# Milling arbor for my Burke #4



## jererp (Apr 7, 2014)

When I bought my Burke #4 a few months ago, it came with 20+ milling/slitting cutters in both 1" and 7/8" ID, but not arbors.  I watched eBay for a while for B&S#9 taper arbors, but nothing I found was exactly what I wanted. I contacted DCMorrison, who still supplies parts and tooling, but they wanted $200+ for a 1" arbor, and then it wasn't exactly like mine.  I have a pilot that rides in a bushing, theirs' was supported on the end with a dead center.  So I decided that I would try to make one myself.  

I didn't take enough pictures to satisfy most of you, but it's a long walk out to the barn where my shop is, and if I didn't remember to take it out with me, I was too lazy to go back in and get it.  Here is the roughed out blank.




The taper was one thing I worried about getting right, but it was relatively easy.  I had an existing B&S #9 taper I was able to put in the lathe and tram to make sure the taper attachment was set right. When it got close, I would take it over to the mill and fit it to the spindle, using it as a depth gauge.

Turning the threads was the next step, and something I had not done before.  My Logan does not have a quick change gear box, so I had to reconfigure the gear train based on the chart inside the cover. Not the quickest or cleanest thing to do. 
I purchased a 7/8"-14 flange nut from Enco.  I chose the fine pitch, because I didn't have the right gears in my stack of spares to let me cut the coarse pitch.  I used the back gear, with the VFD set at around 50%, and it was slow enough to give me plenty of time to stop before hitting the shoulder.




I tried it out first without a keyway slot in the arbor, and it cut just fine, but I found it did spin. Enough to make it very hard to get the cutter off of the arbor. So I set it up in the mill and milled the keyway slot as you see it.  One mistake on the slot.....I didn't have enough clearance to mill it to full depth, so I had to loosen it and raise it up....repositioning wasn't perfect, and I have a slight step on one side, but still works fine.  
Here is the final assembly.




For spacers, I went to the local Tractor Supply and picked up some reducing bushings for 3 point hitches.  1" ID x 2" long.  I milled slots in the end to clear the key stock. 

All together I have around $30 in material in this project.  Well worth it.  Now I can start using this mill as it was intended!

Thanks for looking.
Jerry


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## mattthemuppet2 (Apr 7, 2014)

really neat, you did a great job there!


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## stevecmo (Apr 7, 2014)

Nice job Jerry.  Always better to make rather than buy.  :thumbzup:


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## iron man (Apr 7, 2014)

I made one for my grizzly 727 mill the one that came with it was only 3/4 and I could not find any cutters that size so i did the same thing you did and I have used it a few times and it works nice good job.. Ray


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## Getaway (Apr 9, 2014)

Nice Work.  I too have a No. 4 Burke that came with no arbors.  I have not tried to make them yet. What material did you use. Thanks for sharing.


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## jererp (Apr 9, 2014)

I used CR1018 1 1/2" x 12" that I got from the ALRO metals retail store in Ann Arbor.


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## iron man (Apr 9, 2014)

I just used stress proof on mine it seem to work out fine machines nice too. Ray


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## LJP (Apr 9, 2014)

Nice job on that arbor!


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## fitznoodle (Apr 9, 2014)

jererp said:


> it's a long walk out to the barn where my shop is



This got my attention and made me chuckle because I had to learn to call my detached garage a "barn" when I moved out this way... then I noticed you're in Petersburg.  ;-)

-Nick in Dundee (6 miles from Petersburg)


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## jererp (Apr 10, 2014)

Yeah, guess it's the farm boy coming out in me. It's a pole barn (aren't they called that everywhere?), not conventional construction with a foundation, so that is why I call it a barn.
 I took a 20 question test on Facebook a few months ago, and just by answering a series of questions about speech patterns and usage, it pegged my location on the money.


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