Setup and Continuing Saga of the Charter Oak 12Z

Coolidge: If we ever get the chance to meet face-to-face, I owe you several Adult Beverages. Again, a big thanks. (love this forum)

So I got everything mounted then the spindle wouldn't retract all the way up into the head. :panic:David has a o-ring in there that is too fat for my spindle. Have you ever tried shaving the inside of a o-ring with an Exacto knive? Glad no one was there watching.

Finally got that fixed, wired it up and turned it on. I had the pot turned down to zero when I flipped the FWD switch then watched the VFD remote as I started bringing up the frequency while looking for a fault. By the time I got to 20hz I was starting to worry because I couldn't hear anything other than the constant speed fan on the motor and the VFD (which is fairly noisy). Got to 30hz and I look over at the belt drive and it's spinning merrily AND NOT MAKING A SOUND. Seriously? This is too cool.

Once I started cranking it up I could start hearing the motor a little but that belt drive is spooky quiet. Oh and a big thanks to David for making a very high quality kit. Everything fits perfectly. No wobble on the drive motor pulley (I was careful to evenly torque the bolts on the drive pulley and never had it go out of kilter). This thing is leagues above my other belt drive kit I bought for the PM25.

So here's what it looks like up there.

DSCN4300.JPG

I have to fab a mounting bracket for the FWD/REV/OFF switch as the motor now sits higher and the factory was very skimpy with their cabling. Other than that, it's done. :))

DSCN4300.JPG
 
Nice work Bill, I have a little bit of Machine envy even though I just got my machine, and have not even explored all of it's capabilities. I guess it is a guy thing. Congrats on this well executed upgrade!
 
You probably don't have to put any oil back in the head since the gears are out? I noticed the oil froths out the vent more now that the oil is cold.
 
maker of things said:
You probably don't have to put any oil back in the head since the gears are out? I noticed the oil froths out the vent more now that the oil is cold.
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Nope. Dry head from now on. No gears, no oil.

This gets rid of my seeping out the hi/low lever onto my vise leak too. :))
 
I do not know much about vertical head bed mills...
However a curiosity question: I realize the gears are gone, so no more oil needed for them.
What about the spindle bearings inside the head? Curious... THX!
 
The spindle bearings are greased per design. The oil is only for the power transmission gearing and kept out of the spindle itself. So when you remove the gears there is no longer any need to have oil in the head.
 
wrmiller19 said:
The spindle bearings are greased per design. The oil is only for the power transmission gearing and kept out of the spindle itself. So when you remove the gears there is no longer any need to have oil in the head.
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THX, did not know that.
 
I understand the belt drive kit will raise the motor higher. Do you how many inches the kit actually raised the motor?
 
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