# Millrite Newbie Questions



## Jonathans (Oct 13, 2015)

I just took delivery of my Millrite, and have a few questions if I may.


It appears that I am missing some parts necessary to kick out the X power feed.  Can someone enlighten me on what I need to do/get/make?


Also, I cannot find any way to lock down the table.  I see a table gib lock on the schematic but not on the machine.  Is this another part I am missing?
In the center of the  picture below is a lubrication zirk.  I am assuming that this is the point of lubrication for the knee pinon gear?  When I raise and lower the knee I can kind of hear the gear teeth engaging like I would expect it to sound if they were without lube.  Is this normal ?
I shot some Vactra2 in there with a lot of difficulty.



How does one go about sliding the Turret?  Should that be easily moveable by hand?
Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. Now to get it wired up.
Jonathan


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## Bob Korves (Oct 14, 2015)

Jonathans said:


> I just took delivery of my Millrite, and have a few questions if I may.
> View attachment 112456
> 
> It appears that I am missing some parts necessary to kick out the X power feed.  Can someone enlighten me on what I need to do/get/make?
> ...


Hi Jonathan,
I have a Millrite, my second one, but it does not have the factory X power feed. You are missing the "finger" block that points upward between the two bolt holes and is mounted to them. You can see the shadow of where it was once mounted in your photo. The two blocks that clamp to the round rod in front of the table are the stops that are adjusted left and right for where you want to trip the feed off. They bump against the finger. The smaller center hole does not seem to have a use, at least that I know of. The finger bracket covers that hole.

The X axis lock screws in vertically from the bottom into the saddle on the left side near the Y axis stop. The original handle was similar to the Y lock. It appears to be missing.

The good news is that both missing parts are easily made. You could also probably find something already made for the lock if you look in the Enco, MSC, Travers, or other bigger tool dealer catalogs. I will post photos of the finger installation and Y stop for you here -- after I finish my breakfast... 8^)

D. C. Morrison still sells some parts for these machines: dcmorrison.com
You will probably not find much useful on their web site beyond the phone number. You will need to call them for help.

The sliding ram (the turret revolves) can get stuck pretty hard. That is common from lack of movement and lubrication. Loosen all four bolts completely. Squirt some penetrating oil everywhere it can get into the dovetails, let it sit a while, and whack the end of the ram with the end of a 4x4 wooden post or similar. Bump the head to push it the other way. Rinse and repeat multiple times as needed. Be patient. Don't use a metal hammer and don't get carried away. You can damage and break castings easier than you think. Eventually you will see some movement, and then you are winning the war. Keep at it, give time for the penetrant to work. Clean up and lube the slide ways that you can get to as they are exposed. When you finally can slide the ram easily with one arm, clean everything up as best you can and then work some way oil into the ways. If you remember to slide the ram a couple times a year and oil the ways you will never have that problem again. Both of my Millrites came to me with stuck rams...

The knee gears are OILED using a Zerk fitting on the left side of the knee, below the saddle. DO NOT GREASE any of the Zerks on the machine except possibly the ones by the X axis dials (depending on which manual you read...) (Edit: Yes, Vactra #2 is the right stuff and that is the correct lube fitting. I missed part of your post initially) You are safe using way oil in all the Zerks on the machine. There is a separate way to lube the spindle, that I won't go into here.

You would be smart to join the BurkeMills Yahoo group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/burkemills/info
There is lots of friendly help there and tons of photos. There are manuals, breakdowns, and old brochures of the machines in the files area. Please feel free to PM me if you want more help.

Nice machine, by the way...


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## Bob Korves (Oct 14, 2015)

Jonathans said:


> I just took delivery of my Millrite, and have a few questions if I may.
> View attachment 112456
> 
> It appears that I am missing some parts necessary to kick out the X power feed.  Can someone enlighten me on what I need to do/get/make?
> ...


