I just took delivery of my Millrite, and have a few questions if I may.
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It appears that I am missing some parts necessary to kick out the X power feed. Can someone enlighten me on what I need to do/get/make?
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Also, I cannot find any way to lock down the table. I see a table gib lock on the schematic but not on the machine. Is this another part I am missing?
In the center of the picture below is a lubrication zirk. I am assuming that this is the point of lubrication for the knee pinon gear? When I raise and lower the knee I can kind of hear the gear teeth engaging like I would expect it to sound if they were without lube. Is this normal ?
I shot some Vactra2 in there with a lot of difficulty.
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How does one go about sliding the Turret? Should that be easily moveable by hand?
Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. Now to get it wired up.
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan,
I have a Millrite, my second one, but it does not have the factory X power feed. You are missing the "finger" block that points upward between the two bolt holes and is mounted to them. You can see the shadow of where it was once mounted in your photo. The two blocks that clamp to the round rod in front of the table are the stops that are adjusted left and right for where you want to trip the feed off. They bump against the finger. The smaller center hole does not seem to have a use, at least that I know of. The finger bracket covers that hole.
The X axis lock screws in vertically from the bottom into the saddle on the left side near the Y axis stop. The original handle was similar to the Y lock. It appears to be missing.
The good news is that both missing parts are easily made. You could also probably find something already made for the lock if you look in the Enco, MSC, Travers, or other bigger tool dealer catalogs. I will post photos of the finger installation and Y stop for you here -- after I finish my breakfast... 8^)
D. C. Morrison still sells some parts for these machines: dcmorrison.com
You will probably not find much useful on their web site beyond the phone number. You will need to call them for help.
The sliding ram (the turret revolves) can get stuck pretty hard. That is common from lack of movement and lubrication. Loosen all four bolts completely. Squirt some penetrating oil everywhere it can get into the dovetails, let it sit a while, and whack the end of the ram with the end of a 4x4 wooden post or similar. Bump the head to push it the other way. Rinse and repeat multiple times as needed. Be patient. Don't use a metal hammer and don't get carried away. You can damage and break castings easier than you think. Eventually you will see some movement, and then you are winning the war. Keep at it, give time for the penetrant to work. Clean up and lube the slide ways that you can get to as they are exposed. When you finally can slide the ram easily with one arm, clean everything up as best you can and then work some way oil into the ways. If you remember to slide the ram a couple times a year and oil the ways you will never have that problem again. Both of my Millrites came to me with stuck rams...
The knee gears are OILED using a Zerk fitting on the left side of the knee, below the saddle. DO NOT GREASE any of the Zerks on the machine except possibly the ones by the X axis dials (depending on which manual you read...) (Edit: Yes, Vactra #2 is the right stuff and that is the correct lube fitting. I missed part of your post initially) You are safe using way oil in all the Zerks on the machine. There is a separate way to lube the spindle, that I won't go into here.
You would be smart to join the BurkeMills Yahoo group:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/burkemills/info
There is lots of friendly help there and tons of photos. There are manuals, breakdowns, and old brochures of the machines in the files area. Please feel free to PM me if you want more help.
Nice machine, by the way...
