Another homemade milling machine

[shipto]

Today I started on machining the head but I had to cut a extra bit out of it to fit to the four jaw chuck, just goes to show no matter what you have its not enough my 4 jaw is 10" and when I got it off my uncle I thought it would be plenty for anything I would ever want to do in fact I think I am going to have to resort to the 14" faceplate to machine for the bearing in the top.
If I had tried without cutting the extra bit out the chuck would have been as shown in pic 2, not good but took a action shot of the first drill 25mm and finally the end result is a space where the bearing and a oil seal I ordered today will sit.
Tomorrow I am going to attempt the hard job of lining it all up to do the top bearing as i said probably on the faceplate.

[awemawson]

In my experience NOTHING is big enough for everything you need to do - it's just the way of home shop workshops 

This is particularly true of floor area and shelf space 

[shipto]

I managed to get the other side lined up, machined and get the bearing shells fitted however after I had put the last one in I remembered something. I should have made a way to get them out again if I ever need to 
Too late now however so fingers crossed it all goes to plan or the head will have to be remade unless anyone has any ideas?
Now for the bit I have been dreading the spindle.

[vintageandclassicrepairs]

Hi Shipto,
A run of weld around the inside of the bearing rings will shrink them when they cool
the rings then usually fall out
That or tack a strap across the old race and drift from the far end

John

[shipto]

excellent suggestions John now I think about it a disc tacked to it would do great.

[mexican jon]

I"m with John  on the run a bead of weld around the bearing shell and they just drop out 

[Houtenkrullen]

Another option would be variable pulleys ala Daf variomatic ? also used on most modern mopeds
you would need to be able to control the movement of the pulleys rather than the centrifugal(?) mechanism used on them

If you are interested to use the moving pulleys idea, I am overhauling an old flott drill press that uses just that. I could send you a parts diagram and some pictures if they would be of any use for inspiration?

I am following your thread in awe...
I am not brave enough to start a machine build from scratch, but you seem to be doing just fine

Peter

[shipto]

Another option would be variable pulleys ala Daf variomatic ? also used on most modern mopeds
you would need to be able to control the movement of the pulleys rather than the centrifugal(?) mechanism used on them

If you are interested to use the moving pulleys idea, I am overhauling an old flott drill press that uses just that. I could send you a parts diagram and some pictures if they would be of any use for inspiration?

I am following your thread in awe...
I am not brave enough to start a machine build from scratch, but you seem to be doing just fine

Peter

Thank you for the offer Peter but I have a inverter coming thanks to Mexican Jon and so the machine will at least in the first place will be directly driven.
As for building the machine I just kept bits for ages before starting then jumped in two footed, I have made mistakes even in the very little I have done so far wait till you see the latest one which I will take pics of tomorrow actually not tomorrow me and wife are going to see mrs browns boys so saturday its a real 

[shipto]

Well here in pic1 is the latest mistake It wasnt till I had welded the flang on, cleaned it up and centered each side that I set it up and did a cut along the length and I noticed it had been cut half way through  cant even remember what I started to cut it for.

Well went back to my bits of steel and started again and pic 2 is the result. I am very pleased with it this is the first time I have cut a thread and made nuts to suit which is where I was at the end of today and apart from my parting tool of sorts breaking part way through meaning I had to finish it on the donkey saw even this went reasonably well.
I still have to clean up the nut and cut the lock nut off the bar which is the job for tomorrow.

[hermetic]

 Nice work Shipto!

[shipto]

So today I finished the nuts and gave the head a lick of paint, I chose black because, well its was either that or white no expence spent 

[shipto]

fitted the shaft and I am really chuffed with it rotated image so it in the right orientation just need to make a housing for the top seal but its got to have a channel for the grease nipple.

[shipto]

Seal housing is made and fitted and head is fitted to slide. Drilled the housing at a slight angle so the grease is delivered just under the lip of the seal.

[krv3000]

shaping up nice

[PekkaNF]

Very interesting project. I'm cheking this one out every day!

I see you go exremes....but did you have to mount the lathe on the wall!

Pekka

[shipto]

  have you never heard of the Harrison 14 wall mount lathe? 
Actually I need to lock the head up to get it turned upright at the moment I am still trying to decide how to keep the head in the top position the options I have concidered so far are springs in various configurations, gas struts or probably my favourite right now counter balance system where some weight is connected over some pulleys to hang down at the back of the upright.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[PekkaNF]

Nope. First time ever. I swear.

About the counterbalance....that must work:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/elliott%20mini%20jig/index.html

Pekka

[shipto]

Nope. First time ever. I swear.

About the counterbalance....that must work:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/elliott%20mini%20jig/index.html

Pekka

Yes that one they have the weights inside the upright which is a good idea but may not be possible in mine due to the supports I have welded inside but maybe if I put a couple of tubes down the sides the weights could travel inside them  still have to decide if I should fill the body with concrete yet however. The main upright is quite a substantial bit of box section with 5mm walls but it may still have some flex.
Actually another idea comes to mind I could just put a guard on the back to cover the weights and leave the inside clear.

[kayzed1]

You could put the tubes down for the weights and then infill around them.

[PekkaNF]

.. still have to decide if I should fill the body with concrete yet however. The main upright is quite a substantial bit of box section with 5mm walls but it may still have some flex.

Concrete sucks inside the steel shell...concrete shrinks and when it shrinks it delaminates from the skin fron that on it's just dead weight. If you consider that: read the Bamberg's paper.

It's all very good reading, but this is best short story I could find of it from interweb:
http://www.mech.utah.edu/~bamberg/research/ConcreteCastDamper/concreteCastDamper.html

Actually another idea comes to mind I could just put a guard on the back to cover the weights and leave the inside clear.

Best of all. You can can go trough iterations and finalize the weight.

Pekka

[shipto]

If thats the case I guess I am going to have to hope it doesnt need anything, that viscoelastic stuff looks complicated and probably expensive.
I wish I had put more diagonal supports in before I welded the bottom on now but I guess I am not going to know for sure until its up and running and making swarf.

[DaveS]

It's looking good Shipto
Counterbalance weights are a well tried and tested method and can be fine tuned but I would suggest using bicycle chain and not Brass machine's latest (and good looking chain mail) 

Dave

[PK]

Sorry if I'm restating something, I've come to this thread late (It must be outside this 'box' thing they keep telling me about)
Here's my take on a torsionally rigid mill column.
http://caswa.com/cncathome/X3.html
Scroll down about 2/3rds

I like the idea of filling with concrete. Adding mass is one of the simplest things you can do to a small machine to improve it.......

PK

[shipto]

I like the idea of filling with concrete. Adding mass is one of the simplest things you can do to a small machine to improve it.......

PK

I do too but Pekka disagrees and I see his point about shrinkage. However upon doing some extra reading it seems that most of the shrinkage comes from adding more water than is needed to make the concrete move better it seems that if the added water is calculated correctly then little shrinkage occurs but the mix is extremely thick. Will have to look into it a bit more.

[vintageandclassicrepairs]

Hi Shipto,
Research "epoxy" concrete as a filler,
There was a long discussion on it on the CNC forum some years ago

John