Setup and Continuing Saga of the Charter Oak 12Z

[wrmiller]

Bill congrats on making chips! Too bad about the Y way, any chance it came off the vice or something else? Bah it will make a nice oil reservoir happy milling!

I'm thinking it was a iron shaving in the Y-axis gibb area. It made a shallow gouge in the base way and made a black powder streak down the way. I stoned it out and yea you're right, it will make a nice little oil galley. I will pull the gibb strips for the x and y axis' tomorrow and squirt some brake cleaner or something in there to flush the area out.

 

[coolidge]

Bill have you considered running grease instead of way oil? I'm only asking because I had read that Haas and other manufactures had switched to grease for ways on some machines vs way oil, less required and you don't pollute the coolant with a layer of way oil. On my old RF45 mill I used way oil, just brushed it on with a brush, it made a marginal mess I guess. Just thinking out loud. Way wipers is a good idea, even if they are just stiff nylon brush type I seem to recall that's what my old ball nuts had to sweep chips off the ball screw to keep them out of the nut.

 

[maker of things]

Ok, enough of this...

View attachment 85450

CHIPS!!! (well actually, more like nasty little slivers). Happy?

Yes. But hopefully not as much as you. The boss is coming right along now. Your next mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break at least one of the way locks on the x axis. I took care of that awhile ago on mine despite my best efforts to the contrary. The x axis locks (on all bed mills that I have seen) are so susceptible to getting snapped off when they lock sticking up. The y locks won't get broken, but they are a little chincy IMO.

 

[maker of things]

Ah scew 'em Bill, who cares what they say. People rag on me for keeping my machines much cleaner than they do as they see in specific pics I post. So what if I like to keep my investments clean & not have a messy garage. Make chips when you're good & ready just as I don't have to show a filthy machine to prove that I do use them often.

Nice photos keep em' coming, chips not required.

I haven't wiped my 12z paint down yet, and it still looks cleaner than my pm1440 that has been doted on. Maybe black is the new clean?

 

[wrmiller]

Bill have you considered running grease instead of way oil? I'm only asking because I had read that Haas and other manufactures had switched to grease for ways on some machines vs way oil, less required and you don't pollute the coolant with a layer of way oil. On my old RF45 mill I used way oil, just brushed it on with a brush, it made a marginal mess I guess. Just thinking out loud. Way wipers is a good idea, even if they are just stiff nylon brush type I seem to recall that's what my old ball nuts had to sweep chips off the ball screw to keep them out of the nut.

Interesting you should mention that, because the mill comes with a decent grease on the ways and screws (there was little to no cleanup required on this thing). I wonder which is better though? I won't have any flood coolant to pollute as I'm probably going to get a FogBuster for my coolant/cutting fluid needs.

I still like the idea of CO's one-shot oiler. This is the first mill I've owned that has these little ball valves everywhere for the ways and screws. Probably where the one-shot installs. Kinda cool.

 

[wrmiller]

I haven't wiped my 12z paint down yet, and it still looks cleaner than my pm1440 that has been doted on. Maybe black is the new clean?

Yup! Black does look better. Especially when you wipe it down and it gets all shiny (shows fingerprints though). )

 

[John Hasler]

Somebody needs to bring out a paint that dries to a greasy-looking mottled gray with fingerprint-like striations.

 

[wrmiller]

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Yes. But hopefully not as much as you. The boss is coming right along now. Your next mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break at least one of the way locks on the x axis. I took care of that awhile ago on mine despite my best efforts to the contrary. The x axis locks (on all bed mills that I have seen) are so susceptible to getting snapped off when they lock sticking up. The y locks won't get broken, but they are a little chincy IMO.

It was kinda satisfying. But now I have to clean up so I can continue setup and install of the DRO, but it's not a very big mess. Did you have this gray/black stuff in your table slots when you got your mill? It looks like a grinding slurry to me. Had to get all that gunk out of there so the t-nuts would slide in.

I agree with the frailty of the locks. Had the one on the right (x axis) slip down and jam on the base as I was backing the table away from the column. Ooops! (didn't break though). And yea, the y axis locks are kinda cheesy looking/feeling. May have to do something about that. And then there's that thingie clamped on the quill: Big, ugly, and makes it difficult to see a cutter. I'm probably going to pull that contraption out and replace it with a digital scale and (much) smaller clamp on the quill. I do like modding my tools...
:morningcoffee:

 

[wrmiller]

More pics. Enjoy. )

Front controls


Under table shots



Head/column interface (huge!)



Lotsa Y-axis travel!



At this point the spindle is ~2" off the front of the table.


There's no way to convey the size of this 'bench mill'. The 5" Kurt is looking a little small. Those with PM 945/932s will understand as this is (I think) a very similar machine with slightly larger base and column.

 

[drs23]

Bill,

Are you going to install way covers on the Y? Also, is a power feed available on a machine for the Z where the head travels in lieu of a knee?