All things Beaver Mill

Definitely original. It is my spare so my machine isn't disassembled. Can you explain a bit more what you want photos of please?. Meanwhile, is there anything in the other thread that helps?.

Just a guess, but I'd say it's a replacement with a small, caught, measuring oops.

There are times when I wish my Mk1 was a Mk2, because of the things they put right in the newer designs. But it'll still out live me and is more accurate than I am.

There is nothing in the other thread that shows the details that I am after Peter. What I would like to see are pictures of each side of the Gib and Adjustment Screws because the table is 10" wide and the gib strip you showed is 10" long therefore the adjustment screw heads must end up proud of the side of the table on at least one side.

One adjustment screw is missing from my machine so before I make a new one I would like to see how it was set up originally.

Regards,

Lex.

Hi. The gib dimensions I gave are 9.5" long, and I am sure the table is wider than that.

Look again at this specific picture

Near the blue letter A in a circle, at the bottom of the picture, you can see a gib adjusting screw touchung the gib.Look at the opposite end of where the gib sits and you can see there is a pocket for the other adjusting screw. The pocket starts and widens out at the end of the gib. Only one screw is shown, but lets hope it's the one you need.

Like most people, my mill is in assembled and in use, and the apron assembly is the other way up, so I'm definitely unable to take pictures of that area. I could take a picture of the front and back gib screws in situ if that would help?

Later... I've just done some measurements and photos of the mill. Yes, the table is about 10" wide (I see 255.0mm). Underneath, at the height the gib is at :

Apron measures 252.5mm wide.

Front of the gib 9.28mm from the front of the apron.

Rear of the gib 6.31mm from the rear of the apron.

Calculate the gib length from that gives : 252.5 - 9.28 - 6.31 = 236.91mm

The spare I previously measured at 241.3mm, so there a couple of mm descrepancy, which I can well believe from these rough measurements.

Like you, I had the image in my mind of the screws being wholly in front of and behind the gibs. In fact, the screw (assy?) is mostly above or to one side of the actual gib key.

These pictures may help. Sorry for the space, I can't see how to do thumbnais.

Edited By Peter_H on 02/10/2019 15:08:50

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures Peter,they have confirmed that the gib arrangement is exactly the way that I thought it would be. I can also go ahead and make some way wipers as per your photos, as mine are all missing. I made a new adjustment screw (see photo) to replace the missing one and will also have to make a new gib strip, the one that was in the machine may not be original and has had some makeshift extension fitted to the large end, it is also too short at 223mm.

Good news Lex. Just shout if there's any more photos you want, like a close of of the wiper. I can easily take one of those off . Looks like the wiper material is felt.

Thanks Peter. The MKll spindle has been mention in this and another thread and also the fact that the information in the Beaver manual is not very clear, as I have found out myself, so I would like to know about the procedure to correctly remove the spindle including how much of the head needs to be disassembled to do so. Looking forward to hearing from others who have done this,

Regards,

Lex.

Edited By Lex Davis on 05/10/2019 00:58:18

You have to remove the quill by following the section in the manual "P12-13 Quill Removal Instructions". Don't forget to remove the drawbar first. The procedure is much much easier if you turn the head to one side first. Don't be tempted to try remove the spindle from the quill while the quill is still in the machine. The torsion spring which balances the weight of the quill assembly is quite dangerous until you follow the procedure to unwind it. It housed in the box on the right of the head, around the shaft of the quill operating handle. That's the handle that smacks you in the face if you don't release the tension properly .

There have been several variations in bearing types. Earlier machines had a pair of opposing taper roller bearings at the bottom and an angular contact bearing at the bottom. The later machines have a matched pair of opposing precision angular contact bearings at the bottom and an ordinary sealed deep groove bearing at the top. The spindle should come out of the quill fairly easily. Remove the spindle nut at the top of the quill, then the whole spindle assembly will get jacked out as you remove the quill bearing nut. The bottom quill bearing nut is actually the full diameter of the quill and around 17mm high. From memory, I think it needs a big C spanner to remove - it has two shallow opposing slots for getting some torque on it. Be careful of the felt seal at the bottom of the quill, which runs on the inner bore of that lower 'nut'. Mine had hardened and broke up and I was stupid enough to not take any measurements of it. If you get a chance, please measure it for me!. Also make a note of the directions of the pair of angular contacts. I can't remember for sure if the open sides face each other or face away from each other.

