# Horizontal mill build



## Gadget

Here's a few photos of the horizontal mill I'm building. I'm about half way through the build right now. I keep getting side tracked but am slowly getting there.


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## pjf134

Nice job so far. Did you make your own castings or buy a kit?
  Paul


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## Gadget

Thanks all.
Paul,
I made my own patterns and cast the parts myself. I have a small waste oil fired foundry that I use for casting parts. I used the Gingery book as a guide to make the patterns.
Dan


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## Gadget

Etard,
The Gingery books are a great source of information. They have all the needed information to build the machines and the detail is great. There is one small error in the mill book or at least the one I have. I bought the whole series back around 1985 or so. As I recall the error was in the dimensions of the spindle bearing cap or slide. Once you are aware of the error you can easily adjust the pattern build the right way. In all the books I have from Gingery, that's the only mistake I've found.
Years ago I built the lathe. That worked quite well and I had a lot of fun with it. I eventually sold it after buying a bigger lathe.
My suggestion is start with one of the foundry furnace books, you'll need a way to cast your patterns. The  book progression starts with the lathe, then the shaper, and finally the mill. You use the machine you just built to machine the parts for the next machine. I skipped the shaper but will go back and build it simply because it looks like a fun machine to build and use.
Dan


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## HMF

Wow...that is some project. Makes a great article too for the home (articles) page: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/content.php?186-Horizontal-mill-build

Nelson


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## Gadget

*Horizontal mill build bed casting*

Here's a short video of the pouring of the mill bed casting. The burner in this video is propane, I've since converted it to waste motor oil.

[video=youtube;hqXfmLxRqCw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqXfmLxRqCw[/video]


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## goldenchips2

yep, one of these days I'm gonna be doing pourings like that...
yours look great ! 
any pointers?


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## Gadget

goldenchips2 said:


> yep, one of these days I'm gonna be doing pourings like that...
> yours look great !
> any pointers?



Pointers for the mill? Or for the foundry? Not sure which one you are referring to .


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## Gadget

*Horizontal mill build update*

I've been moving ahead but slowly on the mill since the last post. I needed a couple of pulleys for the transmission and rather than buy them I decided to make my own. I designed them in Alibre Design and created the cut path for patterns in Vectric's Cut 3D. The next step was to cut the patterns out of MDF on my CNC router. I cast them using aluminum and finished them on the lathe. Here are some photos of that process. I have the machine under power using the temporary boring bar to bore out the spindle bore. I'll take some videos of this today and post them later.



	

		
			
		

		
	
 CAD drawing


	

		
			
		

		
	
 Cut 3D creating machine path
Cut simulations for rough and final cut in Cut3D





	

		
			
		

		
	
 Pattern ready for casting
Casting and machining.


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## goldenchips2

I'd be referring to your castings...
those down at the start of the thread look pretty large and 'spread out'--
How do you keep the metal from cooling in all those passages before it fills the mold up?
:thinking:


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## Gadget

goldenchips2 said:


> I'd be referring to your castings...
> those down at the start of the thread look pretty large and 'spread out'--
> How do you keep the metal from cooling in all those passages before it fills the mold up?
> :thinking:


 The largest casting is the mill bed and I think that's around 18" long. The key to keeping the pour moving is to place the pouring gate as close to the center of mass as possible so the distance to the extreme end of the casting is the same for both sides. Then you have to have the casting thick enough that it doesn't freeze and pinch off the flow. Finally, on the larger castings you should pour just a bit hotter than normal and have bigger sprues to provide molten metal as it cools and shrinks.


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## Gadget

*Update  Horizontal mill build*

I took some photos of the mill as it is currently along with a short video showing the process of cutting the spindle bore. [video=youtube_share;C_fIqWBuRQI]http://youtu.be/C_fIqWBuRQI[/video]

Mill with motor temporarily mounted to the mill bed. This allows the motor to follow the boring bar as it goes through the spindle bore.


The treadmill motor had a ribbed belt pulley. I needed a v belt pulley so I cast a blank on the existing pulley and machined it for a half inch belt. Pulley diameter is 1.5" not 1 1/5 indicated in the photo


Here is the bore partially cut.


To adjust the cutting bit I made this jig. I use a feeler gauge to move the screw away .010 then advance the cutter to hit the screw and tighten the clamp bolt.


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## Wizard69

It has been awhile, how is the machine coming along?    It certainly looks good up to this point.


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## Gadget

Wizard69 said:


> It has been awhile, how is the machine coming along?    It certainly looks good up to this point.



The mill is done and working. I used it today to cut some slots and mill some excess material off my 3D print extruder. I'll have to get a few snapshots of it and post them.


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## Wizard69

Gadget said:


> The mill is done and working. I used it today to cut some slots and mill some excess material off my 3D print extruder. I'll have to get a few snapshots of it and post them.


Cool!

The Gingery mill is an interesting design.   From what I can see it is derived from some really old mills from the 1800's.   it is good to hear that yours is up and running.


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## cbtrek

*Re: Horizontal mill build update*

Looks like you also use Aspire software to make your pattern. Great program.


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## Gadget

*Re: Horizontal mill build update*



cbtrek said:


> Looks like you also use Aspire software to make your pattern. Great program.


My shop is purely hobby, I can't justify the cost of Aspire for that reason. I used Cut3D for the CAM and Alibre for the CAD. Not as good as Aspire but it works.


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## Rbeckett

*Re: Horizontal mill build update*

Gadget,
I am looking forwaed to some more pics of the Gingery builds you are doing.  They look awesome so far.  Is the boring bar you made improvised by you or was it spelled out to do it that way in the text?  I like the whole idea of bootstrapping one build with using the prior builds to make the new parts.  And casting all of your own parts is way cool too.  Goood luck with the continuing project and please dont forget to snap pics of your process as you go.  It is very interesting to an old geezer like me, who had to make parts for obsolete machines for too long.  

Bob


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## Gadget

*Re: Horizontal mill build update*



Rbeckett said:


> Gadget,
> I am looking forwaed to some more pics of the Gingery builds you are doing.  They look awesome so far.  Is the boring bar you made improvised by you or was it spelled out to do it that way in the text?  I like the whole idea of bootstrapping one build with using the prior builds to make the new parts.  And casting all of your own parts is way cool too.  Goood luck with the continuing project and please dont forget to snap pics of your process as you go.  It is very interesting to an old geezer like me, who had to make parts for obsolete machines for too long.
> 
> Bob




Bob, the boring bar was part of the plans. The machine is done, I will get some snapshots and maybe a video the next time I use it.


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## Gadget

BigBlock1 said:


> Nice Work. Time to buy the other Gingery books )



I think I have most of them. I'm thinking of the Gingery band saw as a possible project. My HF unit is wearing out.


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