My first milling machine, Atlas MFB. Getting ready to restore, although maybe it doesn't need it?

[kilohertz]

Well I got the arbor / drawbar out, used a little piece of exhaust pipe that JUST fit over the arbor driver pins and landed on the collar, used a couple of washers and one of the arbor spacers and the arbor nut and engaged the back gear and held the pulley with my hand and cranked a half turn or so then popped the drawbar with a brass hammer and she popped right off.

I have dismantled the table and removed the knee and think I found the source of grumbliness, the helix gears which translate the handwheel to the vertical shaft, are a little rough, one has a some small steel bits ground into the teeth so I'm going to use a fine tip polishing stone on the Dremel to try to remove them. The axial gears, the shaft within a shaft are nice and clean, greased them and reassembled.

I still need to find a way to get the arbor driver off, maybe it would be best to wait until I get the spindle out??

Any ideas on best way to remove the arbor driver?

Thanks again for the help.

Cheers

 

[kilohertz]

Lots more updates.

I got the spindle out, races look well abused, I'm going to replace both bearings...the left inner seal was missing which explains all the oil in the bottom of the machine. I need to find a replacement seal, internet search he we come. Also, the bull gear set screw was missing which explains why the gear was wondering around and coming out of lock, chased the threads and it seems to be 1/4-20. All the little details will work out as I proceed.

Cheers

 

[wa5cab]

First, there are no seals on any Timken bearing on any Atlas built machine. There should be a dust cover pressed into the headstock casting on each side of each tapered roller bearing. The insides of every Atlas headstock should have a liberal coating of SAE 20 or ISO 68 slung onto it. Plus the gear teeth should show evidence of having a coating of high temperature grease.

The arbor driver is probably thoroughly stuck. You can try two leather strap wrenches but I would be surprised if that broke it loose. Whatever you do, DON'T touch the spindle itself with any steel tool. I would suggest making a split clamp of two pieces of 3/4" thick aluminum flat bar. It should fit where the rear smaller cone normally resides. Grab that, with the spindle installed, in a large bench vise. Make another tool that fits the two drive pins on the arbor driver. The other end if this tool should preferably fit either a large 6-point socket or have a square hole to directly fit the output of a large air impact gun. Dry ice on the spindle and heat on the arbor driver will also help.

 

[kilohertz]

Another update...I managed to get the arbor driver off with very little effort. I put the spindle in the chuck of my lathe, grabbing it where the bull gear would sit, ran it at low speed with a propane torch flame warming the driver collar, stopped it and tapped it with a round punch in the hole meant for that and it popped free, easy peasy (and lucky).

I decided to reuse the Timken bearings after cleaning them and I have installed the spindle and set the bearings, it runs really smooth now and is much quieter, no rumble or grumble anymore. I also found that the bronze oilite bushings on the cone pulley on the spindle are worn and there is some play on the shaft. I will deal that later, hopefully new bushings are still available.

Planning on reassembling the rest of it today, shouldn't be too difficult. I found a suitable replacement for the missing inner shield, it worked perfectly..

Thanks again for the guidance.

Cheers

 

[wa5cab]

... also found that the bronze oilite bushings on the cone pulley on the spindle are worn and there is some play on the shaft. I will deal that later, hopefully new bushings are still available.

If you found the sintered bronze bushings in the cone pulley were worn, then most likely those in a similar location on the countershaft probably are as well. And should also be replaced. They are a little smaller than the ones on the spindle but subjected to the same loads. If I recall correctly, only a few years ago, Clausing Industrial still had some of the bushings in stock but not all of them. The spindle bushings are the same as on the 6" lathes and we don't have the drawings. So probably those are the ones that they still had.