# Mattsson & Zetterlund VF600 Restoration



## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

Hello. Recently I bought myself a birthday present. No need to mention that my wife was not so excited as me  This is my first serious machine. It is Mattson & Zetterlund VF600 (small) vertical milling machine. More about this machine can be found at: http://www.lathes.co.uk/mattsson&zetterlund/ . I hope I will restore it properly so it
will shine and be used again as intended. For sure, I will need advice and help down the path, so, I will post a pictures, comments and questions here. Wish me a luck 

There is some pictures of machine as it was when arrived.


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

This is not so common machine, so there was a little problem finding a manual. I found it at this Swedish forum: https://www.maskinisten.net/viewtopic.php?f=124&t=161191 of course it is on Swedish.


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

It took me about three hours to disassemble main parts. I was able to do it by myself. At the second picture a big round hole can be seen. Through this hole screws for tightening axis nuts can be reached. To disassemble table, screw that tightens X axis nut must be loosen, completely. I was not know that at the time of disassemble, so, I was take down table with saddle. Much harder way. Although there was chip guard to protect Y axis screw the column of the machine was full of chips. It can be seen at third picture what was in the machine column. Main parts can be seen at fourth picture, table in front, small wise that was came with machine, Z axis angle adjusting housing with worm gear, spindle, X axis power feed, and Y axis saddle. Next two days was gone in removing grease and dirt from column and base of the machine.


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

I was need a help of a friend to move column in to the shop. Column are lighter than base. We are barely succeed to move the base. More cleaning and removing dirt and grease from base. Almost five hours, using this special chemical for this purpose, shown on first picture. Way oil is a pretty sticky thing. AKRA K2 is a nasty thing. It dissolve grease, but it soften and dissolve paint too. Whole lot of a mess just to get base of the machine at stage shown at next few pictures.


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

Today was sunny day, so I fulfill it with more cleaning the remaining parts from machine. Not so interesting at all. But just to say this activity swallow more four hours. Again, way oil, especially old way oil is a pretty sticky. Then rest of the day I start a rebuilding process. There is a picture of two part chip guard metal plate after cleaning. There is some rust but nothing dramatic. By the help of 200 grit water sandpaper it became almost clear enough. Third and four picture show state after sanding. I was not satisfied so, I try jeweling it. Officially my first attempt to do jeweling can be seen on fifth picture. I use 50mm blue scotch brite pad with WD-40 and move it by 25mm in both directions. Second attempt with 12.5mm moving pattern and final result. First finished part.


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## Bob Korves (Dec 2, 2018)

It looks like a nice machine for a home shop. Reading the post on lathes.co.uk and seeing it has a 30 taper spindle and is solidly built makes it all the more interesting.


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## bl00 (Dec 2, 2018)

I like the jeweling. That looks nice!  There's a good post on the Svenska Elektonikforumet showing a conversion to cnc.  It has plenty of pics of the machine apart which is useful even without the cnc part.  You may need to join to see pics: http://elektronikforumet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71104

I converted the manual to English, but lost it to a hard drive crash.  I started over, but haven't added in the images, yet.  Send me a message with your email address if you want a copy.  

Here's what mine looks like-


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

bl00 said:


> I like the jeweling. That looks nice!  There's a good post on the Svenska Elektonikforumet showing a conversion to cnc.  It has plenty of pics of the machine apart which is useful even without the cnc part.  You may need to join to see pics: http://elektronikforumet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71104
> 
> I converted the manual to English, but lost it to a hard drive crash.  I started over, but haven't added in the images, yet.  Send me a message with your email address if you want a copy.
> 
> Here's what mine looks like-


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

Thank you for your replay. I plan to convert it to CNC, some day.  but for now, I do now want to bite something that I can not chew


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## hman (Dec 2, 2018)

O, off topic ... but how crazy is it that here on the forum we have a _Serbian_ and an _American_ discussing a (relatively obscure, from what I understand from lathes.co.uk) _Swedish_ machine tool that they both own?  

I'm just waiting for an Australian or east Asian member to chime in and say he has one, too!


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## FOMOGO (Dec 2, 2018)

Nice little mill, and great job getting it cleaned up. What you call jeweling, I've always known as engine turning.  A rose by any other name. Cheers, Mike


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 2, 2018)

FOMOGO said:


> Nice little mill, and great job getting it cleaned up. What you call jeweling, I've always known as engine turning.  A rose by any other name. Cheers, Mike



English is not my mother tongue, so, excuse me if I use wrong words. I remember when I was try to found correct word to type it in google, to find how to do that. Good for language practising  I found this type of work call swirl too. Whatsoever, I think it is nice way to mask dents and scratches. Another reason to do this is merely an exercise in this type of work.


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## Red Baron FC (Dec 8, 2018)

Today was perfect day for little activity in workshop. I was scraped all paint and some putty from base using old chisel. I took me about six hours to complete the job. Great activity for stress relief  plus exercise in sharpening chisel. Who could ask more from saturday.  The reason behind this work is many places where putty was pop up from cast iron, manifesting as little cracks in paint, looking just like when a small rock hit a glass on car. It can be seen on fifth picture. Those places where putty was pop up are white on pictures, there was left only a base paint on metal. Dark grey is where old putty is good enough to stay in place. Grey pile of something is what was scraped off. Weight about 1,5kg.

