Member postings for Ian McVickers

Second attempt at this post. VM are apparently having issues which are intermittently shutting down the Internet connection. Keyway cutting went rather well with the home made tool.

Horizontal motor has been fitted. Bit of a pain fitting it in on my own. Had to put the motor in and prop it up on some wood then bolt on the fitting plate inside the base.

I have the inverter and enclosure I used on my old cnc mill so I intend to use it for this mill. The inverter will used for the table drive and I should be able to crowbar in the psu, contactors and overloads for the drives.

Also have a spare box the same as I used for my lathe so going the same way for the mill.

Table has been put back on the knee but gibs are not fitted yet. There is quite a bit of backlash in the long travel screw but that will be a job for later. Both vertical and horizontal motors have arrived. Vertical motor has been fitted via an adapter plate to measure the length of drive belt I need then removed to get the adapter plate painted. The new motors have 24mm diameter shafts and I have bored out the vertical one to fit the shaft but I don't have an 8mm keyway breach so thinking about making a boring bar type one and either cutting the keyway on the lathe or on the mill.

Knee refitted today but I need to get another screw to replace the snapped one so that's tomorrows job. Also found the over arm support lock in the box of bits.

The rest of the parts on the head have been painted and fitted as well. Gear box cover replaced and oil changed.

Started cleaning up the table now.

Peter,

I gave them a clean down with grease cleaning wipes. Any remaining stubborn bits got a gentle rub down with wd 40 soaked scotch bright pads.

Managed to get some more cleaning and painting done.

Snapped grub screw in the knee gib adjuster but thankfully it wasn't stripped or jammed so came out easily with a small point punch.

Also managed to clean up the aluminium pulleys but found a crack in one and had to remove a small part of the pulley but I don't think it will cause any issues.

Ive decided not to go with inverter drives for the horizontal or vertical so both motors have been ordered and should arrive mid week. I have a 400 Watt servo and amplifier so Im thinking about using it for the table drive. Still cant find any info on the net about the original drive motor fitted to it.

Philip, the yahoo group seems to be dead now. I tried to join and sent the required emails but haven't received any replies.

Does anyone have a photo of the tally plate on the omnimill table drive motor, the original one? The plate is missing from mine and I would like to have the info on it if anyone can help.

Busy day in the workshop today. Warco mill moved off the concrete block. I thought this was going to be difficult but had an idea to use some large linear rail and bearings that's been lying around for ages. One of the things that you never really need but don't want to throw away.

So lifted the mill with my toe jack and set the rails and bearings, lowered the mill and a gentle push moved it along. Repeat 3 times and the mill is in its temporary home till it gets sold.

Aluminium base plate cut to size and resin secured bolts fitted in the block, packers fitted and plate levelled.

Omnimill base in position and painted. Had to make some 40mm diameter 6mm thick washers for securing the base to the plate.

Column fitted to the base.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the column rubbed down and base coated. I don't have enough top coat so will need to order more and also need to wait till Tuesday to order the resin grout for finishing off the base. I would like to get the overarm back in position as well to look at what motor sizes I can get in.

Philip thanks for the links. I will definitely need to get a parts or breakdown manual and thanks for the tip on the oil points. The tank inside the machine was filthy but has been cleaned out now, going to fit an external tank. Horizontal bits are all there, 30 Int fitting. As for the oil in the column I think most of its on my driveway which the boss isn't too happy about but it will get cleaned up.

Clive, thanks the hole is indeed for the locking clamp. I will need to make one of those.

Base for the machine was power washed, done over with a cup wheel in my grinder and cleaned down with degreaser. Base coat of red oxide has been applied.

Nigel sent you a pm earlier but if you could send me a photo of the new motor you fitted to the vertical drive that would be great. It will give me an idea of what size motor I can upgrade to. I was looking at 1.5KW but it might be a bit too big.

Plan for tomorrow is to get the warco off of the concrete block and move the Omnimill base into position and get it bolted down. I had to extend the concrete block so its not level now so Im not sure whether to shim the base or bolt down some 20mm thick steel plates, one front and one back 500mm long by 100mm wide, and then bolt the machine to them although I do have some heavier ali plates that are larger so my go that way. If I go with plates then I can always grout under them.

The machine will be repainted. I think I have enough grey left over from the Clarkson tool grinder job so that's the plan for that. Electrics will be replaced. 3 motors in all. The table drive will be done with an inverter probably but the horizontal and vertical will be standard single phase motors. All bearings will be checked and replaced if required.

Peter, the hole in the casting is meant to be there. Not sure whats its for yet though.

Right, after much thinking time I decided I couldn't do without a quill on a new mill so I went for the Elliot Omnimill 00. The machine arrived this afternoon and has been stripped in to its main parts with most of it in my workshop except for the base. I`m going to power wash it first. Electrics have been removed as they are going to be fully replaced. This looks like a pretty good bit of kit and I`m looking forward to getting it running.

Edited By Ian McVickers on 03/05/2019 21:15:01

I have my Gh universal on feet. If you decide to bolt yours down use shims to get it as level as possible to avoid distorting the frame.

The no volt release is built into the starter. When the start button is pressed the contactor pulls in , provided the stop button contact and overload contact is closed. The start button is wired in parallel across a contact on the contactor and this holds the contactor in after the start button is released. If the power fails the hold on contact is released and the contactor drops out. This is the NVR circuit.

Edited By Ian McVickers on 26/04/2019 10:52:53

Edited By Ian McVickers on 26/04/2019 10:53:41

Personally I think it's too high. I wouldn't use it for that motor if it's was me doing the job. If buying one from eBay make sure it comes complete.

Maybe by the time it becomes law for them to be fitted by all manufacturers it will work correctly. My son recently passed his test and got his first car. To keep his insurance down, still £1300, he has a black box gps based system and an app on his phone which gives him scores out of 10 for various conditions like speed, smoothness and usage but he regularly has to phone them up because the gps continually reports him for speeding because it's not accurate enough. Couple of weeks ago he drove over a motorway flyover on a 30 road and the GPS reported him as doing 70.

2 to 5 amps would be a good range to cover the motor you are using. Overloads are not expensive and would be easy to change if you decide to fit a bigger motor in the future.

Starter unit with overload protection would be my recommendation. You will have start function, stop function and prevention against auto restart in case of power fail. You can also extend the stop circuit by adding additional estop if required.

Richard, you replied to my classified advert but I don't have any contact details for you. Can you pm me please.

Ian

Nigel, how is the Elliot mill for general milling and model work ? Is the overarm design pretty rigid?