And another Atlas horizontal mill rebuild.

Hello 34_40,

Thank you for your suggestion about looking at the other thread for the kick out. I've been trying to read that whole thread for a while now and never got to the part you suggested. The one that came with Steve's Atlas mill definitely looks like it would be easy to make. One question though (and I didn't see it in the thread) what is the O.D. of the round area of the kick out?

Also, a little update on my progress with my Atlas horizontal mill. If you have been following this thread then you know that I have already done a full rebuild and I am in the process of putting it back together. Last night I put the motor on, I would have done it sooner but I needed to figure out some of the wiring. For some reason the person who owned it at one point put a forward and reverse switch on it as well as the on off switch. And I wanted to put the on off switch in the original place in the column. I still need to figure out where I am going to put the forward and reverse switch?

Anyway, I put the motor on and then put the belt on. Adjusted both belts to the correct tension and flipped the on off switch ON to see if everything goes smoothly. Low and behold the mill runs like a champ with no noise coming from the gears!!! So that was good to hear and know that just maybe I did something right for a change.

Next was to check out the Change-O-Matic gears and see how the table feed works. This is where I ran into some sort of problem. When I put the Change-O-Matic on to see if the table would move. I noticed that the spindle was turning and so was the 3 step pulley in the head. But for some reason the gear that engages the Change-O-Matic lever was not turning? So I put it into the back gear and turned it on, then the Change-O-Matic gears started to turn and the table started to move.

So I guess what I am asking is, I'm I missed something with the 3 step pulley? When the mill is not in the back gear, the 3 step pulley just turns and does not engage with the Change-O-Matic gears? Any help on this would be appreciated.

And on a parting note, while I was messing around with the mill. I went to take a look at some of the stuff I got when I bought the mill. Apparently I have the 1" arbor and a bunch of collars to go with it. As well as the arbors for angular cutters and the cutters that go with it. And something I found interesting was that I have these little things called End Mill Bushings, part number 563E. Required to adapt all 576 end mills to No. M1-577 shank-cutter adapter (which I have). Can anyone help me with what these are and how exactly do I use them? I assume that they are for the M1-577 shank-cutter adapter so you can put smaller end mills in the M1-577 adapter. I also have what looks like a piece that goes with the M1-570 Shell End Mill Driver. So I gotta look around for the other piece that gets threaded on to the spindle.

I'll see if I can post a video of the mill running so you can see what I have going on with it.

Orangecrush
 
O.C. (Steve) , I don't have my mill handy to me, but, what I did to calculate the size needed is simply measure down from the center of the table to just over the top of the levers hinge point. The "wheel" must clear the lever. after that it's all gravy. I also made sure it could roll easily. And the lever has a wheel on the end so it can roll effortlessly.

All your other questions - I'll need to look for the catalog cuts I have (somewhere) to see the uses.. I'd bet Robert knows them off the top of his head, he's the encyclopedia of Atlas Mills! :D
 
Not mill related, but on my craftsman lathe I used the original on/off voltage to switch the power to the drum switch and enable an outlet for a future light. So switch power on, light comes on, meanwhile drum switch in off position.

Can't help with anything else. Keep it coming.
 
Thank you to everyone who has helped me with my mill issues.

Last night I figured out what I was doing wrong with my mill. In my last post I had asked why the 3 step pulley was turning on the spindle but not the gear for the Change-O-Matic. It probably would have helped if I read the manual. Because all it was is that I didn't have the bullgear pin pushed into the pulley.

And 34_40, thank you for your reply. Once I get the wiring finished and put the forward and reverse switch some place. My next project will be to make a couple of those kick out stops for my mill. What I really want to do is make a end plate for the left side with a adjustable screw. So I can stop the table when it is going right by hitting the sliding gear shaft on the table feed assembly.
 
Question of the day,

I found an original Atlas horizontal milling vise on my local Craigslist today. The guy who is selling it doesn't know that it goes with the Atlas milling machine and thinks that it's just a regular 3" machine vise. From what I can see in the picture he has on Craigslist, it looks like it is in pretty good condition. Just needs a good cleaning up and going over.

But my question is, how much is one of these vises worth? I have seen some on eBay going for quite a bit of money. This guy is asking $300 bucks for it, but when I called him and said that I was interested in buying it. But told him that $300 bucks was way too much for the vise, he said what do you think it's worth? I don't want to low ball the guy with some stupid offer, so I'm thinking about asking if he would take say... $150?
 
I've been a little tied up with Harvey. But so far so good.

I see that you figured out the direct drive pin. On the four bushings question, the milling cutter itself fits a 1/2" shank cutter. The bushings reduce the diameter to 7/16", 3/8", 5/16" and 1/4". You can buy end mills in 1/64" diameter increments with shanks in 1/16" increments. For example, an 11/32" diameter end mill might have a 3/8" diameter shank. Above 1/2" diameter, you can buy end mills with 1/2" diameter shanks.

