Atlas MFC Refurbishment

[ogberi]

Hi All,

Well, I did it. I wasn't happy with some things about my Atlas horizontal mill, so I decided to tear it down and go through it.

I got this machine for free years and years ago. It had some broken parts, some missing parts, and some damaged parts. Being young and ignorant, I got it to a condition where it cut metal.

Fast forward 10 years.

I'm unhappy with the tram of the table to the spindle, the stiffness of movement, the missing parts, etc, etc, etc.

So, I decided to tear this thing down. I'm building a vertical head for it, and I need to use it to machine some parts for that. Now that I know a little more, I'm unhappy with how it was behaving. So.......
View attachment 91909


Savor that. It's got ugly handwheels because I was a newbie at foundry work. There's a Mark Of Shame on the table, because I grabbed the wrong handwheel. Backgear is non-existent, it has no locks for the overarm bar, I haven't used the horizontal arbor because I have no cutters, no spacers, and no nut for the arbor! The machine works, but it's sloppy, and if I turn off the radio, I can hear it whisper, "Make me right!"

So, I cleared off my workbench, and started removing parts. I got a stack of ziploc bags and a brand new sharpie!
I removed the LH handwheel, (rough cast) and took off the table.

I'm cleaning as I go. There is a missing gib screw, and the lock handle is missing. I think I'll make new leadscrew nuts for this machine. It's worth the cost of an Acme LH tap to do so. The table is in good shape. The ways are not too torn up, but I don't know if there's wear in the middle of the table yet. The gib will get polished on a granite slab with fine grit paper and washed thoroughly before reassembly.

The X axis leadscrew has one end pinned into place. I'll have to grind that flat and drive it out before I can remove the nut. The opposite end of the leadscrew has the tail of the thread, and I can't pass the nut over it.

If I don't have the appropriate sized brass in my junk bin, I can either cast it, or buy it.


There's some backlash, so I figure I'll make a new nut, and check it on the screw. If it's too loose, I'll order some more Acme threaded rod, and make a new screw. This one will have to go back in if that's the case, because I'll need to use the mill to cut the grooves in the screw for the power feed gear.

The saddle doesn't look too bad. It's missing one gib screw, and the locking handle. Not the end of the world.




It's looking a little naked now. And yes, that's an adult beverage. I'm not machining, and I nursed that one for the entire disassembly. Not my favored brand, though. I prefer a good stout that etches the glass by the time you chug it down.


More work with the shop vac and a chip brush, and I find this.....


ouch. But, I don't think it'll be an issue. Hopefully it isn't a Monday or Friday mill. On Mondays, the QC team is hung over. On Friday, they want to get to the bar. I think this is a Monday Afternoon knee.....

After much, much, much difficulty, I removed the nut assembly for the knee and got the elevation shaft loose. Holy Cojones On Fire, that was a task! I ended up using a pair of Channel Loc pliers after clamping the knee to the workbench. It was crudded/rusted/gunked in place, but I got it out. I'll admit, the flats are a little buggered, but I'll be buying a socket to turn down to fit when I re-assemble it. Here's the elevation shaft.

I'll disassemble it, and clean it up. It's sticky-filthy-nasty. :/

The Knee, in all it's glory. With the chunk of lead I use for hammering. If anybody has seen my lead hammer, please just melt it down. I warned it about running way. Now, it must know the error of it's ways. And yes, that's an old SCUBA weight....

The wear surfaces don't look too bad. It's seen some use, but I think it's a long way from scrap.


Can anybody tell me what the holes on the right side of the knee ways are for? They don't seem to be connected to anything.


Even with the table, saddle, knee, and motor gear stripped off, this [censored] is [censored] HEAVY! I'm not a big guy. 5'6", about 145-155, I'm stronger than I look. And I both grunted and farted when I heaved the thing off the stand onto the bench. Little wonder it's a metal-hogging beast, it's built like the proverbial brick outhouse.



The bench top is laminated 2x4's, leftovers from a home project. There's three pieces of 1/2" all-thread clamping it longways, and it's rock solid. I belt sanded it smooth, then sealed it with clear poly.
You can obviously see where the mill was....


