South Bend Milling Machine - squaring the head

I had a collet holder with mine, they were called double taper z collets, they are very hard to find now, I used to see new and used ones listed on ebay all the time, not so anymore. The original holder had a lot of runout so I replaced it with the er40 system. You can use any 30 taper holder, but you have to make the indents, and that typically eats at least one carbide mill per holder. I'll keep an eye out for the weldon system, thanks for that tip.

My machine came out of a highschool tech program, so other than the abuse to the table, it appears to be OK. I've had mine for about 5 years.

As far as cuts, it eats even harder metal well enough for me. I try to baby her though, spindle bearings are making noise under heavy cuts and feed.

OK, just another question, my motor is a general electric, frame 180y type kc, 6.5 amp at 230 volts, rated 1 hp by 1956 standards, your head looks a bit different in the picture you have. Mine is more a pancake design. Is yours original?

And thanks a heap for the help, if they is anything you need, or need verification I'll be glad to help

Rich
 
Something else that may or may not help, I check my tram with a 14" bearing plate I purchased off ebay. Luckily I got 2 of them, one of the was not flat thru out, the other was fine, it took me by surprise to see my table was not in alignment front to back when it had always been before. Make sure you are getting a true reading.

It can't hurt to move the head and see if the trueness of the head to table changes. They are awkward to pull off and put back on.

As heavy as the table is, I'd rather pull that than the head:p:cool:
 
This is a nice picture of that mill. Is that a split in the main body right abovethe vertical ways??? If so, that's another area where you might have ainterference, BUT the GOOD news is that would most probably make a great spot to shim things to resolve your problem!

Yes, and it has 2 index pins to allow for easy alignmentioned
 
I'm not savvy on the use of those index pins where the column casting meets the overarm casting. In the parts breakdown they look like they are used for assembly, then after the (4) socket head bolts are tightened they don't serve any other function, correct?

Rich, thanks for the suggestions, but I'm not following you on the purpose of the 14" bearing plate. Are you just mounting this to the table and taking a reading on that? I haven't heard of a bearing plate so I'm just not familiar with their use. Also, I do suspect that the head/motor assembly is original. I also suspect mine is an earlier or later model than yours, mostly because mine does not have the spindle brake, spindle lock, etc.
 
Jake, they are probably more correctly called register pins, correct they are only for alignment during assembly

The bearing plate is just a tool used to aide in tramming the table, instead of dragging a dti or Dia indicator across the slots in the table, I place a true bearing surface down and swing the dti over that. The 14" bearings gives me 7" of swing in all directions. I got 2 of them on ebay a couple years back for 35.00. I am not sure if they are a tool, or a mechnical part used as a tool. I have heard guys here calling them bearing plates, so that's what I call them.

Yea, part of the reason I was asking about the motor was to get an idea of the changes in our machines. My table is 42", yours appears to be the smaller. I did not realize you did not have a brake, I would imagine it would be easy enough to make one though.

I think ted nailed the solution for you though, I'm glad he chimed in, I would not have thought to place the shim at that seam.

I really enjoy my mill, lots of mass, enough power, and it holds true pretty well as long as I don't try to push it too hard. You will enjoy yours too I am sure
 
Another pieces of information I read about these machines, southbend did not make them, they contracted them out, many were made in England.

Often wondered how you could tell where your machine was made. Somewhere I found a list of southbend machines and my serial came up as a 1956 vintage machine... though I can't remember exactly where I got the source for that information...

Rich
 
Update:

I removed the head from the ram last evening and cleaned it thoroughly. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of debris. I used a nice flat 4" long Norton medium grit honing stone on the mating surfaces and worked on any (very small) high spots for a good 10 minutes. I cleaned the surfaces again, oiled them down with Vactra way oil and reassembled.

The result was positive, but still not enough. The misalignment has been reduced to 2 thousandths over 9 inches, down from 2.5 thousandths before I began. I think I'll repeat this honing step one more time since my hoisting arrangement for the head is still set up. I may have been a little conservative in my first effort, not wanting to go too far. If I can get the reading down to +/- 1 thousandth I'll be satisfied.

Has anyone else ever trammed their head and found this issue? Rich, how far off is yours? You said yours is not as bad as mine.

-Jake
 
I am ashamed to say i dont know exactly, i know the last time i trammed my head, about a month before you started this thread i carefully trammed and found the front to back in the area of about a thousand over 7", maybe a little less.

Along the same lines, my head will go out easily under heavy cutting, I will be curious to see if you have a similar issue.

Hth
Rich
 
I'm also paying attention to what you are doing to correct yours Jake, so please keep posting here as you find things out.

Rich
 
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