# Building a fine feed for a small Hormier mill/drill that didn't have one



## nicky (May 2, 2011)

*Building a fine feed for a small Homier mill/drill that didn't have one*

Some years ago I bought a small mill/drill at a Homier tent sale. The price was great about $175. if I remember right. Just a perfect match for my 6" Atlas. There was no fine feed on it but I got by pretty good just pulling the quill down with the drill handles and locking the quill in place. I wasn't doing that much milling anyway, but as a drill press it sure gave me better accuracy when drilling with no flexing of the table. As time went by I longed for a fine feed so took the pinion shaft out to see what could be done. I came to the conclusion that if a fellow made an extension on the shaft where the knob with the handles were you could likely put a gear in there and somehow drive it with a worm gear. The photo shows the little mill/drill with the start of our fine feed parts assembled for fit. Shortly after we got this far we sold our store/shop in town and built our new shop at home and semi retired. See our photos in the Welcome Centre, New member from Ontario, Canada.
Now three years later we set out to finish that project. I hurt my back 2 weeks ago so when it started to feel a bit better I decided I needed a stand up project that didn't require a lot of strain and this was it. You will see that we added a piece of shaft in photo #1 by shrink fit to the original pinion shaft and machined it down so that it was the same size as the original so the knob with the handles would fit back on.
*This will also work on almost any drill press.


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## nicky (May 2, 2011)

*Re: Building a fine feed for a small mill/drill that didn't have one*

In this post I show you the parts I made to fit on this shaft. #2 is the drum that will carry the gear and act as a clutch. There is a bushing installed at the one end where it rides on the shaft and where the gear is bolted on. #3 and #4. The opposite end is counter bore about 3/4" deep to accommodate a spring which will release the clutch. At that same end are two rivets installed so the heads will engage in the dimples on the back of the handle hub. See photo #5 and #6. The hub is keyed to the shaft with a split pin through it and a knob is screwed into a threaded hole on the end of the shaft. By tightening this knob and engaging the rivet heads into the dimples in the hub you have engaged the drum with the gear to the hub and shaft. Photo #7 shows the assembly ready for cross drilling the hub and shaft for the pin. The entire assembly is pulled out and moved to the drill press for this operation. We then took the shaft to my buddy and with his mill elongated the hole in the shaft so that the hub would slide back and forth on the shaft to engage and disengage the drum with the gear.
There was a raised boss in front of the spindle which held the pointer for the depth gauge which had to be ground off as we needed a very flat surface to mount the rest of the parts with the worm drive.









For any one interested we can look up the pair of Boston Gears we used for this project. They seemed to be the perfect match and just the right ratio for the speed we were looking for.


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## nicky (May 2, 2011)

*Re: Building a fine feed for a small mill/drill that didn't have one*

Now we will show how we built the worm drive. We started by Taking a piece of 3/4" black pipe and cutting a piece out of the side with the mill/drill now that we could lock the shaft to the hub and used it like drill press to lower the cutterto cut out the notch. We then chucked it in the lathe and machined the outside straight and round. See photo #8. We then bored both ends, one for a 1/2" ID bushing with 3/4" OD and just under 1" deep and the other for a 5/16" ID ball bearing about 3/8" deep and both for a light push fit.
Next we made the shaft for the worm gear, holding it in the tube and marking with a black marker where the gear should go. We took a piece of 1/2" drill rod and turned one end down to 5/16" to a bit past our mark and then turned about 1/2 inch of that end down to 1/4" and threaded it for the nut. Next we installed the worm gear in the appropriate place and drilled through the assembly for a small roll pin to hold it in place. Now having installed the 1/2" bushing on the shaft and the nut on the small end we chucked the 1/2" shaft end of the assembly in the lathe and holding the tube tight against the bearing and running the lathe at a slow speed we took a carbide scribe and held it against the bushing on the shaft to mark where a retainer clip will go. See photos #10 and #11.


