Tom Senior Mill

Edited By Luke Holland on 19/12/2014 12:08:51

Afternoon Luke,

On my Tom Senior M1 mill, power feed is only in one direction, table traverses from left to right.

I do believe that one or two forum members have investigated having power feed in both directions but as yet I haven't seen any feedback on this forum.

Len.

I have a Junior mill, but I think the principal is the same.

I've never understood why the table goes from left to right. That's the wrong direction when horizontal milling. The cutter turns anti clockwise when viewed from the front in horizontal mode, therefore the table should go against that, i.e right to left.

This is my solution. Simple when you think about it.

The stop mechanism works as expected in either direction.

Graham

Forgot to say, on the M1 you have the gearbox and single pulleys, whereas I adjust table speed manually. The belt does rub on itself at the crossover, but polycord seems to hold up really well. There is no sign of ANY wear due to rubbing.

Ive just had a thought there that it could be my motor that is in the wrong direction. Perhaps it should rotate clockwise and not anti clockwise when viewed from the front.

Doesn't change the fact that whichever way the motor turns, for conventional milling, you want the table running in the opposite direction to the cutter.

Graham

Just checked in the manual and it confirms anti-clockwise is the correct rotation.

Mine has power feed from right to left, cutter spinning anti-clockwise, with the power feed engagement lever moved clockwise to engage, then anti when it contacts the release pin,

Three speed gearbox mounted on the RH side of column, with speeds Low, Medium, High, with the drive belt having to be turned inside out to run on a flat pulley.

Geoff - Wonder how many youngsters know what clockwise/anti-clockwise means?

Edited By OuBallie on 19/12/2014 17:05:03

Ahh, sounds like the M1 operates slightly different to the Junior.

To engage power feed on the Junior I pull up on the lever at the right hand side of the knee.

I disengage power feed by rotating the lever in the middle of the knee anti clockwise.

Two dogs can be positioned anywhere on the front of the table to automatically disengage the power feed, which it does by pressing down on a pin in the middle of the knee. Depressing this pin has the same effect as rotating the disengagement knob anti clockwise.

Looks like we still have a selection of left to right and right to left people though.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies! I got more than I thought I was curious as I'm looking at getting a Tom Senior Mill but I noticed the ad for the one I'm looking at said the table only has powerfeed in one direction so I just thought I'd check it out.

Clever setup Graham, I like your thinking! I'll bear it in mind if I come accross the same issue.

Thanks once again.

Regards

Luke

Luke,

The M1 has a separate idler wheel used for tensioning the belt for the table feed. It might make for an interesting crossover arrangement.

Its different to the Junior picture I posted which doesn't have any mechanism to tension the belt, hence the stretchy polycord.

Graham