# New Vertical Head for #1 Burke Horizontal Mill By Mike Rauchle



## HMF (May 1, 2013)

Posted with permission of the author:
*From:* Mike Rauchle <rauchle@ntd.net>
*To:* Nelson T. - The Hobby-Machinist <im_all_thumbz@yahoo.com> 
*Sent:* Wednesday, May 1, 2013 5:58 AM
*Subject:* Re: Burke #4 Vertical Head Build

Nelson- Thanks for the comment, yes, go ahead and post it if you wish. Regards, Mike

On Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:23:46 -0700 (PDT), "Nelson T. - The Hobby-Machinist" <im_all_thumbz@yahoo.com> wrote:
Your article on building a vertical head for the Burke #4 was great, and I was wondering if I could get your permission to post it on Hobby-Machinist.com for our members.

Thanks,

Nelson
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Owner, SB Heavy 10L, Van Norman 12, Burke #4
http://www.Hobby-Machinist.com



In PDF format:

View attachment New Vertical Head for.pdf


* New Vertical Head for #1 Burke Horizontal Mill*


I slapped this vertical head together in a couple days about 10 years ago. It does a half assed job but the spindle is a fixed .500 bore, so it's kinda limited. Also could use more appropriate bearings. So, here we go with the upgrade to an R-8 spindle.




	

		
			
		

		
	
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Raw materials rounded up, bored the shaft for the drawbar and the R-8 then used a collet with the live center to turn the bearing surfaces.




	

		
			
		

		
	
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*Spindle Housing*

Spindle housing is A-50, 4 X 4 X .500 square tube, It will be oil filled with a sight glass and provisions to lube the top bearing




	

		
			
		

		
	
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* Spindle Seal*

Stainless spindle seal retainer



	

		
			
		

		
	
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*Jeweling/Engine Turn*

I had some spare time on my hands today.




	

		
			
		

		
	
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* Key and Sight Glass*

R-8 key, 5/32" ejector pin. Sight glass threaded into body of the spindle housing. This is the 1st time I have threaded A-500 material and it sucked. 1 7/8"-24 TPI. while boring,I started with HSS...tearing, carbide..tearing and chatter, HSS single point...tearing ...looked horrible. Tried different geometries,etc. just could not get a real clean cut.Maybe next time,any thoughts?




	

		
			
		

		
	
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*Seal Fit-up*

I think I should have chosen a larger sight glass.









I do need to see in there as there will be a slinger to direct the oil to the upper race
I guess I'll find out what happens on power- up thru the giant sight glass
How long have co-ax indicators been around? I love this thing. Now, I need some ideas due to my poor planning. As you can see, I made 2 left hand threaded rings for pre-load adjustment, I need an idea to mechanically lock the top ring to the shaft after adjustment, I am drawing a blank right now. Thanks in advance, Mike







My first swing at it was a 4-40 cup point set screw, axially, however, when you tighten it, it takes out the lash in the threads in that spot and creates an uneven force against the inner race. Radial might be better or a keyed locking tab washer.


Bill[/QUOTE]

*Bearing Retainer Lock*

Sometimes you just have to stop over-thinking things and just try SOMETHING!




















Done,well except paint.
Had alot more time in this than I wanted but it was worthwhile. It works better than I expected and that's gratifying, runout is .0005. Not bad considering it was done on a 1929 SB, just shows what can be done with careful setup between centers. A little paint and call it good.



	

		
			
		

		
	
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## BobC (Feb 6, 2014)

Since not everyone is familiar with the US Machine Tools #1 horizontal hand mill that is featured in this thread, I'd just like to mention that not having a movable quill on this machine is not nearly as bad as it is on most verticals, because the spindle head that also carries the over arm, (that the author mounted his shop built vertical head on) is mounted on dovetails and has as much vertical movement as a J head Bridgeport quill. 

Though the over arm will rotate, allowing the the head to be tilted, the dovetails remain vertical so it will only plunge-cut when the head is vertical.

That's really not too bad, as some vertical knee mill operators _NEVER_ tilt the head, most will a few times but even then, a lot of that work can be done without using a quill, so the difference is not very important to most.

They are rugged industrial grade horizontal mills, weighing over 1,000 pounds.

Below, mine arriving home a few years ago and below that, restored and milling steel with a 3" OD X 4" wide slab-mill cutter.

In the bottom pic, the handle going out of frame to the left is fitted to a quadrant or sector gear inside the spindle head that engages a rack attached to the column, raising and lowering the spindle head on it's dovetails and can be locked at any elevation. It is counterbalanced with a large cast iron weight inside the column, on a cable that goes up, over a pulley and then down and is fixed to the spindle head.

I hardly ever cut keyways with a fragile end mill in a vertical because it's so slow and inefficient compared to the large diameter cutters on a horizontal, (like the one in the top pic) and I hardly ever cut them on my nearly 4,000 pound K & T universal horizontal either. The U.S. Machine Tools hand mill featured in this thread excells at cutting keyways in horizontal mode and a lot of other things, all in a tiny footprint.

No intent to hijack, just giving a wider shot of the same mill and why it's a good candidate for his nice, non-quill vertical head attachment.

Bob


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