Member postings for DiogenesII

£1265.

Ebay - Warco Major Milling / Drill Machine MD30B

Edited By DiogenesII on 06/04/2023 22:02:09

The superfast broadband team finally completed their installation so there are some photo's in an album here;

Model Engineer Member Albums Warco Major MD30B

..tram looks good..

Edited By DiogenesII on 06/04/2023 17:09:14

'Cut-purse' is a term as old as the hills, this is the MO to which it refers.

Sad that other old manual skills are dying out and this one's still going strong...

No, I'm sure it's the wood, the Mary Rose was solid oak and every metal object in there is completely b******d, I've seen it.

The pin-hole looks too close to the edge of the topslide for comfort.

If the base of the hole comes close to the edge of the dovetail slot underneath, it will cause a real weak-point; if the topslide cracks...

Also I'd change the stud, just as a matter of course - if it looks like that it will certainly be stretched, too.

Also check the surfaces mate properly, that rusty stuff makes me wonder how good the contact is?

It's your choice, but if the toolpost is too big, there no advantages, only disadvantages.

Looks like the inner edge has been burred / 'spread' by overtightening of the nut, keep going and 'unscrew' it, then de-burr the hole until it will fit over the stud.

If anyone knows otherwise, now is the time to speak.

..you really need to check that the bottom of the toolpost and the surface of the topslide are flat and that there is full contact to maximise clamping friction, and that the thread on the stud is sufficiently long for the nut to be exerting pressure on the toolpost and not 'bottoming out' onto the stud's unthreaded portion.

Edit; just noticed that it looks like the toolpost is hanging out over the sides of the topslide (although could be the angle of the picture) - if it is much too big, it won't help the situation..

Edited By DiogenesII on 04/04/2023 20:13:11

What is that under the nut - it doesn't look like a plain washer?

FWIW the drive pulley /countershaft gearing is way off; a 2"-and-a-bit-ish motor pulley should be driving an 8 or 9" pulley on the countershaft, so at the moment the motor is having to work extra hard (like trying to pull away in top in a car).

It will help a lot if you put the lathe spindle drive onto the 'slowest speed' pair.

The motor might also be clapped, or even a bit cooked from this treatment, but fixing the gearing before further testing will at least clear the field for an unambiguous result.

Edited By DiogenesII on 01/04/2023 12:21:24

So I've seen a few more pics and I'm inclined to now see it being 'as supplied'; not least 'cos the counterbores in the original picture don't look like they've ever had nuts tightened up in them, the lock mechanism is indeed by split cotter, and the casting is shaped to accomodate the counterbore for the single nut.

I'll make an album & post some pictures in due course, I've only just got in....

Also the table and overall condition look nice for a vintage machine, so I'd call it all good.

..with these machines (and here it'd be useful to have other views), I found that the bolts that hold it to the stand need only be nipped up lightly to start with - when I first put mine on the stand I bolted it down firmly and then wondered why the the table travel felt so stiff.. ..'feel your way' with the handles as you gradually tighten the base bolts down.

Then cut some metal and give the machine a few hours hours work to settle it all down, and then you can start to make adjustments and deal with any issues as they make themselves apparent.

So I have a picture of Paul's mill with the single-bolt head fixing, which with his permission I post below.

It's interesting.. ..I've asked Paul to take a look up inside the head and see if he can make out what's what, and why/how this has been done.. ..were they made like this?

The column bolt arrangement is also totally different to mine, which is bolted to the base at the bottom

Edited By DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 21:19:04

Edited By DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 21:20:09

Edited By DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 21:22:06

Edited By DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 21:23:20

..feared for my Tomentosum..

The nuts that clamp the head to the column are located on the r/h/side, right at the back of the head casting. Without going to measure I think they are M16 so prob. something like 24mm AF.

As far as I know all the Majors/RF30's have a pair of nuts / bolts to clamp the head, if yours is different a picture of what it looks like would help.

Can I ask something to help me understand the problem better?

To many people here, 'Tram' means that the spindle is skewiff and not aligned straight up and down above the table, but I think the question you are asking is about the alignment of the head around the column?

Is that right?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325554004453

Don't know anything about either the item or the seller... ..looks a bit 'coppery', probably needs to be seen in the flesh..

Edited By DiogenesII on 23/03/2023 20:59:54

Does anyone have/use a 2-jaw chuck..?

Is this the thing?;

Rotagrip - Peatol Extra Toolpost

RDBarratt - Mitutoyo 2046a 10mm 0.01

..on 'sale' from this established engineering industry supplier. £32.51.. ..+ all the usual I expect but still looks like a good clock for the money.

No connection other than as a previous customer, they do have some nice (& affordable!) Bison MT Collet Chucks...

+1 - on an ML if you don't have a leadscrew handwheel or read-out then parallel topslide is by far the easiest way of establishing distances along the bed for small components.

..just a shame the dials are so b****y awful..

Edited By DiogenesII on 14/03/2023 07:18:54

For everyday use I know the 'end' of mine is 'square' enough to be run up against the chuck jaws or a parallel between them.

If it's 'critical' I'd clock it against a test bar.

Do you really mean these rings were designed to be retained by twenty-six M8 fasteners?

..even cursory consideration indicates that the loads on this assembly were foreseen to be absolutely massive..