Willis mill

mattthemuppet2 said:
That’sa stout looking mill! To get the knee covers off you’ll need to remove the table and the saddle. I just did the same today and forgot to replace the covers before putting the saddle on. Took a break and had a coffee :)

What vfd did you go with? I’m hoping to get a new mill this summer that has a 5hp 3ph motor
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I was able to get the covers fairly straight with some well placed dead blow hammer strikes. I may pull the saddle one day to straighten them better.

I went with a Lapond 5 hp VFD. It has good reviews. The motor is 3 hp but I wanted a safety cushion to be safe and not risk overloading the VFD. I added the 3yr protection plan also just in case.
 
Willis still imports machines so they should be some help. The machines I've seen have been from Taiwan but I know they have a Colchester clone lathe so older machines might be sourced elsewhere. I'd check with them as Whitworth is weird unless the machine is from India or made for the British market back in the 1960's and the mill looks newer than that. Dave
 
Pulled out the 6” riser today. Ran the ram and table all the way out and stacked cribbing on the ways to use the knee to lift and lower the head. I don’t have the shorter bolts to attach the turret to the column so I drilled out some 3/4” DOM tubing to make 6” long sleeves.

The original plastic screens on the sides of the head were broken. I cut pieces from a mesh file folder organizer and added some rubber edging along the cut side.
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After I ordered the VFD to get 3 phase power to the mill, I began looking for a suitable enclosure to protect it. It dawned on me that I had an ammo can that might work. After cutting holes in both ends and adding some mesh for airflow, I have a military grade electrical enclosure. I will add some filter material over the ends to keep dirt and shavings out and it will get mounted to either the back of the mill or the wall behind it.
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I got the mill running yesterday. The switch needs wired to the VFD and I’m still adjusting the settings.
 
The wiring is done and the mill is operational. The head is noisy at certain RPMs because the plastic bushing is worn in the motor pulley. I’m going to pull the spring and pulley and see if it’s just the bushing or if the pulley keyway is worn too.

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Pulled the motor off today and found that the lower plastic bushing in the pulley is half missing and the brass key is shot. I turned a mandrel .002” larger diameter than the motor shaft, epoxied new bushings into the pulley, slid it over the mandrel and indicated the pulley straight. The screw and nut under the pulley are holding it straight while the epoxy cures.
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A spring clamp helps hold the spindle pulley apart to make it easier to fish the belt off of the motor pulley.
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I also replaced the way covers because the ones on it were full of holes.

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According to the manual, the key is bronze. The key I removed was definitely brass so it may have been a design change since my mill was built in 2007. I set up the milling attachment on the lathe and made a new bronze key. Put it all back together and the mill is much quieter now. IMG_2315.jpeg
I set up my toolboxes on a table in front of the mill. IMG_2316.jpeg
 
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