Kev

I'd be happy with a machine capable of 2mm cuts with a 1/2" end mill.

Standaco have a machine listed (DM-15) which looks very similar.

http://www.standaco.com.au/page.asp?...3&productid=22

There's is listed as only being 265kg with a 660x155mm table, and looks like it is significantly smaller than what you have.

Cheers
Steve

[wannabe]

I'd say you could do a 2mm cut although I tend not to push it that much. The thing still scares me a little.
Mine is a Hafco VM-1 and is listed in the 1994 Hare & Forbes catalogue for $3650. The guy I bought the mill off still had the H&F 1994 catalogue listing it. I can scan the page if you want it Kev.
A pic of mine is attached. Excuse the mess.
Basically specs are
Table Size: 750 X 200
Table Travel: 460mm
Spindle to Table: 338mm (max)
Knee Travel: 345mm
As for spare parts. Good luck. I was in Sydney's H&F last year and asked about spares for it. He just smiled at me.
I've had some issues with mine. Some I've sorted out, some still to be done. The Knee gib strip was slipping out and jamming the knee. Finally tracked that down to the lower retainer bolt not contacting the gib enough and looking at the way it had been fudged I'd say it was from new. The pulleys on the motor are not lining up correctly with the mid pulleys. Wrong belt sizes. Some of the one shot oiler outlets were gummed up. Excessive backlash caused by loose mounting blocks. The quill can stick a bit after using the quill lock.
The best thing I've done on this mill is to mount a Schumatech DRO to it. It makes life so simple.

[wheelinround]

Sorry Kev but it does bring tears to the eyes only cause I didn't have a shot at that other one in Sydney from epay.

Looks great the things you can now do many come to mind even a bit of Ornamental on metal or if you dont mind the mess wood.

Now its going to be long nights in the shed

[Woodlee]

The top part of the machine looks the same ,its the cupboard underneath that's where the difference is .
Grizzly in the US have one similar and Warco in the UK.
All of these machines were copied from the Myford designed A1 milling machine.

Grizzly marketed one very similar to mine and called it a 8 x36 wood mill, but it had a head that could be cranked forward .
The table on mine measures 8 x 36" if you count the swarf trays on the ends of the table.
I've always wanted a Bridgeport but this one will do me for a fair while but Bridgeports are far and few between up here. I'm not keen on the R8 taper that they use either.

I've made couple of improvements to mine so far .The spindle lock handle falls to the left and can get caught under the depth gauge on the front of the spindle head .
I added a small pin on the head and one in the handle to stop it falling right over.
Made a replacement handle for the one that was missing from one of the hand wheels .
I want to make some decent travel stop blocks with adjusters , add a spindle lock so it makes it easier to change tooling , get rid of the hex grubs screws from the micrometer dials on every axis ,(replace with brass thumb screws ).This is a major PIA when trying to find the grub screw when the screw is on the bottom and you are trying not to move the dial.
Later I will add power feed for the table ,and 3 axis DRO's (maybe).I think I have found a supplier of after market power feeds for these machines in the US at very reasonable prices.
The same as Hafco sell here for much more ,not including the transformer

The machine is surprisingly accurate ,given it's age and manufacture .

Well I'm of to the shed to fit the new bearings .I can do that because MFWAF is not home , there is some contention about staying down in the shed at night when she is home ,but I'll ease her into it .


Kev.

[rogerbaker]

Hi Kev
Yours looks identical to mine which was made by Friendly Manuf. Co. in Taiwan.
Mine is a FUGI model FM-VO-B made by the above in 1980.
So far I have been unable to find any manuals for it.

Roger

[wannabe]

It's a bit bigger than mine. Sounds like they all have the same issues though.
I know what you mean about the spindle lock getting in the way. I had to put a washer under mine too because it rotated too much and fouled on the tightening stroke. I replaced the micrometer grub screws too with brass knurled screws. The Y axis travel stop isn't too good because it's got a bit of flex in it. The X axis stops are good. Getting to the back bolt on the middle pulley when changing speeds is a bit of a contortion effort. The top cover doesn't have a locking system in the up position and is quite easy to bump it jamming your fingers when changing speeds if not careful too.
Not having a spindle lock hasn't really cauesd me any heartache.