Got the base off. There's two alignment pins, a drain screw, and lots of crud. :/ Not nearly as much as when I scraped it out with a putty knife a decade ago, but still crud.

I don't care what it looks like, this thing is still heavy.



Got the headstock off. The spindle was already removed. The first time I took it out I noticed that it had been abused, and unfortunately it hasn't healed. I'll have to clean it up and remove the burrs before I reassemble it. I'd love a new spindle, but I haven't even started looking, and I got a feeling they're not terribly cheap. It's the same one as the Craftsman lathe, so I just need to start looking. Sorry, no pictures of that. My hands were beyond filthy. But, here's a good pictured of the beheaded MFC...


One question I have (and will search for), is how to remove these drive screws without destroying the tag...



Now, my other questions.

Is it safe for the ways if I submerge the parts in Evaporust? Will that damage the scraped or machined surfaces?

Since Evaporust isn't free, but I have everything I need to make a big tub 'o Electrolyte for electrolytic rust removal, will that damage the scraped or machined surfaces?

Bluntly, my compressor sucks. By the time it builds up enough pressure to run a tiny spray gun, the paint has hardened in the gun enough to be machined. This will have to be a rattle-can/roller/brush job. What primer and paint should I use? I'm going to paint the machine grey, whichever shade is truly grey and doesn't offend me. *important note!* I'm colorblind to light blue and light green. They look like grey to me. If the guy at the hardware store gives me blue or green tinted paint, and I find out, I'm gonna hamstring him with a church key.

Here's my list 'o Stuff I have to do, other than the obvious task of getting it ready to paint and reassemble -

Replace the handwheels. Those are crude as heck. They work, and I made 'em myself, but they're not that great. I'm buying handwheels for it.

Replace the spindle bearings. Just because it's apart, and I can. I had no trouble with runout or vibration, but if I already have it apart.....

Replace the leadscrew nuts. One will be a casting that'll have to be turned, the other either turned from a scrap casting, or from bought brass. If the backlash is still unacceptable, I'll replace the leadscrews.

Get backgear working. I have most all the parts, just need to make a few widgets for it. That's what my lathe is for, right?

Fit power feed to the table. Yes, it's an MFC. The power feed assemblies are not complete, or are broken. Eventually I'll fix or replace them, but for now, I'll use a gear reduction motor and a DC speed control. Electronics is another of my hobbies.

Fit digital calipers to it for a poor man's DRO. It's done wonders on the Taig, and I can't squeeze a real DRO into my hobby budget now. I have a 20% off coupon for Harbor freight, and this weekend is their big sale, so I can hopefully pick up the other two calipers I'd need there.

Hopefully this weekend I can start getting the parts de-crudded.

 

[VSAncona]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I'm going through one of these mills right now myself. Tracking down all the little missing parts is taking some time. Like you mentioned, some of the smaller parts were also used on the Atlas lathes, so that makes them a little easier to find.

Good luck with your mill and please post more pics as you go along.

Vince

 

[VSAncona]

Can anybody tell me what the holes on the right side of the knee ways are for? They don't seem to be connected to anything.
View attachment 91923

I forgot to mention this, but those holes are for a gear rack strip that was used on the lever-feed version of the mill. My mill has the rack (even though it's not a lever-feed) but at some point, Atlas must have realized they could save money by not including it on the MFC versions.

Vince

 

[ogberi]

I started de-rusting parts today, in an electrolytic bath. It's cheapest.

A beefy 2kW 120v12V transformer from a bad battery backup, plus a rectifier & heatsink I had on hand. The transformer is nearly 10 lbs by itself.




A bucket with the motor mount, and a tote with the middle portion of the mill, getting cleaned up. The crud that floats up is *nasty*, note to self - Nitrile Gloves when I take it out.



Don'tcha hate when it gets so cold out, your round plastic bottles shrink up to triangles? It was 41 degrees F at 8:15 this morning. Warm to some, but to me it's hoodie weather.



