Milling Rite

[pontiac428]

Try Kipp. Get the product part number of the item you want, and enter it into the search on zoro.com. Probably better than OEM anyway.

Handwheels | KIPP USA

. KIPP - Your reliable partner for standard elements, clamping technology and operating parts ✓ Made in Germany ✓ Wide range with 75,000 items ✓ Highest quality ✓ Order online now!

www.kippusa.com

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Try Kipp. Get the product part number of the item you want, and enter it into the search on zoro.com. Probably better than OEM anyway.

Handwheels | KIPP USA

. KIPP - Your reliable partner for standard elements, clamping technology and operating parts ✓ Made in Germany ✓ Wide range with 75,000 items ✓ Highest quality ✓ Order online now!

www.kippusa.com

Wow... that's a good resource! They don't have the exact size, but I think they have some that are pretty close. Mostly the center hub is too narrow, but as long as I clean up the bezel well enough, that could be a non-issue. Thank you!

Also, got a tracking number on the gears: they'll be here next week...so, I'm going to go ahead and get the knee as clean as I can get it, which is probably gonna take an entire trash bag of paper towels: good thing I bought four boxes. I think a clean surface will be much easier to work on than the foulness of its current state.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Wow... that's a good resource! They don't have the exact size, but I think they have some that are pretty close. Mostly the center hub is too narrow, but as long as I clean up the bezel well enough, that could be a non-issue. Thank you!

Also, got a tracking number on the gears: they'll be here next week...so, I'm going to go ahead and get the knee as clean as I can get it, which is probably gonna take an entire trash bag of paper towels: good thing I bought four boxes. I think a clean surface will be much easier to work on than the foulness of its current state.

Another somewhat cheaper option.

Hand Wheels - Handwheels - Spoked - Cast Iron - with Revolving Handle - Inch - Fixtureworks

.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Well, I ended up with a clean-ish original set of wheels; I sent a "this is probably too low" offer to the aforementioned eBay seller, and it was accepted when the wheel set didn't sell at auction...so I actually got a pretty decent deal on them. They're not new, but unless they're broken they should work pretty well...and if they are broken, the seller can take them back. So, that's sorted...and I also now have multiple resources for handwheels, which will help me with a few other projects.

Knee-cleaning commences today, albeit after a few errands. Also, I'm looking at Millicent and trying to figure out where to put her DRO bits...and this isn't gonna be easy:

• There is a decided lack of flat, scale-shaped spaces on the head, and that makes any kind of quill-mounted unit a bit iffy; I might be able to cram something off to the side, but I'm not entirely sure how to do so.
• The entire column is mostly-rounded and that makes it hard to install one that reads the position of the knee, if I should want to do that...and part of me hates myself and kind of wants to do that.
• The Y-axis doesn't look too difficult, but I'll have to drill and tap some holes once I can get everything back together, and then I'll have to clean the inside of the knee again. I really don't know why they didn't put an access hatch into the side of this thing.
• The X-axis should be very easy to handle, except for the fact that there's a power-feed dingus directly in the way on the front...so I'm going to have to think my way around that.

Also...a very weird part of me wants a tachometer. That may be just an artifact from wanting one of those on my drill press, but I can at least see some places where I might put one on said drill press; I'm really not sure how to do that on a mill that's totally closed-up.

I'm starting to think that all of this would be much simpler if I had any idea about what I'm doing.

 

[Ischgl99]

The Millrite definitely wasn’t designed with DROs in mind. I only installed mine on 2 axis, I figured the knee was easy enough to do with the dials. I made a 3 axis bracket for mounting the Y scale to compensate for the angled knee, and the X I just installed on the front since I don’t have a power feed yet.

For the tachometer, my DRO has that function, so I installed magnets on the bottom of my pulley and a backet on the housing for the sensor. The sensor gets in the way sometimes when locking pulley rotation to tighten the draw back, so if I were to do it again, I would install it on the other side, and probably find something I don’t like about it there.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

The Millrite definitely wasn’t designed with DROs in mind. I only installed mine on 2 axis, I figured the knee was easy enough to do with the dials.

Agreed; I was mostly thinking that it would be kind of nice to know where the knes is located at any given moment, but it's not a necessity. The other axes...those are more important.

I made a 3 axis bracket for mounting the Y scale to compensate for the angled knee, and the X I just installed on the front since I don’t have a power feed yet.

That's kind of what I was thinking; I like that solution. The more I look, the more I realize that everything is not-quite-square, which makes it more of a headache.

For the tachometer, my DRO has that function, so I installed magnets on the bottom of my pulley and a backet on the housing for the sensor. The sensor gets in the way sometimes when locking pulley rotation to tighten the draw back, so if I were to do it again, I would install it on the other side, and probably find something I don’t like about it there.

I thought about the underside of the pulley; I'm glad I wasn't too far off. I was working on a way to get the sensor buried somewhere out of the way, but I haven't come up with it yet.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Just heard back from Linn: they don't have anything, but they can do a custom set. $1000 or so. Ouch. I'm kind of glad that I got the inexpensive ones; I'm just going to mod both sets and put a second kit together, and then I'll either have a backup pair or I'll be able to keep someone else from experiencing this exact same brain-pain.

 

[Ischgl99]

That's kind of what I was thinking; I like that solution. The more I look, the more I realize that everything is not-quite-square, which makes it more of a headache.

Yeah, everything seems to be angled a few degrees. My bracket was easier to align than I initially thought, and seems to have stayed in place well too.

 

[toprecyler]

Pics of my messy shop and dro install on Millrite for ideas for you.

I 3-D printed a spacer to mount the DRO display bracket to the column. The rest of the scales was made up from pieces included in kit, and other aluminum pieces I found in my vast resource pile.

A table saw with carbide blade did a really nice job on cutting aluminum pieces down to size. Have to be careful of hot flying aluminum chips, and ear plugs a big help.

I was not able to figure out the quill scale yet. The one I ordered is too big.

But I probably will try to update bigger mills in my shop with DROs first. Then this mill will probably be sold. I do not need 4 mills, I think.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Pics of my messy shop and dro install on Millrite for ideas for you.

Thank you! I appreciate any and all ideas.

I 3-D printed a spacer to mount the DRO display bracket to the column.

Do you happen to still have that file? I like that solution a lot.

Also, I didn't get my saddle back yesterday - - so I'm going to call on Monday and see what's up; hopefully they're just behind schedule and didn't think to call me to say "it's not gonna be ready today"...and I can forgive that. I mean, I'm also behind schedule: I've been in the garden for two days instead of working on cleaning the knee like I should have been doing...but I'm going to get back on that here in a few. I have a few concrete tubs expressly for tasks like this, so I'm going to put one to use.