Thread: Lipstick On a Pig

I did see some on ebay from China and some even had the safety revolving handle that folds away.
Where are you buying your ones from? The trouble is my table feed ones are around 180mm round, so they get expensive.


Dave

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hehehe, Many years ago I crashed my left hand end table feed handle into a piece of barstock that was overhanging the bench (at rapid traverse speed of course) It split straight in two and you'll never guess how i put it back together......

Martin,
That looks great, although i want to do this to my lathe i really don't see the point on the HM50, its a pig and will be no matter what i do to it........(ok maybe that was a bit harsh?)

Ewan

I have been through my down feed and it works fine now. I have plans to convert the 3 armed hub with a single arm hub and have it quick release like a ratchet set up.

I was moving a cupboard on the wall when I had the first mill and you never guess where it fell, strait on the rotating handle of the X axis. It is made of some Bakelite I believe (spelling) and took a piece completely out of the hand wheel. It also got arildited back together but I also put some screws in to hold it. It was returned like that, so someone somewhere has that mill and will wonder what the black bog spots are on the hand wheel.

Dave

G'Dave ,
The seller I have ordered from trades on Ebay as" fitprice", I did consider the folding handle type but I prefer to get away from plastic handles.
Ueee,
I don't think you are being in the least harsh, just honest (hence the title of the post) Whist I would love to have a decent quality knee milling machine, space limitations, particularly headroom (cutting a hole in the roof to remove drawbars is not practical) dictate that I will be using my pig into the foreseeable future, My object is to reduce the day to day irritation of crappy controls and feel that a few dollars spent and few hours work is worthwhile.
Regards,
Martin

Hi Martin, thanks for that.
If only we had a store with a selection like Grizzly does, and at those sort of prices.

As for exotic machinery it really doesn't bother me, I don't care what it is or where it came from, as long as it does the job. If I had a choice, I prefer a squarer machine as it looks more modern over an old rounded model. My mates dad who is still a machinist has one identical to yours and is not looking to upgrade any time soon. Also Pipeclay has one and he does some great work on it. It all comes down to who is using it and there experience.
A lot of people look at these mills in the catalog and think they are the size of a drill, but they are a lot bigger in person, and a lot heavier.

I was originally going to buy a mill just like yours because I was sick of having to stretch my neck around on the horizontal mill I had. It was only because I had some spare extra money at the time I bought the HM52.

The way I looked at it back then was for a few extra dollars on top of the round column I could have a dovetail column, then when I added the price of a power feed, coolant, vise, collets, drill chuck etc and came to the conclusion the HM50 would be better. Between this time and going down to get the machine I thought for an extra $600 (back then) for the HM52 was worth while, so thats what I bought.
I did look at the BM20 (I think it was) but it was around $2000 extra and I would then have to add the horizontal set up which was around $600-700 (back then). Some times I think I would have been better off buying it over this one, but I have most of the problems ironed out now.

With the handles you have talked me into it, by the end of the week I am going to put some on my lathe, LOL The mill can wait until I make the single handle conversion.

Do you have a DRO on the table ? If not it makes the world of difference to using the hand wheels. Even the cheaper ones like your quill scale does an OK job, but just not as reliable or as accurate as glass scales. I think it's the best accessory you could buy for a machine, and it's $400 will soon be forgotten after using it, and will pay for itself with less scrapped parts in the long run.

Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

No, they wont fit yours, they are the Dickson style that are $80 each at H&F.

Dave

they will if I buy a dickson QCTP

Originally Posted by eskimo

they will if I buy a dickson QCTP

LOL, at $500 for the tool post?? You couldn't be as silly as me to buy one.
I would stick with what you have. The 1/2 grand hurt when I bought it as it is a luxury and not a necessity, and there where no others I knew of at the time for less.
If I had of known about the internet, ebay and the cheap US sellers back then I would have bought one of dovetail ones. I will say though, I have zero complaints with it other than it's price and the price of it's holders and them being sort of rare to get hold of unlike the dovetail ones. Ray also has one like mine.

It was a toss up, either sell this one at a big loss as I would only get $200-$250 if I was really lucky, then buy a wedge tool post from the states for $200 + extra holders to this amount would cost me another $550. So I came to the conclusion to just make them and save money, but it's eaten up some time. One good thing is there is no expensive tooling in making them like dovetail cutters which we all know are delicate and can cost a fortune for a good one.

