dore westbury mill

hi can anyone please give me some advise, i want to build a bevel gear set up to lift the column on my dore westbury i,m thinking of a 90deg drive to lift the column from underneath i,m having trouble trying to locate the bevel gear set .There seems to be nothing but chinese gears available on ebay . But if i look at the good uk firms the prices are very expensive . any advice would be great

I know it's not answering your original question but consider for a moment a different approach. A small car bottle jack positioned under the D/W column would give a simple and easy way of raising and lowering the column, not to mention cheap. I have seen jacks which would be eminently suitable on the net for less than £20. Its a mod that I have been promising myself to do to my D/W but have yet to get round to. Phil

hi phil thanks for the advice ,i really fancy the bevel gear method with the handle coming out the side, a chap called AjohnW did it this way back in 2015 but cant contact him. if i could get the bevel gears i could do it

Hi John, here's another in name and a DW owner!

I am confused by what's so far been discussed, since the obvious part of a DW is it's spiral threaded column, allowing rise and fall. I know it's a bit slow but one gets there. Is that the reason why you want bevel gear drive like some drilling machines, thinking that it would be quicker/more convenient?

John

Hello John,

Try HPC gears at Chesterfield, they are a British company, the work is top class and they do mail order. They are not cheap, but you will be buying quality gear that will do all that you want.

If that isn't to your liking, I motored the capstan on my D-W mill with suitable reduction gearing and wrote the work up in MEW 274 and 275. Since then I have moved the head onto my Tom Senior mill and those modifications have become redundant. They include an improved key that engages with the helix in the column, it is now frontal access as a big improvement and part of the lifting modification includes a shop built thrust gearing between the capstan and main support column. A complete ready made system, tried and tested

If that interests you as an alternative send me a PM

Regards Brian

For those who perhaps took interest in this exchange, there are dimensional differences between the Mk I and Mk II versions of the mill. The vertical helical column diameter is smaller by about 1.5 mm on the Mk II machine as measured between John's mill and mine, thus scuppering any chance of adapting his mill with my parts.

Whether or not a design change between the two versions or a tubing supply issue took place I don't know but it is an important point to take into account for anyone else considering a change.

Regards Brian

I wonder if the gears from a defunct angle grinder would do the job? You could pick up a grinder from a car boot for a couple of pounds. It won't matter if the motor is burnt out, and you can check the state of the gears by spinning the disc.