Tools mill

Apologies for making such a foolish suggestion then........just trying to help.....

Edited By John Rudd on 24/09/2017 19:39:32

Well back from my caravanning break and after some thought I am going to do the following.O rdered a 2 ton rated Chinese block and tackle of Amazon. Better than eBay I got 30% off .

Paid for a carrier and it is due Wednesday or Thursday. Freebie carriage was Friday or Monday.

I have a scaffold tower which I can erect two stages high around it. Four scaffold planks doubled up with a gorilla bar across for the hook will enable me to lift it off the pallet and slide my trolley underneath. I can then move it to the rear of the house and the workshop. Once in the workshop I will decide on whether to dismantle or not.

Main problem is although I can lift it high enough in front of the bench I then have to move it forwards a couple of feet to get it on the bench. Taking the bench out first and refitting the bench afterwoods under the hoisted mill is an option but would be difficult because of space

Well weather looked hopefully today so I unpacked the pallet so I could have a look. Managed to remove the head on my own quite easily. Took the x-axis table off and the y-axis just left with the column and base. To heavy on it's own but reinforcements are coming after tea tonght. Once it's in the workshop I can decrease while I'm waiting for the hoist to arrive and reassemble over the weekend...

Incidentally now it's unpacked I can measure the distance from the top of the mill to the roof and it's 30mm

That's tight! Good job it wasn't any closer or you'd be having real fun and games!

Is it that near the ceiling because it's going on a bench? I've got mine on a Warco cabinet which is only 730mm high. If the mill was at workbench height I'd have trouble reaching the Z wheel to raise and lower the head. Barefoot I'm just under 6' tall. I mention it just in case. Very frustrating to huff and puff heavy equipment into position only to find you have to move it again. Don't ask me how I know...

Dave

Next year I have to re felt the roof. Probably put a course or two of bricks on top to lift the roof up if I feel it needs it. Problem will be I can't tip the head over to 45 degrees but how often do you need to do that ?. Easier to tilt the workpiece I would have thought

Too late now, but was going to suggest not disassembling, but to jack and pack to bring it to bench height.

This was what I did put the ML7 onto the bench, MANY years ago. My neighbour, whose father was a mining engineer was highly amused. "Just my dad did" he said.

Pity that I had done the same with the Mill/Drill.  Stripped that, and suspect that it was never really right afterwards.

Howard.

Edited By Howard Lewis on 27/09/2017 10:37:48

Having stripped it I am glad I did so. Plenty of dried on grease that needs washing of with paraffin then a proper lube.

Now I have had it apart I can see how it all works as well. Haven't split the base from the column but these are doweled so it probably would go back okay if I did

Well some progress made. The block and tackle came Wednesday teatime too late to do anything. Thursday afternoon was spent making a short beam to support the hoist from 32mm steel bar and angle iron. Bit of practice with the hoist and some rope then called it a day. This afternoon I thought I'd give it a go and all went well. Mill now bolted down on the tray but still need to put the table and head back on. Hopefully I will get time Sunday

Thanks to all who offered advice it was appreciated

Tab

Brian

Well done Brian.

Could you measure / comment on the mill's alignment now it's back together please? I was put off dismantling mine because of warnings that re-setting it would be a pain after reassembly. Now I'm not so sure: could it be that these mills are designed for quick assembly in the factory and don't need lots of tweaking?

Thanks,

Dave

PS Just a thought - that 'dried on grease' may have been rust prevention.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 30/09/2017 09:43:15

From my experience (and much reading) you will certainly need to set the column and the head carefully, and this can take both time and ingenuity. The process is called 'tramming', and means that the column and the quill are to be set truly at right angles to the bed, both sideways and fore & aft. Unless this is done, the cutter will not follow a hole but will skew to one side as the head is moved up and down the column. Once this verticality is established, you can set about ensuring that the head itself is accurately set to the column. This ensures that movement of the quill within the head is also truly at right angles to the bed.

There may be no 'official' way to do this adjusting in practice. You can use an engineer's square to check, or rely on setting the bed level and then checking the quill with a level. Or, use a DTI carried in the chuck and rotated in contact with the bed. But it is too easy, unless you really think about the process, to end up with a vertical quill, but a cock-eyed column, so that quill movement is true but lowering the whole head on the column moves the tool sideways.

How you adjust the column itself is normally a matter of sliding strips of shim steel (or brass) into the spaces where the bolts attach, for the fore & aft measurement, and then ensuring as the bolts are tightened that the column is held vertical (for the sideways measurement). Yes, it can be a bit precarious. The real bad news is that should you ever suffer a serious tool jam, or a similar accident, you need to recheck and perhaps readjust these settings.

A simple way to check the state of a mill is to use a fly-cutter on a flat piece of, say, aluminium plate held firmly down on the bed. Adjust it to take the merest hint of a cut, and traverse the work across beneath the rotating cutter. It should show the same even cutting pattern over the whole cut surface.

Then do the same thing and move the bed towards you instead of sideways. Any hint of hit-&-miss cutting in either of these tests shows that the cutter is not working exactly parallel to the bed.

Then use a new rod of silver steel in the chuck, and check with an engineers square in both directions. No daylight should show over the full length of the rod, if the column and head are set correctly.

I hope this helps.

Regards, Tim

Managed to put the table on early this morning before going to watch the young grandson play football. Finished off when I got back. Off to watch Coventry play football in a minute with the grandson so that's it for today.

Will put head on tomorrow and tidy up the workshop. Silly old suffer the slides can only go back as they come off. Column and pedestal foot I didn't take apart as advised not too although they are dowelled as are the table end plates.. the grease was to protect but instruction book says to remove it with paraffin then oil

Tim, thanks for the advice I will get my friend to help me on this one although I won't be milling for a week or two as waiting for collet chuck and decent vice. Probably content myself with drilling

Put head back on this morning all working fine. Went to fit the supplied chuck only to find is doesn't fit the arbor. The chuck is definately b16 as it fits my lathe tailstock chuck. Taper on supplied arbor is 16mm rising to 17.333 at widest part. Came to fit the power feed (which I was going to leave off for time being till i get the feel manually) and found the bolt holes do not line up. Ah well talk to Toolco tomorrow

. Time for sunday dinner with the family now

If it's that weight and just been delivered surely is on a pallet or has pallet holes in the bottom ?

if it has why not use a pallet truck ?

all my machinery is set up for pallet truck movement it's saved me no end of hassle especially when you can't make your mind up just how you want your workshop set up. or you keep having to swap around to fit new toys in !!

you only need 4 inches in height to fit the truck under and away you go

unless of course you have a bench top machine then you'll need a crane or something to lift with anyway.

Didn't have a pallet truck and would still need to lift it 3ft off the ground to go on bench. All done now though. Used a 2ton block and tackle.bought off Amazon new for £16.50. Absolute bargain . Also used a home made trolley that I knocked up when I bought my lathe