Three electrolytic baths going at once. The left is the base of the milling machine, the center is the motor mount, the right is the central portion of the machine. The transformer can easily handle 2kW, and it's pulling ~13v at 5-6A per container. The full-wave bridge rectifier is warm, but nothing to worry about. Yes, it's a mess 'o wires. Safe enough to be around, but not designed to be a permanent installation. Nothing to bother them, so I'll leave them set all night, and hopefully start swapping out parts tomorrow. Electrolytic rust removal is the best way I found to remove rust, crud, and paint without harming the machined/scraped ways. The anodes (positive) are cheap rebar I got at Home depot, along with the totes. The electrolyte is plain old well water with Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer, $4 at Publix), just dumped it in to "around 1 tbsp per gallon", IE, I shook it out and stirred it until I had a saturated solution (no more dissolved), and threw the juice to it. This isn't an exact science, it's a process. It works darn well, just requires patience. Which I don't have, but I got plenty 'o stuff to do while the parts percolate. Though honestly, if a coyote gets into it, I won't mind one bit. Crispy Critter to haul off to the back of the property is worth it. If Only It would Get Rid Of Pocket Gophers............don't encourage me. I have propane and a grill lighter....

I got my McMaster Carr order together, and it's about $150 for the handwheels, locking handles, spindle bearings, and some other stuff. That'll have to wail till next payday. The hobby fund is flat broke. But, at the very least, I'll be able to fish out the parts, wire-brush them off, and hit them with primer and paint. Rattle-can, all the way. My compressor won't handle a paint gun. :/

Stay tuned!

 

[VSAncona]

Looking good!!

Are your spindle bearings actually bad, or are you just replacing them while you have everything torn apart? I am faced with the same dilemma.

Vince

 

[ogberi]

I had about .002 runout, but they sounded unhappy. I'd rather replace them now, than have to do it in a month or two. They're probably usable, but new bearings are fairly inexpensive. I'll post the timken numbers later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[34_40]

Since I'll be faced with the same decision in the near future... I'll appreciate any information you can share. TIA!

 

[ogberi]

Made some progress this weekend.

Parts percolating, from Saturday....

The base came out nice and clean, only a quick once over with a welding brush to remove the enamel paint, then a scrubbie pad, then a paper towel and brake cleaner to get it ready for primer. Here it is in paint:




The column came out pretty clean as well. Same routine. Wire brush, scrubbie, paper towel, brake cleaner, paper towel.






This is the primer and paint, RustOleum Pro. Get the silly little handle, it works great!



The column turned out nice. I didn't bother to Bond-o the rough areas. It's going to be used, not displayed.






The motor mount took forever, but came out clean and Reduced-Crud(tm). The last of the crud succumbed to the welding brush, scrubbie, and brake cleaner. As with everything else, 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of enamel. It was the last part to be painted today.






Couldn't resist. I set the column on the base to have a look-see. There's some areas that I'll have to paint with a small brush once it's assembled, but overall it's a vast improvement.






More progress and pictures to come. I figure I'll need about a month to get this finished and running. The guards are aluminum, so I'll have to wire wheel them clean vs the electrolytic bath. From what I've read, and experienced, electrolysis does aluminum no favors.

 

[34_40]

That's great progress. It'll look great once it's all re-assembled.:thumbsup2:

 

[ogberi]

Not much progress this week. Been super busy at work, and by the time I get home, I'm beat. Whoever says sitting behind a desk running a network isn't work, I'll trade ya. Brain sweat can be more exhausting than armpit sweat.

Got more parts ready to go into the electrolytic baths tomorrow evening. I'll let them percolate all night, and get started in the morning.

This is the change-o-matic cover. The knob was broken off when I got it, and the shaft is seized in the bore. I ended up using two scraps of aluminum on the table of the arbor press and an old (rounded out import) socket on the shaft remnants to press it out. Aided by a few healthy whacks of the scuba weight.


The cover is cast iron, so it's good to go into the bath. I carefully removed the locking pin on the mid-upper-right, and the badge with the plastic window. Drive screws drive me crazy.



The leadscrew shows some serious wear in the middle. The crests of the threads are visibly thinner than on the ends. Makes me nervous about what shape the corresponding areas in the table dovetails look like. I'd *really* rather not have to scrape this. Mostly because I don't know how to scrape, and leastly because I don't think I have an accurate enough way to check the flatness of the dovetails. Any ideas?



That's it for now. Not many pictures this update, but more to come this weekend.