# New Almost Clausing 8520 Owner



## Briney Eye (Aug 11, 2017)

Should be picking up the mill and tooling in the morning.  I'm looking forward to getting it cleaned up (and probably painted) and moved into my little shop. It's in pretty good shape, in a pro shop for many years (A few feet from a Hardinge HLV). Some TLC and I'll have a nice mill to go with my little Logan lathe. Love this old iron.


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## dlane (Aug 11, 2017)

Welcom to the fun ,  we'll   /I'll need pics, 
should be a good one


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## Briney Eye (Aug 11, 2017)

dlane said:


> Welcom to the fun ,  we'll   /I'll need pics,
> should be a good one


I intend to document some of the effort. It's running on single-phase now, so there will be a new motor and VFD, and I _love_ the TouchDRO setup I installed on the lathe, so I'll be doing that (I'm wondering how I'll like using one tablet for both machines). It will be fun.


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## Briney Eye (Aug 12, 2017)

Hauled it home in pieces.


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## Briney Eye (Aug 12, 2017)

Purple Power got the old gunk off of the column pretty quick.


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## Silverbullet (Aug 13, 2017)

Hi welcome to the site, nice mill you will be happy with it. Congratulations


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

After a lot of scrubbing and a little touch-up painting, it's beginning to take shape.  Testing out the Fuji VFD.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

How many people actually have an unbroken brake plate?  I decided to give silver brazing a try.  This is a bad design.  The hole creates a stress riser, guaranteeing that they will break there.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

There was too much wear on the inside of the cone pulley (another reason the brake breaks).  I'm turning it 0.200" oversize in order to sleeve it.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

Out of sequence, but here's how I polished up the ram.  A light touch with some 180 shop roll, then a buff with 400.  Used the four-jaw because it didn't take much runout to make my little Logan start to shake.  Once it was indicated in it was happier the faster I spun it.  The belt made a cute little chirp every time I started it, though.  Did the same thing with the quill.  Everything moves silky smooth now.


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## 34_40 (Sep 4, 2017)

Nice mill you've picked up, can't wait to see the final assembly.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

Got the new motor and VFD temporarily wired up and programmed.  The idler pulley seemed to spin smoothly, but when I put a belt on it made a terrible rumbling noise.  Gee, I wonder why?




So, do I sleeve this one too, or do you think Loctite retaining compound might take up the slack?  I have some 648, but I think I'd need 680.  I'd have to install the shaft and other bearing, squirt some compound, then push this one on and hope it all lined up properly.  I don't know if I'd ever get it apart again, either.


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## woodchucker (Sep 4, 2017)

Briney Eye said:


> How many people actually have an unbroken brake plate?  I decided to give silver brazing a try.  This is a bad design.  The hole creates a stress riser, guaranteeing that they will break there.
> 
> View attachment 241067


That hole eliminates the stress riser.
But it is a bad design, mine broke there too. I had it nickel welded.


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## woodchucker (Sep 4, 2017)

Briney Eye said:


> Got the new motor and VFD temporarily wired up and programmed.  The idler pulley seemed to spin smoothly, but when I put a belt on it made a terrible rumbling noise.  Gee, I wonder why?
> 
> View attachment 241079
> 
> ...



I sleeved mine. And used perm loctite on the sleeve. I made a plug larger than the ID of the cleaned up pulley. I heated the pulley and pressed it in. Then bore it out. Then pressed the new bearing in.

After using this mill a while, the VFD seems like a good idea. I didn't want one, but now would like it.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

woodchucker said:


> That hole eliminates the stress riser.
> But it is a bad design, mine broke there too. I had it nickel welded.



Agree to disagree.  What I want to do is clamp it up to a rotary table and cut that little hole and slot out with a 1/2" end mill, and traverse at least 1/2" both sides of where it was.  Then it would almost be a real flexure.  My wife doesn't know I need a rotary table to go with my mill yet .


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

woodchucker said:


> I sleeved mine. And used perm loctite on the sleeve. I made a plug larger than the ID of the cleaned up pulley. I heated the pulley and pressed it in. Then bore it out. Then pressed the new bearing in.
> 
> After using this mill a while, the VFD seems like a good idea. I didn't want one, but now would like it.



I decided to go with a 1/2 hp motor and Fuji "Frenic-Mini" VFD.  I guess I figured I ought to restrain myself with just a #2 Morse taper.

Of course, my drill press also has a MT2 spindle, and I put a 1 hp motor and Teco-Westinghouse VFD on it, but I wanted at least _some_ low-end torque over a broad speed range (all the way from 250 to 3100 without changing the belt).  It's been working great, and I can always temporarily reinstall the idler and two belts if I really need some grunt.

The Teco VFD has more bells and whistles, but the Fuji seems okay, and it's _tiny_.  Got them both from Wolf Automation.

ADDENDUM:  I wanted to mention that one reason I got the Fuji is because all the wiring comes out the bottom, and all the terminals are covered, which is nice if you're going to mount it on the wall next to the mill like I am.  The equivalent Teco also has all the wiring coming out of the bottom, but the terminals are more exposed.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

woodchucker said:


> That hole eliminates the stress riser.
> But it is a bad design, mine broke there too. I had it nickel welded.



Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm planning to restrict the VFD speed range on the mill, so that it really just gives overlap between belt changes.


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## woodchucker (Sep 4, 2017)

Briney Eye said:


> Agree to disagree.  What I want to do is clamp it up to a rotary table and cut that little hole and slot out with a 1/2" end mill, and traverse at least 1/2" both sides of where it was.  Then it would almost be a real flexure.  My wife doesn't know I need a rotary table to go with my mill yet .


Yep, it's just my opinion. 
Did the silver soldering work?


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## Briney Eye (Sep 4, 2017)

woodchucker said:


> Yep, it's just my opinion.
> Did the silver soldering work?



Remains to be seen when it's all back together.  Got a real pretty joint with Harris Safety-Silv 45, though.


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## woodchucker (Sep 5, 2017)

Briney Eye said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm planning to restrict the VFD speed range on the mill, so that it really just gives overlap between belt changes.


That makes sense. I don't use the top speed, not yet at least.  I haven't cut anything with that small a cutter that needs it, but I do find myself in the mid range often and low range quite a bit . The VFD would be great for tapping.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 5, 2017)

woodchucker said:


> That hole eliminates the stress riser.
> But it is a bad design, mine broke there too. I had it nickel welded.



After further pondering, what I think I should do is fill the hole and mill two flexures each traversing about an inch positioned at 10 and 2 o'clock relative to the slot and brake lever.  That will improve the flex while taking the stress off the repair.


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## Briney Eye (Sep 17, 2017)

First chips.  This is the bracket for the control box.




This is the control box:


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## Briney Eye (Nov 18, 2017)

I thought I should put up a picture of my VFD.  It's a 1/2hp Fuji (from Wolf Automation):




These small Fujis support external braking resistors.  The 1hp Teco that I have on my drill press doesn't.




The box is a Bud NBF-32016 with the NBX-32916 internal panel.  I had to add some 0.250" spacers to bring the face of the VFD out flush with the front of the box, and I used some neoprene edging around the hole to give it a finished look.


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## Terrywerm (Nov 19, 2017)

That's looking pretty nice, Briney. I've been contemplating a 3 phase motor and VFD for my 8520, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet. Thanks for posting about the Teco not supporting braking resistors. I like the idea of having some braking on my mill, so would definitely want to get a VFD that includes that feature.


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