Now, in the next few days I will prepare the base for paint. I have no compressor nor ability to move the base somewhere to paint it, so I plan to paint it with brush. I see people paint restored machines with all sort of paint. My plan is to use enamel paint, but I will like to hear some advice on this. Is it a god choice or not. Do you suggest something else? The color will be pure white or RAL 7035 although RAL 7035 looking to me to dark either.


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## middle.road (Dec 8, 2018)

Red Baron FC said:


> English is not my mother tongue, so, excuse me if I use wrong words. I remember when I was try to found correct word to type it in google, to find how to do that. Good for language practising  I found this type of work call swirl too. Whatsoever, I think it is nice way to mask dents and scratches. Another reason to do this is merely an exercise in this type of work.


You're doing fine so far, no problem.
It is cool to see what other folks in other parts of the world have in their shops.


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## Red Baron FC (Jan 20, 2019)

Hello again. After some flu sickness and holidays I was a little busy. I done some body work with a polyester filler, shown on a first picture. After sanding I was spray a two layers of primer. That was yesterday. Almost whole base is good, but there are spots where thing are not good. I show those spots on next two pictures. When I was scratched those spots with finger nail or sharp object I was get result as on fourth picture. Been intrigued with those errors, I was decided to be a little more aggressive, so I get a result shown on last picture.

Now, silver zone surrounded by green line are bare metal from casting. On top of that there is a light yellow and light grey zone surrounded by red line that was left after pretty aggressive scratch attempt, having, obviously a god bonding. Light yellow thing is polyester filler and light grey thing is primer. Dark yellow thing surrounded with brown line at the top of the picture is old putty-filler that goes on bare metal casting, on top of that goes dark grey thing surrounded by blue line which is also some kind of putty.

So, I guess I have a problem with new polyester filler to old dark grey filler bonding, but, those errors are not massive. So, at this particular moment I contemplate about what to do. Sandblast whole thing would be a good solution, but I do not have ability to do that. To make just a correction where errors is shown is another solution, but there is no guarantee that there is a good bonding where errors are not shown. Bonding is maybe just good enough to not show errors, but not good enough as it should be. Last but not least, I can redo the whole base, but, the previous question will remain, how to be sure that I have a god bonding between old putty-filler and new polyester filler?

Any suggestion?


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## markba633csi (Jan 20, 2019)

Hi Red Baron- I think the filler will adhere well, I would not worry- just do spot fills, sand and paint
Nice machine 
mark


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

I was a little busy  Pictures show saddle before and after cleaning. Only the lubricating nipple was changed. These have M6 straight thread versus DIN71412 that has M6 tapered thread. All ways are more or less wear, so, at this stage, it became mainly cleaning-painting-lubricating, bearing and small parts replacement project. The reason for this is that currently, I do not have the necessary skills to scrape the ways.


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

For lubricating, I use one of this, with epoxy glue in the hole at the bottom. It costs me less than 10 euro. The idea for this a get from Stuart de Haro.
Video can be watched from


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

Now, about lubricating, Service Manual calls for Gulf Harmony 53, basically for everything except gear and spindle. There should be used EP2 grease. I am attaching relevant pages from Manual, so, if someone here knows Swedish I will appreciate help in translation these pages. What was intrigued me is that Gulf Harmony 53 is essentially a Hydraulic oil, even for ways it recommends the same hydraulic oil and not a way oil, which is perfect to me, but some kind unusual.


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

Finally, the machine at their place leveled with base, chip tray, and column. I am very happy.


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

Gibs for saddle can be seen at these pictures, so it will partially explain why I said that this machine will need way scraping one day.


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

Auto feed gearbox before and after cleaning, painting, and ball bearing replacement.


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## Red Baron FC (Apr 20, 2019)

Ball bearings for table screws, saddle screw cap with screw and handle, X-axis screw, table with damages, parts for assembly and machine with a table mounted on.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Well, servicing a Head and spindle was quite challenging. First, do be able to disassemble spindle, quill must be removed from housing. It goes up, but only after quill handle with returning spring was removed. Here is some pictures from the state "before" .


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## eugene13 (May 27, 2019)

very cool project


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Head is moving up/down with with the help of Rack & Pinion mechanism. Tilting a Head is accomplished with Worm Gear mechanism. This machine was used (and abused) as it can be seen on worm gear (on first picture). Luckily, I was able to rotate Worm gear for 180 degree, so part of worm gear where teeth was broken are not engaged any more. On third and fourth picture mechanism for moving head up/down and tilting Head can be seen, mounted on the machine.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Bearings for Head, ready to be replaced and some parts for Reduction mechanism, cleaned, painted and ready to be assembled.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

The Spindle! Lower bearing, before


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## MontanaLon (May 27, 2019)

That is a very interesting machine. Seems to be comparable in size to a round column mill drill but with better rigidity. Too bad they are rare, I will probably never see one in person.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Now, starts the fun  Outer race has to be removed from Housing. But, there is no place between race and Housing for claw to catch race and pull it. There is interesting video how this kind of problem can be solved. It was help me very much.






