Atlas Horizontal mill

[34_40]

Froggie, we've got lotsa room in here so no sweat on my part - I've no problem sharing.

That kick out piece looks original to me... and like the others, I can't believe what they cost on epay! I tried making one but I don't think I've got the angle to the lead in ramp just right. It seems to bind more than I like to see.

On your mill, in the top pic, what is mounted to the table? An indexer?

 

[Green Frog]

Thanks, 34_40. One of the things I enjoy most about this forum is the congenial attitude here. In the last couple of weeks I've been brought up to speed in a way that could have only been improved with my own personal instructor. You guys have been truly great to "be with" even if only virtually.

The item on the table of my mill is simply a machinist's vise, not the indexer I would also like to own. It's not attached in any way, I just set it there temporarily because I needed a spot for it to be! I've got a half dozen T-nuts that came with the mill but I can't bolt it down in any kind of secure manner. I just bought a pair of 1-2-3 blocks with their bolts, so that's a start. I also have the main body of a machinist's vise that I started in a class I once audited... I may be able to adapt it to bolt down to the table by drilling a couple of strategically placed holes. I'm also considering buying the econo-version of the swiveling vise Atlas made for it, but I'm wondering whether it would be stout enough.

Would tracing my kick out cam do you any good, or is it the 3-D relationship of all the curves and angles that makes this work? I MIGHT be able to get it copied in either brass, aluminum, or perhaps cast iron at school when the foundry class starts up the next time... would that be a useful thing? Would either of those materials (which are what they use to do their casting) be suitable for the purpose? I just took mine off of the machine and it appears to be original (has the Atlas triangle cast into a hidden surface.) From looking at it seems to show very little wear. It looks like either cast steel or cast iron... does that sound about right? From the little bit of stress this thing takes, it looks like I could even use cast brass and get pretty good service out of it.



PS I just re-watched my Rudy Kouhoupt DVD on operating this mill and came up with several questions. I'm wondering whether I would get more responses by posing them in this thread or by starting a new one with his name in the title?

 

[CluelessNewB]

I'm about 99% sure my cam is cast iron. I don't see why a brass (or maybe even better a silicon bronze alloy) casting wouldn't work. Brass might wear faster but for home use would probably last a lifetime.

 

[Green Frog]

Back to 34-40's question about an indexer... I occasionally see an odd fixture by Weldon(?) pop up on the auction sites. It is described as being a drill sharpening fixture and it takes 4-C collets. I've already got a set of the collets so I'm wondering whether I could perhaps cobble together an indexer based on that? Of course unless somebody already had the collets, it wouldn't make much sense to embark on that path I guess, but since I already worked so hard to get the collets...

Back to the kick out cam... Do you guys think there would be sufficient market for me to have a small lot of them made, say 10 or 12? I went back and looked at the prices they are actually bringing and was blown away... it's really a pretty simple casting with only minimal finish work on the critical surfaces!

 

[VSAncona]

There are two sizes of cams -- the casting on the earlier one is longer. When the MFC came out, Atlas had to make the cam shorter so that it could pass behind the overarm support. They also changed the length of the kickout lever on the gearbox, so an earlier cam won't work on the MFC and vice versa.

 

[Green Frog]

Vince,

As I went back and looked at the pictures accompanying the e-Bay ads, it would appear that one of the cams just had a very small projection out of the bottom, while the other had a sort of curved piece that passed under and to the right of the locking nut. The one that came to me on my MFC is of the latter style... but it seems like you are saying this won't work for me if I want to use the vertical brace between the crank and the upper brace, is that correct? At this point, I'm not planning on using that brace (since I don't even have one) so I should be OK, but again if I understand you correctly, if I ever DO get the front brace I'll need the other cam to use all of it at once, right?

I'll repeat my question, though... with the silly prices these things are bringing, would there be a market for reproductions of this part if my school's foundry could make it in say, cast iron? If yes, should I expect to provide it as a raw casting to be drilled and finished by the end user, or as a finished, ready to install part with bolt and nut?

 

[VSAncona]

The earlier (longer) one won't contact the kickout handle on the gearbox of the MFC. At least it wouldn't on my mill. The cam doesn't line up with the little roller on the gearbox handle. I think that in order to allow the table to slide past the overarm brace, Atlas had to shorten the length of the gearbox handle and kickout cam body so that they didn't stick out as far, but that's just a guess on my part.

Here's a photo of both styles side by side on my MFC. The kickout cam on the left is the one that came with my MFC. The one on the right is the earlier style.

 

[Green Frog]

Thanks, Vince. That one picture is exactly what was needed to clear up all questions. I'll have to look at mine with that picture in hand on my tablet, but I am hoping that I have the right combination of parts on my MFC for them to work together. I'm guessing that there would be about an equal market for both lengths, or would it be greater for one style or the other based on how many of the machines were made... that would lead to needing more MFC style, right? I'm still not getting enough response to decide whether to pursue having even a small run of them cast(?) Should I try to find the other style and as part of the same project have a limited casting run of both done?

Froggie

 

[VSAncona]

I don't have an answer for you on that one. You could start a separate post and see how many people would be interested in ordering one to give you an idea of the interest level. I'm on another forum where people do that fairly often. If they get enough responses, they place an order for a small run. I've purchased a couple of reproduction items that way.

 

[Rob]

I'll repeat my question, though... with the silly prices these things are bringing, would there be a market for reproductions of this part if my school's foundry could make it in say, cast iron? If yes, should I expect to provide it as a raw casting to be drilled and finished by the end user, or as a finished, ready to install part with bolt and nut?

I think there would be a market depending on what price you would have to put on it. I know that they have a high price for the ones on EBay but the same ones seem to keep getting relisted several times. At the high price they don't move fast.

On the raw casting or the finished product it depends on how much time you want to put into it. I would think that the raw casting would be cheaper and would sell faster. Also if you did the raw casting it looks like you could just do a single casting and have the end user mill the length as needed. Looking at the above photo it appears that the shorter one is the same casting just milled shorter. The square portion next to the table is longer on the longer older style than on the new style.