1981 Supermax YC-1 1/2VA mill (BP clone)

[motormech1]

Howdy, submitted for your approval is a 1981 Supermax YC-1 1/2VA (BP S1 clone) mill made by Yeong Chin in Taiwan. A friend needed to make room for a better mill and gave it to me in pieces partially disassembled as he was in the middle of replacing the bearings and a couple small pinion gears. I've had it a couple years waiting to find time to get it up and running and just ordered parts and lube this week so I'll post a thread in projects covering it soon.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Good machines! The once or twice we bought a new machine, it was a Supermax. I was surprised to hear they're gone.

 

[motormech1]

The company still makes cnc nachines but no manual stuff. I read they still support the old ones somewhat but haven't needed to call them yet. Fortunately, the parts I needed are the same as the Bridgeport. They aren't all interchangeable though. They'll be here by the weekend so hopefully get started putting the head back together.

 

[motormech1]

Parts cleaned, inspected, and ready to assemble. Just waiting for a couple replacement parts to get here. I have a couple chunks of one of the step pulley edges missing. Shouldn't cause any problems. I've seen way worse pulleys function just fine. Also, the brake shoes are about half worn and don't look so great. They were caked in either grease or dried up oil and dirt. Anyone know how bad they can be before the don't work well?

 

[motormech1]

Got the parts today! Hopefully get the head back together this weekend.

 

[motormech1]

I can't wait until I have these machines running that could've made these parts! With a lot of practice, that is. ;-)

 

[motormech1]

So, turns out the import shaft for the bevel pinion is drilled for a cross pin and the Bridgeport pinion bore is keyed. I have no functioning mill to key the import shaft so I thought I might be able to make a one time cut using my drill press and my cheap import X,Y drill press vise. Another option, should the first fail, is to dig out a bench top mini-mill that's never been used, still in cosmoline and spend the time to get the minimal tooling to do make the cut. Thoughts?

 

[motormech1]

Pretty sure my mini-mil has R8 spindle so if I pick up a collet set they would be used on the big mill. Then the only real extra thing I'd need would be a cheap vise for the mini. I always intended to outfit the mini before the big one showed up anyway. Hmm.

 

[motormech1]

So, I happened to have some 3/32" carbide end mills so I tried the drill press idea and it cut a reasonable facsimile of a keyway on a practice piece. Not pretty but it should work!

 

[motormech1]

Oh, and before anyone chimes in, yes, I know all the perils of milling on a drill press. This key way is only a .375"L x .125W x .060D. and taking very shallow passes. Thank you for your concern.