Will do a full right up when I am finished as I have taken a load of photos all the way through.

Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

The 1/2 grand hurt when I bought it as it is a luxury and not a necessity, and there where no others I knew of at the time for less.
If I had of known about the internet, ebay and the cheap US sellers back then I would have bought one of dovetail ones.

we could always swap... after you've made the extra tool posts of course....

yeah at 500 I will try and make do with the one I have..or is that two...yeah two...never did get around to fitting the first one to the "lathe in the box"...

willl try and get rid of it when I get rid of the "lathe in the box"

G'Day Dave,
At this stage I don't have a DRO on the RF31 table, but it's on the wish list, last place I worked I used a King Rich mill with ball screws and a 3 axis DRO and I know how easy it makes life.
Regarding lathe handwheels, I got a bit carried away making a new handle for mine (needle roller bearings- bloody wanker) and the weight of it made it kick forward as it passed the 12 o'clock position, marring fine finishes. had to add a counter weight to the other side, could save you a bit of grief if you allow for this at the design stage.
Regards,
Martin

Hi Martin
The quill handle I am talking about is like a Bridgeport type. The guy in the link below did a conversion on a mill similar to mine, but I want to design it differently as I don't want to be moving the whole housing when I use it like he has to.

I know you have just made those beautiful knobs, but this could be something for you to think about as well. Having one ratcheting handle means you can position it where you want and you no longer have 2 handles getting in the way while using the other one.

You can buy the handles for a cheap as $35US, but postage is the killer. I am just going to make my own since it so simple to make, and then I can work it into my design. I know Eskimo will probably want one, so I might make 2.

I know what you mean about the counter balancing, sorry to hear it caused you trouble in the end. I would have liked to have seen your needle roller conversion, sounds a great idea and I bet it rolls nicely in your hand. I take it we are talking about the nice little down feed handle we can see in the picture? No wankers here, some times I wonder why I go to so much trouble designing and making things to be just right, but I think it's an obsession we have to make thing work and look better.

The King Rich mills are a nice mill, they even sound rich, LOL

Dave

Dave,
we have got to stop meeting like this, people will gossip.
It was the lathe saddle hand wheel I was referring to (pic attached) the counter weight is held in place with an old hard disk drive magnet.
Just checked and have plenty of 10 x 14 needle roller bearings, I will bore out the RF 31 down feed handle and press in a couple tomorrow, thanks for the idea.
Regards,
Martin

Nice job,
How about taking a few pictures of the one your doing the mill for members on here?
Some guys have probably never worked with needle rollers bearings, so it would be educational.

With this mill one tomorrow, what about drilling in the opposite side of the hand wheel and putting a steel slug in to balance it up? If you have some kitchen scales you could first weigh the handle, then select a diameter of steel rod to match. You could either drill from the side, or to keep it pretty well unseen you could drill in on the diameter of the wheel, even if it took a few smaller pieces to add up.

On the compound of my lathe it has 2 revolving handles the same length, and I find it works good for using it with a thumb and finger. I have also seen other lathes have one of the handles shorter, which I think would be better so the second one doesn't get in the way when using one.

The carriage and tail stock hand wheel on my lathe has the spoke though the middle wider on the opposite side to balance it up.

Dave

G'Day Dave,
Unfortunately I had finished the needle roller job before I read your post, it was just a case of boring the knob out to 13.99 mm, gently pressing in the bearings and truing and polishing the centre stud (the recent addition of a leadscrew extension and handle on the lathe makes boring to a precision depth a breeze) and , yes the action of the downfeed is smoother than a monkey with a shaved scrotum.
Surprisingly, the table handwheels from HK turned up yesterday, I was expecting them to be some sort of mystery alloy, but they are chrome plated cast iron, quality is a bit of a lucky dip as one them needs a bit tidying up with a die grinder.
Regards,
Martin

Thanks Martin, I have done a few over the years for other people, but just thought other members might learn something from it. No worries maybe next time.
Your new hand wheels sound nice.

Dave

G'Day Dave,
Photos show the handwheels marked out, milled and fitted, you can see the so so quality in photo 4 (middle handle).
Regards,
Martin