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## nicky (May 2, 2011)

*Re: Building a fine feed for a small mill/drill that didn't have one*

The next part gets a bit tricky. We started by cutting a cardboard template of roughly what we thought we should have for base plate with a hole in it. Then we took the worm gear assembly and held it on top of the gear to get a bit of a perspective of how things should fit. We then marked the template closer to the size we should have and cut that out and laid that out on a piece of 1/4" plate which we then cut to square size so we could chuck it into the four jaw on our big old Barnes lathe to drill the hole for the spindle and to recess the back to clear the boss around the shaft hole, see photo #14.
We then held it in place on the machine and marked where it was safe to drill holes to secure it to the head. The plate was clamped to the head after having drilled the holes in the plate and then drilled the holes through these into the machine head for 1/4" -20 and tapped them. We then enlarged the holes in the plate and bolted it into place and marked the bottom edge to the contour and trimmed that part off on the band saw. Photo #12. After reinstalling the plate we installed the shaft temporary and held the worm gear assembly on top of the gear. Holding it level by eye we held a piece of card stock against the 1/4" stub on the shaft and against the plate leaving an impression that we could use as a marker to get our distance for the centre of the worm shaft to the plate. We than made a cardboard template with the 1" hole needed for the worm tube. Trimmed it until we were comfortable with the fit and appearance and the cut two pieces of 1/4" plate to match.
Now came the real tricky part. We held all these pieces together with magnetic welding clamps and adjusted them around until it looked and felt good. We then fired up the old arc welder, gave everything around the parts a shot of anti-stick and a chunk of cardboard over the milling table we proceeded to give everything a few tacks to hold them in place. Photo #13. Then disassembled the whole works off the machine and welded the brackets securely on the bench, cleaned them up, rechecked for fit and then gave it a shot of IH red paint as well as the machine where we had done some grinding. photo #15 and #16. When we got it all back together after the paint dried it looks like it was made with the machine. The final touch was to add the hand wheel we purchase from Busy-Bee tools on Saturday. photo #17. It works like a charm.


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## nicky (May 2, 2011)

*Re: Building a fine feed for a small mill/drill that didn't have one*

When we had done some milling with this machine making the die holder we found that when we tried a light climb cut to do some finishing into a corner the machine head clamp bolts on the column would not hold secure enough. So we drilled through the head and the column and inserted a 1/2" pin through the head. Later we drilled three more holes spaced a few inches apart through the base and column as the column rises up and down not the head. We reamed these for a taper pin so we could get a positive alignment for the holes. Drilled a tapered pin for a handle and gently tap the pin home and then tighten the clamp bolt. Now we have a good solid grip.


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## Loafy (May 2, 2011)

*Re: Building a fine feed for a small mill/drill that didn't have one*

Nice job! That addition will come in handy. Looks good too.


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## nicky (Oct 27, 2011)




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## sandmanxx (Apr 30, 2016)

Good Day there

Yes a old thread but I just came across it.. Wonderful I may say.. Question is what Boston Gears did you use?? Worm gear as well??

Best Wishes


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## nicky (Apr 30, 2016)

Thank you.
The Boston gear numbers as near as I can figure out were
Gear #CG1044   16DP , 14 1/2 PA , 2.50 PD Cast iron 40 tooth
Worm #HLVH - 5/16" bore


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## sandmanxx (Apr 30, 2016)

Thanks a million!  I have seen several other ways but yours hit the sweet spot!!

Now don't shake your head but I have a Powermatic 1200 that I with do this to.. 
Any guesses on a more robust gear combo I think I should take it up a note or two.

That and I also have a clausing 16 inch that I wish to do it to!


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## sandmanxx (May 1, 2016)

Thanks again..

Took a look at my drill presses - both seem to have a 1.25 inch dia shaft.  The Clausing 16 inch has some clearance issues with the quill
depth gauge.  But still can most likely do.  The Powermatic 1200 has zero clearance issues.  Having said that looks like they will take
Some big diameter gears with stock shafts.  I could may take that part of the shaft down to 1.00 - but wouldn't want to go any further.

I am determined to make a setup!  Even if I only use it for small diameter drilling..  I have always thought about this but never saw
a "clean" and clear cut modification.  That's until I found yours.. I have been looking around for a stock power feed but most want
the $ of a used drill press just for a feed.  You can find clausing units - but I have never seen a Powermatic Feed unit by its self.

At any rate - this is/will be one of my first machining projects  .  I will have to have someone do some of the machining - but
all the leg work and prep I can do to save on $$..

I will keep you posted just for a FYI.. Hopefully that alone will drive me to do it!


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## Robert LaLonde (Sep 9, 2017)

Belated reply...  I have I think this exact same machine, and I found this thread searching for "adding a fine feed to a drill press" with the idea to add a fine feed to mine.  Elegant and simple.  Thank you.  Much simpler than any of the ideas I had been bouncing around.


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