Fixing Vevor milling table

I have one of this milling table. It is not too expensive but it requires some modifications. First when it arrived it was covered with a stinky grease and I had cu clean it. I also repainted it.

The first serious problem is with the left/right screw. It has a washer (see the yellow arrow) that rests on a shoulder that is not tall enough. I'm not sure how to explain better. But the result of this is that for every rotation of the wheel there is a point where it gets stuck. Bellow you can see what happens when I rotate the screw while keeping the green part pressed on the workbench. It is moving the two Allen keys.

Here is a picture where this can be seen better:

I have 2 very large washers so I welded one exactly where that shoulder is. I didn't have a better idea.

Unfortunately during the welding the washer moved a little. So I had to put the screw on the lathe and cut the washer to make it square to the screw. Now it is much better. The wheel doesn't get stuck anymore.

I removed the gib of the bottom slide and I noticed that there is a play of about 1mm. The sliding surfaces are not parallel. I'm not sure how to to fix this. Or if there is an easy fix. Anybody has any ideas?

Most Vevor stuff is cheap and needs fettling and modding

Scraping milling ways has various videos on different techniques

Engineers blue will tell you where there is no contact and where to remove material

A decent job will take you a while and needs patience

Edited By Ady1 on 19/05/2023 23:03:09

I hope, I understand your problems:

You are showing a thrust bearing. This bearing has to different bearing races.
One bearing race has a very very lose fit for the shaft. the shaft should not touch this bearing race when turning the shaft but the bearing race should fit tightly in the bearing housing.
The other bearing race has an almost press fit for the shaft. It should turn together with the shaft but be clear of the bearing housing.

For testing the sliding surfaces, you should place the 2 milled/ground/scraped surfaces together. So that the 2 sliding surfaces touches each other. Then check the rocking of the table.

Do you have a flat surface? - it'd be useful if you can use an indicator to map the surfaces of your table, that way you can check whether / which parts are 'good' and which parts need attention.

It will also help you to define, quantify, and visualise where the deficiencies lie and form a strategy before you start.

I think Vevor is an interesting combination of achieving low cost by sacrificing quality control. Unless there is an serious defect I prefer to pay less and have some fun fixing stuff. This table fits very well in this category. Thank you for the link, I didn't realized that restoring ways is such a popular activity

I don't have a flat surface but now I'm thinking on some options. They are so expensive! Even without considering the shipping cost. I think I will need some kind of reference. I can make the ways parallel but I want them to be parallel also with the top of the table.

I have just purchased a Vevor Rotary Table and I can say that the quality is well within expectations for the price paid, I am impressed with the item, my only comment is that the black crackle paint finish is not like one I have encountered before, it is very rough but perfectly serviceable. Dave W

At this point, I think it worth mentioning [again] that Vevor is not a manufacturer.

Ref: **LINK**

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=184219

MichaelG.

A big chunk of oversize HSS will be ground to a decent level of accuracy

I tend to avoid expensive top level tooling because I'm pretty rough on my gear and it's really only appreciated and used properly once you achieve a higher level of skills and ability, some of those guys have decades of ability and make it look like a walk in the park

(...and some youtubers look like they should't be allowed near the on/off switch)

You should get 95% of your task done by using patience and common sense

Edited By Ady1 on 20/05/2023 09:56:37

That misunderstands Vevor. They're a reseller, not a tool-shop or manufacturer. They deal in anything they think they can sell at a profit. I doubt they know anything about milling tables!

Unlike Rolex, there's no connection between the Vevor name and the quality of the products they sell. Their stock comes from many different sources and can be anything between wonderful and poor. The business model is based on price-point, not quality. The good thing about buying from Vevor is the financial risk is low, because your money is refunded If the item isn't fit for purpose. That's the protection, not that everything has been expensively quality assured.

This type of trading is more common than not these days, and no one who's been in a Pound Shop should be surprised! It is what it is. Not impossible that Vevor really are selling industrial-grade milling tables at a rock-bottom prices, but unlikely. For that reason machine shops usually de-risk by paying big money to get their tooling from industrial suppliers: they don't expect a consumer-grade retailer like Vevor to meet high-end needs.

Be great if brand-names really did guarantee well-made tools at bargain basement prices, but that's not how the world works. Maybe when we've died and gone to heaven! Until then, buyer beware. It has always been so. Buying cheap risks low performance, buying expensive risks overpaying for a label, or a fake.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 20/05/2023 11:05:03

A piece of float glass ('plate glass' or even an old-school mirror on a piece of mdf.? ..a piece of granite worktop checked with a straight-edge?

Assuming I have a flat surface (yellow) if I slide the workpiece (blue) over it and I grind thin layers with the red grinding wheel that is fixed relative to the surface, then the flatness should be transfer to the workpiece, right? There is a machine that works in this way but I don't know how it is called.

Look up ‘surface grinder’. That is likely the machine you describe above.

Very smooth surfaces, but need skill to get them where you want but often they are needed where you cannot get.

Very smooth means no space for lubrication between moving surfaces, so not the end of the story.

Scraping is the accepted method of matching one surface to another. Handraulic and time consuming.