Milling - What am I doing wrong

It would be interesting to see how low it goes with out the ram but that would be at the cast of making the head harder to raise unless it could be mounted externally.

I do a lot of work directly on the table be it large sheet/plate work or castings.

Jason

The problem is the ram is inside the colum, close to the leadscrew, and no way to get at it without re-dismantling the machine which I am not tempted to do,  I had thought or an exteral ram but would be concered about side loading the keyway.

Is there something I could buy to raise the level of the table

Edited By petro1head on 05/03/2017 08:59:38

You will get another couple of inches by the time you have your ER32 collet chuck on there which will help plus tool protrusion.

I don't think raising the table would be easy so better to have something to pack the work up with. You could use some bright 12x50 and 12 x 25 bar to make your own, use 1-2-3 blocks and for sheet work MDF does the job.

Good idea Jason

The only other option is a shorter ram and loose a little on the height which I don't think I would mill as there is at least 350mm Z travel

If 123 blocks aren't enough there are 246 blocks (note they tend to have annoying UNC threaded holes). Then there are large but pricey machinists blocks in various sizes (the linked one is the biggest I've seen on ebay). A tilting angle table takes up a lot of room - you could set it very carefully flat and make a special spacer/setting block for future easy set up.

Excuse me for sounding ignorant but what are 123 blocks

Have a look here. You can also get them in metric version.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 05/03/2017 16:28:50

.

... I just saw this on ebay **LINK** and thought of you.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-English-made-Versa-Vice-all-steel-construction-Direct-from-Myford-Stuff/201830516881

MichaelG.

Have ordered some from Warco.

Also got my books today

A box angle plate could give you a small tee slotted table area much higher than the table, Rotagrip do them as do many others on eBay.

Mike

You might want to consider John Stevenson's 10-20-40 blocks which fit together unlike 1-2-3 blocks...

Neil

I bought a set of those with the 20-40-80 blocks but haven't used them yet, they're a bit on the "Dinky" size!

I agree, too small

I have gone for 1-2-3 and 2-4-6

Crumbs, the writing in Harold's book is flippin small, had to get my 2x specs out

Cruel.....but amusing .

May something horrible happen to you, like an apple falling on your head

Well, for those who were skeptical .................................................

Edited By petro1head on 16/03/2017 18:49:36

Oh God, have you just edited out another Seasick Steve video? .

No such luck but I recon the hole has been drilled if the holesaw thread is anything to go by

Your such a bunch of *****  

The 25mm holesaw was used to make sure the hole was central to the pulley  the rest was done on the mill using a rotary table.

Next job is to make an alloy centre for the pulley, something like this

Edited By petro1head on 16/03/2017 19:23:31