Have fun with it.

[Woodlee]

Just come back up from the shed , I fitted the bearings ,most of the noise is now gone ,the idler pulley is running sweet .One major noise I found was the locking nut on the draw bar was loose causing the draw bar to do the wobble. Also a bit of heavy oil down the sliding drive spline in the spindle ,it had dry grease on it .certainly quiet now just the motor whirring.
Did the screw driver stethoscope trick on the spindle bearings ,top one is a bit noisy .I will leave them for a while and see how they go .I used the machine for about two hours continuously on the weekend and the bearings in the spindle are not getting really hot ,just warm.
I found a Grizzly manual online for thier model , head and spindle is the same table is slightly different as it has a hole in the centre ,basically the same machine with slight differences.

Roger
I can email the manuals if you want.

Id be interested in hearing more about the DRO set up ,I know of Schumatec and have thier website bookmarked.

Peter
the top cover on mine has a folding strap at the front an holds the cover over center so it cant crash down on your head.
The idler pulley bolts on mine are loose and there was some 4mm rubber packing under the bracket .I cut some UHMWP to 4mm thick on the band saw and drilled a 10mm hole in the center of each piece and placed it under the bracket .I applied some graphite powder to the plastic to help the pulley slide easier .I noticed the rough casting is catching the bolt head so on the weekend I will file it smooth I will also make some new step bolts that will allow the pulley bracket to slide but the bolts will be tight .The slots in the bracket aren't all that flash and could do with a little milling ,but can't do that unless I have another mill. (oops don't even think about it she says)
Could do it on the Myford with the milling slide I suppose.It will help smooth things up when changing speeds , and wont have to contort to keep undoing the bolts ,just a little clearance will hold the pulley but allow it to slide back and forward.The belts will pull it straight anyway.

This English gentleman has the smaller Warco version and has done some nice work on it .Also some articles to make improvements to his machine.(I've already done the spindle lock handle fix.) I also plan to make the locking pin match the spindle diameter more closely like he did .I noticed mine just bears on the very ends of the two piece lock mechanism.
I want to do his spindle lock mod and the draw bar pushing clamp ,I hate belting down on the spindle to release the draw bar , puts unnecessary shock loads on the bearings IMHO.
http://www.homepages.mcb.net/howe/index.htm

Cheers all
Kev.

[wannabe]

Id be interested in hearing more about the DRO set up ,I know of Schumatec and have thier website bookmarked.

Snowyskiesau is currently in the process of setting up his Seig X2 with the ShumaTech.

I've had mine on the mill for over 12 months now and wouldn't be without it. Using the ShumaTech was a way for me to get a DRO that didn't break the budget. It's fun to make it and if it breaks in the future you can fix it. There is also a Yahoo group which is very active and helpful with problems.
I've set mine up on all four axis on the cheap using standard 6", 8" and 12" digital calipers which I've bastradised by cutting off the jaws. You can buy digital scales designed for the purpose but they are more expensive. You can also get proper scales which is the best solution however they are not cheap.
I've modded my ShumaTech box a bit from the standard. At the top you may be able to see there's a switch I use to switch between Tacho and Edge Finder rather than swapping leads. I also have a switch at the bottom that allows me to switch between the Quill and Knee scales as the ShumaTech only has provision for displaying three scales. I've also made a custom front overlay for it.
Mounting the scales is a time consuming exercise. I've used aluminium mounting blocks and the scales are protected from swarf by removable aluminium covers. The X axis scale is only 300mm long which is shorter than the table travel however because I would rarely use over 300mm I opted to use a 300mm scale and mount it so it could be moved around to suit. The cost between a $40 300mm caliper and a $150+ 500mm scale was the main reason for this decision. So far it's worked out ok.

Here are some pics of where I've mounted them.