...and this is how I was do that  On first picture, inner thread of the Housing is protected or "protected" with thin metal plate stuck on the position with masking tape. Piece of bar stick welded to inner race on the second picture. Finaly, inner race removed from Housing on third picture.

Stick welding is not the best welding method for this operation, but, it is the only welding method available to me at this moment, so I did it with what I have. Completely successful.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

MontanaLon said:


> That is a very interesting machine. Seems to be comparable in size to a round column mill drill but with better rigidity. Too bad they are rare, I will probably never see one in person.


Yes, rigidity is awesome. It was made in Swedish, at the time when machine was built to last. I was in doubt to buy a new Chinese Rong FU 45 or this. Although it is pretty much used, I will rebuild it and it will be perfect hobby machine, small but precise just as I need, or, at least I hope so


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Main Spindle bearing is special, NN3007K SP, mean, double roller bearing with taper inside race, super precision. I was decided to buy a bearing and appropriate grease from well known manufacturer, hence, Swedish machine ask for Swedish bearings  It coasts a small fortune, but, I just want to make it right. Mounting this bearing is an adventure, as I will show.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Leftover from doubled message. I just do not know ho to delete it.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Now, Spindle Bearings are interesting one. They need to run very accurate, but due to manufacturing tolerances every bearing has some inner clearance to accommodate housing and shaft size tolerances. To cancel all of that, usually spindle bearings has some kind of adjusting mechanism. On my machine it is done by taper inner race, so when I tighten nut that holds inner race on shaft, it pushes it up, expanding inner race to the size needed to cancel all inner tolerances. Who ever need more information about this subject I strongly recommend this text written by professionals:






						How to Replace CNC Spindle Bearings Archives - High Speed Technologies, Inc.
					






					highspeedtechnologies.com
				




or this discussion from other forum:





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						DM4400 Spindle bearing repair
					

Hello Couple of weeks ago i purchased a DM4400 running the old skip controller. I gave it power and all the axis would home perfectly. I was able to re



					www.cnczone.com
				




or this recommendations from SKF:





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						SKF
					






					www.skf.com
				








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						SKF
					






					www.skf.com
				




Now, this is how I was done it:

On first picture my initial setup for reference can be seen, a two micron dial test indicator on mag base touching an outer race, hold on position by mag base stick to shaft. Grey ring between bearing and mag base is ring made from aluminum just to prevent bearing outer race to tilt during measuring. Inner race was just pulled on shat by hand as far as it can go, without knocking it or any force. How many inner tolerance I have can be seen on this video:






I move outer race sliding perpendicular to shaft axis along aluminum ring without any force. Measuring says 24 microns. After I was mount outer race in Housing, I was again measure clearance. This time mag base is mounted on Quill, aluminum ring was removed. Guiding of shaft was accomplished by back bearing and inner race was on the same place. Measuring was done by moving shaft up and down instead of moving outer race as on previous video. Result is shown here:






Measuring says 22 microns. Did I mention that outer race has loose fit in Housing? Nut has 1mm pitch, and according to SKF equation for Tightening angle Alpha are: 360*18*C/(1000*P) where 18 is constant base on Spindle wall thickness, C is measured clearance (here 22 microns plus recommended preload, here 2 to 5 microns) and P is Tightening Nut Thread Pitch, so after some math I get 168 DEG. Third video shows clearance after some initial tightening...






After I was tightened it to about 120 DEG I was decided to stop because bearing has preload and I do not want to overtighten bearing. After all, I can tighten it later if there is need for that. If it is overtightened it will heat more then acceptable. Heating is a matter of grease also.

On second picture new ball bearing mounted but not yet tightened with tightening nut and red mark for tightening angle measuring can be seen.

Proper procedure calls for bearing running in during which process temperature rise has to be measured. So, I put thermo couple with some silicone grease used for transistor mounting on heat sink for temperature transfer and let spindle to run, from slowest to fastest speed. After about hour of running, forward and revers the temperature rice from 19 Celsius to 47 Celsius.

This is result I am satisfied with.


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## Red Baron FC (May 27, 2019)

Little is left to be done, so, I hope, my next post will be test cut video with big smile all around my face


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## bl00 (May 27, 2019)

Nice work and thanks for all the photos!


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## bl00 (May 27, 2019)

MontanaLon said:


> That is a very interesting machine. Seems to be comparable in size to a round column mill drill but with better rigidity. Too bad they are rare, I will probably never see one in person.



It's about the same size as a Rockwell mill, but a few hundred pounds heavier.  In addition to the VF600 I have also had at various times an RF31 round column, Clausing 8530, Millrite and others.  None have knocked off the V600 as my favorite.  It's a nice and very compact design.


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