One word of caution when using the bushings. There is a style of end mill called "Weldon" (after the company who either first made them or first patented them). These have a flat ground on the side of the shank. The set screw bears againts the flat and even if the set screw gets loose, the cutter won't spin or come out of the holder. The caution is that this is fine, preferred even, for the 1/2" shanks. But never make the mistake of putting a Weldon cutter in one of the bushings and tightening the set screw. The screw won't go through the flatted area and bear only against the flat on the cutter shank. It will push the thinner part of the flat cut across the bushing down into the flatted region on the cutter shank. And you will be unable to remove the cutter from the bushing.
 
I paid $250 (plus shipping) for my M1-300 vise and thought I had gotten a semi bargain. It came with the original crank. The only company that I know of who was making a cast iron crank with a square hole that fits the M1-300 stopped making them within the past three years. Originals are harder to find than the vise. Which is hard enough to find. If he doesn't have the crank, I guess that $150 wouldn't likely make him hang up on you but if he counters with $200, I would take it. If he does have the crank, offer $200 and settle on $250. The vise is like most other Atlas accessories. Pretty expensive, and hard to find. He may or may not get $250 on CL. But he certainly can on eBay. It's usually a matter of supply and demand. Usually you pay the price or you do without.
 
Hello good members,

Robert, hope you and your family are doing well after Harvey came through. As far as the little bushings I found in all the stuff I got with the mill. I kinda understand what you are saying about the flat area on the bushing and the flat area on the end mill. Most of the end mills I got with the mill are like what you are saying, with the flat area on the side. The 1/2" arbor I have has 2 setscrews on opposite sides. So I assume that you can use 1 to tighten the bushing and the other 1 to tighten the end mill through the bushing?

And yes, I did end up figuring out the problem with the mill. Would have helped if I had read the manual before asking about it here. When I got the mill it was already in the back gear with the bullgear pulled out. Didn't even think about that when I fired up the mill for the first time after the rebuild!!! Dumb, dumb me!!! LoL

I guess what I will do with the guy that has the vice is. I'll call him again and offer $150 and if he doesn't go for it then I'll ask him if he will take $200. He doesn't have the handle and the vise needs a good cleaning and going over before it can be used. But I don't think the guy cares about that and he doesn't even know what the vise is for. Other than it's just a 3" machine vise that has a swivel base!!! LoL
 
Harvey still isn't quite gone. But we are still OK. Although we can't go anywhere much because of all of the flooded areas around the city. If it behaves as currently predicted, it should be effectively gone in another 24 hours.

The 2MT and 3MT arbors that I have each only have one screw. I don't know why yours would have two. But as I tried to say before, you do NOT want to tighten a set screw against the flat on the cutter shank through the flat on the bushing. If you do, you may never be able to get the cutter and arbor out of the holder. If all of your cutters are Weldon style, the one(s) with a 1/2" shank you can tighten one of the two set screws against the flat on the shank. But you might need to use a longer screw. The other screw you can either remove or tighten against the shank. But with any of the bushings in use, you need to run one of the set screws down into the slotted flat on the bushing but not quite touching the flat. Put the cutter into the bushing rotated such that the flat on the cutter shank is NOT under the flat on the bushing and tighten the screw against the bushing flat and the shank. The other screw you should probably just remove.

On the vise, that sounds like a plan. You don't of course want to tell him that it has a specific purpose. ;)
 
Hello Robert,

Good to hear that you and your family are doing well after Harvey came through. I heard that there was a lot of flooding and damage from the hurricane.

Not really sure I follow what you are saying about the bushings. The reason I say that is when I found these bushings, one of them was already in a arbor with a end mill in it. And when I went to take out the end mill I had no problem, I just hit it with a little PB-Blaster and it popped right out. But I do understand what you are saying and I will be careful about using the bushings with any of my arbors.

Edit: And yes, most of my end mills are the type you are talking about with 1 or 2 flats on the side.

Speaking about arbors, yeah for some reason I have a couple of arbors that have 2 setscrews on each side? I still need to go through everything I got with the mill and take some sort of inventory. I got so much stuff when I bought it, but just haven't had the time to go through it all. Like I said before, I probably have over a hundred end mills of different sizes and at least 5 arbors to go with them. And some other stuff I don't know what to use it for, but it was in the drawers when I bought the mill? LoL Also got a lot of old cigar boxes full miscellaneous items that I need to look at and see what I can use it for.

My lathe also came with a bunch of stuff. Probably over 3 hundred types of lathe cutting tools and even some carbide tipped cutting tool's. But I will talk about that more on a different thread I have already started on the Craftsman Lathe side.
 
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