So I had the misfortune of watching my beloved half-pint knee Mill totter and then fall on the sidewalk to come t rest on the left side of the table. I "THINK" the handle absorbed a significant amount of the fall by folding nearly flush with the wheel. At the time, the mill was not opp operating due to disassembly of the stock starter and direction switch in my bid to remount all controls at the top in a box similar to the newer grizzly 6x26 model for convenience and to add a tach and eventual VFD control. Thusly It was a couple of months until I got around to rewiring the starter switch. At first it made a horrible sound that made me fear the worst. However, after a little common sense kicked in, I found it was the top of the lead screw rubbing on the underside of the belt cover. No problem and now I have a good reference point to start working on the pneumatic lead-screw project.
Unfortunately, 2 problems emerged as I started setting up to mill down a piece of mild steel for a lathe project (another repair).
1st and most boggling, I tried doing a rough tram using a dial setup removed from its mag base. I dont have a precision ring, but I wasn't doing precision work so I figured Id just get it within a thou over 12" and go from there. Problem is, regardless of how many times i cut the difference in half on either side of the table, i could never get them to even come close to agreeing.
So as I have my dial in contact with the VERY clean and stoned table, I'm traveling the table towards the machines left and the indicator starts climbing and climbing, to where I ended up with a nearly 6 thou deference between the right side of the table and the left. Could the impact have done that to such a thick piece?
Anyways, I was a bit desperate to at least get my lathe running again, so I shimmed up the damn vise under the right side of the table to where I got a decent consistent indication across the x axis (nod was fine and remained <0.0005 across the entire 6" of Y travel) .
Was cruising along on a 1/4 Carbide roughing mill but it was taking a long time (really need to figure out mounting that darn power-feed), so I jump up to a 1/2 inch HSS end mill and go to town.
The machine is hating it and starts chattering and scorching the work.
I had hogged out serious depths before with this same setup (minus the shim) so am now worried that the bearings (which are not the best I hear in the first place) may be damaged.
I ran the same indicator (cheap 1 thou indicator) rod with the dial attached to it and snugged it up in a collet. With my thumb i heavily pushing about an inch down from the collet, I'm reading up to 2 thou deflection but when i check run-out on a nice quality rod, im still at < tenths.
Thoughts?
Bearings bad ? If so, does anyone know a person who had replaced them? Can you point me in their direction? HF is useless regarding this. They are not answering emails or phone calls.
As for the bed, I had disengaged the left lead-screw collar to check the origen of the bed rising to no effect. Bent lead-screw maybe? I plan on disassembling the bed but looking for clues on what t look for from the collective wisdom of this board.
Lastly, if all you have to add is suggestions for other machines or how yours is soo great and HF buyers are so misled, please keep it to yourself. I like this machine and it had served my amateur needs well. I just want to get her back into good shape.
Here is the skimpy manual. I had thought of using parts from a grizzly 6x26 but as most of us already know, just because these 6x26s look similar, doesn't always mean they are same specs.
https://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/40000-40999/40939.pdf