2016 POTD Thread Archive

Nice Chuck Halligan , if I were more experienced i would love one of those for my 10L.
Tom I'm guessing the whole head travels on your machine, I have the same shoulder prob and the drawbar work is getting to me , some day I can see a power draw bar on my bport clone.
Nice work.
 
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dlane said:
Tom I'm guessing the whole head travels on your machine,
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Yes, what I've come to understand are the Rong Fu clones all have a rigid column and a floating (well not floating) head. There is a 10 pitch acme screw inside the column that raises and lowers the head. Since the head moves .008 when clamped, it can't be used to machine with, but it must be raised (and lowered) often to change tools. End mill in collet, Jacobs chuck, boring bar, etc.
 
T Bredehoft said:
I powered the head on my PM25 mill today. Not for machining purposes, but for saving the rotator cuff on my right shoulder.
I've been working toward this for a couple of weeks, I started with a junk yard windshield wiper motor from a Ford Windstar,

The project began with mounting a ball bearing on the shaft for the head crank. I was able to replace the crank after the bearing was in place. I was amazed at how much easier the head moved up and down.

View attachment 118886


I learned quite a bit about the construction of this portion of the machine in this process. The lead screw, inside the column has a thrust bearing on top, easing considerable friction there. I mounted a piece of 3/8 by 4 aluminum on this carrier, adding support to the bearing and supporting the motor.
View attachment 118885

The cluster of cap screws in the center bottom supports a block bearing against the body to support the weight of the motor. There are four screws mounting the plate to the column and three cap screws mounting the motor to the plate. There appear 6 extra mounting holes where I tried to locate the motor in earlier attempts. Not errors, just developments.

From the back the motor looks like this.

View attachment 118887

Here's the head and the control. I take little pride in my sheet metal work. The red off/on switch is a dummy, the green push button is normally off, the two toggles are (on the left) high and low speed, and on the right, up and down. I elected not to put in a variable speed control.

View attachment 118888

And the drive unit all bolted together and ready for service.

View attachment 118889

I'm looking forward to a lot of use, saving my shoulder. It's a bit slower than I can crank, but a lot easier.
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Nice work. How did you connect the wiper motor shaft to the keyed shaft? Any pictures of that part of the project?
 
johnnyc14 said:
How did you connect the wiper motor shaft to the keyed shaft?
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The output shaft of the motor has a rectangular end, hard to describe, but I was able to make that cavity on the end of the 17mm drill rod. In reality, it was a drive fit, tapped into place with a brass hammer. I used the set screws in the pulley and the outer bearing in the plate to keep it in. time will tell.
I did make CAD drawings of these details, but they are terribly incomplete, just what I needed to know to make them.

I had a bunch of help with the pulleys and belt from Fidelity Industrial Supply, Richardson, Tx. I had purchased a belt too small. They determined what I needed and exchanged mine for the proper one.

Its been an interesting engineering project, I first build an X drive, to get the concept of mounting a motor and pulleys.
 
got a new toy in the mail...better late than never i guess...mainly for pushing in bearings but you know how it goes, once you have something you'll find other uses.

very nice for 59 bucks + free shipping

it's only a 1/2 ton but thats all i need.

IMG_8131.JPG
 
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