Renovating the Ajax mill

[dawesy]

So following on from my other thread I've decided to do a project log on the Ajax mill I purchased recently.
This is a pic from the advert

As you can see its a horizontal mill with a slotting attachment. It was won for the princely sum of £127.
On collection I found that all the pulley system from the rear was missing but other than that and a poor paint job it looked ok.
Once home it's been stripped down and all the ways and leadscrews look to be in good condition.
So onto the paint. It had the thickest coat of red oxide I've ever seen. It's about 1.5mm thick in places. Chunks are missing in others.

Normally I use a wire zip wheel on my angle grinder to remove paint ( horrible things but do the job). Not on this though. It wouldn't touch it. So plan b


The needle scaler made short work of it. A quick blast over with the wire zip wheel and it's ready for priming and painting

A couple of hours has seen all the parts cleaned up.
I've decided to paint it the same green as the lathe as I have plenty of paint left over.
The bigger plan is to manufacture the parts to get it working as a horizontal mill again but for now just up and running will do.
Ajax seem to think its the AJ9 model but are yet to confirm.
More updates to come.
Thanks for looking

[Swarfing]

Nice one Lee will be good to see this one resurrected from the hybrid dead

[awemawson]

  Looks like you're making good progress - I'll enjoy following your thread.

[mattinker]

Looking forward to this!

Regards, Matthew

[John Rudd]

Looks like you're making good progress - I'll enjoy following your thread.

I have an AJ7/8 model that needs refurbishing....this might be the push I need to get it done 

[Manxmodder]

Hi Lee, I am in the process of stripping the castings of an Alba 1A shaping machine that I recently acquired.

The Alba castings also bear a filler coat that is of similar thickness to the red oxide on your Azax (mm thick in places). The main difference being that Alba filler coat is white and appears to be a linseed oil based whiting compound to fill out casting flaws and imperfections prior to the final painting coat,whereas the filler compound used on your machine is likely to be red lead oxide(wear a mask when abrading or chipping it off).

I will use car body polyester filler to fill and smooth out flaws and imperfections on the castings prior to priming and 2 pack top coat.

Look forward to seeing more on your restoration project....OZ.

[dawesy]

Cheers guys.
Thanks oz. Yeah I kept a mask on while stripping it.
I was worried the castings might be rough but they really aren't bad.
Stay tuned

[75Plus]

Oz, depending on the age of your Alba that white filler may also be lead oxide. White lead oxide and linseed oil was a common coating 30 or so years ago. Be cautious.

Joe

[Manxmodder]

Thanks for your concern Joe,I am aware that it likely is white lead and have been protecting my bellows accordingly

[dawesy]

Small update.
Got most of the mill painted and staring to assemble it again. Hit a small issue though.
Now I don't know an awful lot about milling machine construction but there seems to be something amiss with the knee mechanism.
The knee lead-screw is driven by a crown wheel an pinion arrangement but there is a second mechanism that operates a gear that pushes the top support bearing down.
All good so far apart from the fact that this support bearing isn't really taking any weight. The whole load is on the pinion drive shaft. Here's some pic to explain.

That's the top support and its drive.

and that's a shot from underneath.
Now this was how it was when I got it but it's obviously not right. I had a thought about machining up a spacer with a thrust bearing incorporated which would work but interested if anyone else has any ideas

[BillTodd]

It looks to me like the bearing has been forced up away from where it should be : ATM the shaft does not appear to be in the bearing at all.

I think the bearing (ringed) should be down against the crown wheel.  maybe something should push it down from above ?

[edit]

Oh hang on. What /why is the bearing part driven by a gear (rack & pinion?)

Does it have a rapid lift action for drilling ?

In which case the problem may be that the shaft has to go up into the bearing block (so look at its bottom end to see if it has been push through something that should be taking the thrust)

[dawesy]

I thought it may be a rapid lift mechanism but with it down the rack and pinion part don't engage so there is still no load bearing on it. The only way I can see that it may work is with the crown wheel the other way up so it sits on the top of the pinion but then I can't see how the rapid lift would work du to the pinion being in the way

[BillTodd]

The more i look at it, the more i think the shaft is not all the way up,where it should be.


I think you need to strip it out and inspect it for witness marks.

Bill

[dawesy]

The crown wheel is butt up to the step in the leadscrew. It won't go any further down
Going to turn it over tomorrow and see how it fits that way round

[dawesy]

Ok so I've flipped the crown wheel and low and behold it now sits fully in the support. It looks however as if there used to be a brass bushing on the bottom of the support as the crown where no longer engages with the pinion. I've ordered a thrust bearing and I'll get that installed which should work fine.
I can only think the original wore away so someone flipped the crown wheel so the knee could be raised and lowered
Here's a quick pic of where I am at the mo.

Still a bit to do but it's getting there.

[John Rudd]

Hey....that's looking really good!.....You certainly have put some effort in there 

Just slightly off topic, my AJ7/8 is currently stripped for rebuild....I've found the table lead screw to be a different thread to that of the Y lead screw....

I think that at sometime, it was replaced or a new screw made. It appears to be a BSW thread.....

[dawesy]

Mmm. I'll have to have a look at mine.
Yeah thanks. Tbh it's not taken too long. Wear on the ways seems very light which is good. Have noticed though that the micrometer Fuad from the table feed is missing so I'll have to make one of those. Unless someone has put it on the knee or the cross slide
Got a few assembly chips to touch up too