Edit:  Duplicate post


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## Bob Korves (Oct 14, 2015)

Edit:  My camera has gone missing.  I am having my girlfriend look in her car to see if I left it there.  I will post the pics later.


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## Bob Korves (Oct 14, 2015)

Jonathans said:


> I just took delivery of my Millrite, and have a few questions if I may.
> View attachment 112456
> 
> It appears that I am missing some parts necessary to kick out the X power feed.  Can someone enlighten me on what I need to do/get/make?
> ...


Edit:  Does your coolant system interfere with getting full travel on the Z (up/down) axis?  Could it be somehow related to your "gear noise?"


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## Jonathans (Oct 14, 2015)

Thanks Bob,
Although the coolant sump does not have an effect on the working of the gears at all,  I am pretty sure that the Z axis is is limited by it.  I am getting just over 12" of knee travel.  However, I do have a 5" riser installed, so any limited movement of the knee would be on the bottoming end of movement, so I still have plenty of max distance between the lowered table and raised spindle.  Most Millrites have 14" of knee travel, correct?  I thought about removing the sump as I will be using a Kool mist, but it might prove itself useful for containing oil and swarf for easier cleanup.


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## Jonathans (Oct 15, 2015)

Thanks for the guidance Bob. It led to some very fruitful results on the Burke Millrite group.


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## Bob Korves (Oct 15, 2015)

Jonathans said:


> Thanks Bob,
> Although the coolant sump does not have an effect on the working of the gears at all,  I am pretty sure that the Z axis is is limited by it.  I am getting just over 12" of knee travel.  However, I do have a 5" riser installed, so any limited movement of the knee would be on the bottoming end of movement, so I still have plenty of max distance between the lowered table and raised spindle.  Most Millrites have 14" of knee travel, correct?  I thought about removing the sump as I will be using a Kool mist, but it might prove itself useful for containing oil and swarf for easier cleanup.


Vertical travel is supposed to be 15", so you are giving up 3"with your sump.  You gain the spindle clearance back with the riser, plus a couple inches, but you still lose overall on the maximum travel.  If you are not going to use the sump, I bet it would sell in short order on the BurkeMills group.  That is the first one I have seen.


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## NEL957 (May 23, 2017)

Bob 
I thought I read vertical travel is 17.5 inches
Nelson


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## Bob Korves (May 23, 2017)

NEL957 said:


> Bob
> I thought I read vertical travel is 17.5 inches
> Nelson


Just checked again.  The MVN manuals I have list the vertical travel as 15", and 11" with the coolant tank.


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## Bob Korves (May 23, 2017)

NEL957 said:


> Bob
> I thought I read vertical travel is 17.5 inches
> Nelson


Another thing.  When I first got my second Millrite, and was cleaning it up, I ran the knee up until the lead screw ran out of the nut and then the weight of knee and table dropped down by the pitch of one thread (.200").  I went the other direction, but the screw would no longer retract.  Nothing I did would get it going back down again, kept locking up.  I finally jacked up the knee and table so I could get to the end of the nut and the screw.  There was no real sign of damage, but there were a couple pieces of swarf in the threads, which I picked out.  I suppose the screw thread could have chipped when the table fell down one thread, and the chip jammed the thread.  The machine had NEVER been used at this point, it was new old stock (NOS), so it was not swarf from use.  When I attempted to jack it back down again, the screw engaged with no issues.  I marked the column, at the top of the knee, an inch down from where the screw engaged the nut.  From then on, I will not lift the knee higher than that line, which gives me 1" of lead screw in the nut minimum, and prevents the lead screw and/or nut from getting damaged from over extension.  There is no dedicated stop at the top or the bottom of the Z axis lead screw, the nut bottoms at the bottom and exits the threads at the top.  Millrite operators should know about that issue and take care not to cause damage.

Because of that, I have no idea exactly how the Z travel might have been measured for the spec in the manual.


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## woodtickgreg (May 24, 2017)

Good info Bob.


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