The angular contact bearings are separated by a pair of cylindrical spacers, one on the inners and one on the outers. The difference in length of these spacers, a few tens of microns, sets the preload on the angular contact pair, so be careful not to ding them, deburr them, clean with emery, etc.

If you replace the bearings don't be mean, they need to be precision matched 7207's.

Edited By Peter_H on 05/10/2019 11:41:50

Thanks Peter, do I need to do anything at the pulley end of the Quill/Spindle assembly?

It may be a while before I get around to removing the spindle but I will definitely get some dimensions of the felt seal.

No, the quill plus spidle shaft is free to pull right out. The spindle is only connected to the drive train by splines. So the spindle+quill assembly will come straight out of the bottom after following the instruction on the handle/spring stuff. You then have a quill with spindle in your hands for renovation. One tip - in my case, the quill was such a good fit in it's bore, that if I took more than a minute or two trying to refit it, the heat from my hands expanded it and it would no longer fit!

Edited By Peter_H on 07/10/2019 10:29:45

Such a simple procedure, I thought there would be more to it.

Edited By Lex Davis on 08/10/2019 12:14:06

Hi I was wondering if someone here may be able to help. I've got a beaver Mk2 with a wedged quill. Basically I've been machining with the head tilted at 45, worked fine then the quill jammed solid. I'm guessing the rack pinion has moved off the rack on the quill but someone hopefully has more knowledge on this. Any help is greatly appreciated

thanks Mark

I'd like to help with some useful information Mark but I have not disassembled my quill yet so I don't know exactly how it is built.

Mark - On the front of the quill housing you can see the head of what looks like a plug, about 1/2" diameter. That is the Quill Guide Plug which has a key section on the other side which rides in the key slot in the quill to stop it rotating. You'll see it in the parts listing as :

43 S100/750 Quill Guide Plug

The plug/key is itself stopped from rotating, and is retained by :

44 P185 10 UNC x 3/8" long set screw

Try to remove the plug key and see if the quill can be persuaed to move.

Edited By Peter_H on 28/10/2019 10:21:32

Thanks Peter, I never knew there was a keyway there. Moved the head straight again and managed to free the quill back up. Only seems to happen when hard machining at an angle. I'll take that plug out and see what condition of the key way is in

Many thanks Mark

It just occured to me - how on earth do their quill removal instructions work without removing that key? I can't see how the quill can be pulled out without removing the key, but I have done it myself!

I am rebuilding a MK1 Beaver that unfortunately had the head bearings (not the quill) removed. I bought the mill in bits and although it is all there and I can reassemble it all, the bearings themselves are missing and were lost by the original owner during the process of finding replacements.

The problem is that the bearings specified in the MK2 manual are not the same. Does anyone have a MK1 and happens to know all the bearing numbers, if so that would be fantastic as I am pretty stuck at the moment.

Also is anyone aware of a parts manual/list for the MK1?

Many thanks

Roo

The original fitment was a pair of Hoffman 135ACD angular contact bearings at the bottom and a Hoffman 130 type 100 deep groove ball bearing at the top.

According to my purchase history at bearingboys.co.uk, I used 1 x 7207-CDUP4 Nachi Precision Ball Bearing Pair 35mm x 72mm x 17mm ()

for the bottom ones. I can't remember what the top one is equivalent to, but it's a simple 6000 series deep groove ball bearing, so the spindle and quill diameters should let you choose the right one.

Tony at lathes.co.uk has got such manuals and parts lists as are available,

I finally got around to removing the Quill/Spindle assembly from my Mk2 #40 taper machine. It really is a simple , straight forward procedure if you follow the instructions.

I was surprised to find that the 2 locknuts (items 52 & 53) on the top of the spindle were completely loose and had allowed the spindle to drop down a couple of millimeters.

After removing the Spindle Bearing Nut (item 62) I carefully tapped the spindle, complete with bearings and spacers etc, out of the Quill to have a look at the bearings. The lower bearings are Hoffman N9126 with dimensions of 40 x 72 x 17mm. These are no longer available so I will have to clean them out and re lubricate then see how they perform.

It doesn't do any harm to use some low strength 200 series Loctite on the two locknuts. Torsional vibration from a worn drive spline (especially with a shell/face mill) can rattle them loose.

I guess that Beaver were pretty limited for choice in making space for the 40 taper spindle in the existing quill. Opening the bore out to take the more common 80mm OD bearings would be very marginal.