Milling Rite

[Dave Bonzo]

You know what really grinds my gears? Precision-machined asymmetric keys that are not precisely-machined at all.

Pictured: But if they were gears they'd be broken, so...win?




I'm just gonna go ahead and say that these...shear-cut?...ends are probably the reason that the keys were so pointlessly-hard to remove from the stationary jaw and/or the vise body. I tried to capture the worst of the deformity, but I failed; it was actually way worse than the picture makes it look. So, I went to the sander and took a file with me, and about five minutes later I had a set that actually fit without being gently asked by a 36-oz. hammer.

Pictured: Too bad they don't match...




Probably should have thought about the orientation of my last pass on the sander...but: lesson learned for next time.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Well, this is back on...

Pictured: ... mostly.




...but other stuff seems to have been taken off.

Not Pictured: A large step-pulley.




I still need to clean the vise jaws and find some T-nuts that will fit both it and the table - that's gonna be fun... - so I shifted focus back upwards to see what I could do on that end. The spindle pulley actually didn't protest too much about its removal, and on the whole it looks pretty good under there...so I'm guessing Chimpo never got into this part of things. I'm also guessing that the upper-most bearing is not only what I'm looking at in this picture, but is the pulley bearing in question; I'd verify that for myself, but for some reason I can't pull up my parts diagram of the head, so I have no idea what I'm looking at. So, instead of randomly taking things apart, I'm going to wait until I can restore access to my downloads - thanks, Google - and then see where I get.

 

[Ischgl99]

Yes, that is the pulley bearing. I am not trying to encourage you to take it apart, enjoy your mill a bit first, however, here is the upper part of the spindle. Removing the flat head screws will let you slide the pulley shaft, double row bearing, and bearing housing out of the head casting.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Yes, that is the pulley bearing.

Cool; thank you!

I am not trying to encourage you to take it apart, enjoy your mill a bit first, however, here is the upper part of the spindle.

But if I don't take it apart, I won't be able to enjoy it being in pieces all over my work area...

Removing the flat head screws will let you slide the pulley shaft, double row bearing, and bearing housing out of the head casting.

Question: any reason to not just slide that piece out and see how the bearing sounds?

 

[Ischgl99]

Question: any reason to not just slide that piece out and see how the bearing sounds?

I can think of 26 pages of reasons LOL. Joking aside, that would probably be a good idea. Taking the slotted screws out will let you lift it put. Once out, you can see if the bearing has too much play, or is rough to rotate. When I took mine apart, it was obvious that bearing was bad. That bearing is easy to replace, just take the lock nut off on the bottom side and press it off.

 

[pontiac428]

I see an opportunity while you have the pulley off to install a Hall sensor for a tach display. Cheap as Chinese chicken chips but handy. Of course that's moot if you still have your sheave dataplate and retained a stock RPM motor. But if'n you wanted that feature, now's the time.

Of course more wires means more Murphy, so there's that. Maybe order three for $20 on Ali-Bay to show that Murphysmurfer you ain't messing around.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

I see an opportunity while you have the pulley off to install a Hall sensor for a tach display. Cheap as Chinese chicken chips but handy.

No argument, here; I was kind of thinking that it would be easy to just go directly to the underside of the pulley, now that I'm looking at it and seeing what kind of clearance I have.

Of course that's moot if you still have your sheave dataplate and retained a stock RPM motor. But if'n you wanted that feature, now's the time.

Correct on both counts...and I do want that feature, on both this mill and the adjacent cheap-arse drill press. I'm running that latter one with a VFD and it has a variable sheave in the head, so I have exactly no idea of what speeds I'm turning at any given time.

Of course more wires means more Murphy, so there's that. Maybe order three for $20 on Ali-Bay to show that Murphysmurfer you ain't messing around.

One for each machine and one extra for when I inevitably smurf it up...so, yeah: three. I think I have some room under the pulley to mount things, so hopefully it won't be that difficult.

< foreshadowing intensifies >

 

[Ischgl99]

I saw the link to this company in another post here for gears. If you need to have the gears made at some point in the future, this might be an option for you.

Any Gear Made Quickly Inexpensively & Perfectly Al Meekins GearsMade.com. --Delrin gears Plastic gears Bevel gears Worm gears Spur gears Helical gears Phenolic gears Stainless steel gears Cast iron gears Machine gears Steel gears Metric gears Bronze

 

[Ischgl99]

Any updates on the Dave?

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Any updates on the Dave?

Not many, unfortunately; I've been kind of stalled out because I don't have a press to help with the pulley bearing...and I keep looking for a decent used one that's not made by Hobo Fright, but they're hard to come up with. I'm also torn between getting an arbor press and a basic hydraulic unit; I love arbor presses, but a basic shop press - especially an air-over with a small brake attachment - would honestly serve me better. Either way, I'm kind of waiting on that...and in the meantime I've been cleaning up my old, busted DiAcro. I also found a pretty decent old floor jack that I've been working on, and in the middle of all of that I completely rearranged the entire garage because it was just terrible, the way I had it set up. I also got started working on a workbench top, a seat bracket for my old, busted Toyota, and a few odds and ends for some other equipment...and, holy f***, I've been busy. Huh.