Separtaing column from base on #12

P

Pauldarby1

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I'm having difficulty separating the column from the base. I've removed the large cap head bolts from inside the base. I can see the join line around some of the column. I have tried lifting with the aid of a small engine crane a couple of inches and tapping with a soft hammer. Nothing is moving. It appears, having removed all the paint from the join area that part of the join line has been welded over and ground back smooth. There doesn't appear to be any repair. I was considering lightly grinding to see if it exposes the join. Does anyone have any other recommendations?


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Van Norman # 12 Mill I am assuming?

I would double check for one more bolt, internal electrical conduit and many of the older machine builders used a gasket like glue called Permatex 2 and it would fill gaps and stick parts together. After you are assured you didn't miss any bolts, you may want to use a cold chisel and put pressure on the lift and slide the chisel in between the 1/2's and give it a good hit with a 5 pound hammer. Not a soft blow hammer. You can also take a long 1/2" milling machine clamp bolt with a T-Nut on the bottom end and a long hex nut extension and make a screw jack and place it under the bottom of the vertical ways in front and tighten it to help break the seal.
If you do not have a book, look online and I found several you can look at. Rich
 
Richard King said:
Van Norman # 12 Mill I am assuming?

I would double check for one more bolt, internal electrical conduit and many of the older machine builders used a gasket like glue called Permatex 2 and it would fill gaps and stick parts together. After you are assured you didn't miss any bolts, you may want to use a cold chisel and put pressure on the lift and slide the chisel in between the 1/2's and give it a good hit with a 5 pound hammer. Not a soft blow hammer. You can also take a long 1/2" milling machine clamp bolt with a T-Nut on the bottom end and a long hex nut extension and make a screw jack and place it under the bottom of the vertical ways in front and tighten it to help break the seal.
If you do not have a book, look online and I found several you can look at. Rich
Click to expand...

Permatex is a very strong bonding agent. My Dad used to use it when working on the old car.
 
There should have been 8 cap screws holding the two halves together. There are also 2 dowel pins, so once you start to separate it you need to be careful not the get the halves crooked and bind the dowels.

I think that it's unlikely that the halves were welded together. The one that I had apart, parted without much drama. Yours may be rusted together, particularly if it was a model that had a coolant pump.

If Richard's suggestion doesn't work, you might try setting up a bottle jack or Porta-Power ram in the base, working against a chunk of 4x6 up in the column, where it necks down.

Nelson tried jumping on his base and wound up snapping of one of the dowels when it separated, so stay away from that. If you're going to use impacts to the base to try to break the base loose while the column is suspended in the air, put the bolts back, making sure that they are backed off several turns each so that the base can move but not too far. Once it starts to separate, use nail bars to work the halves apart without binding up the dowel pins.

Cal
 
Well I've separated the column from the base. The heavy hammer with a block of wood did the trick. I replaced 4 of the 8 cap head bolts and backed them off 3 full turns each. Then a further 3 full turns and so on, until the dowel pins were free. So thanks very much for your advice.

I'm thinking of mounting the base on an 8" high plinth to improve the working height.

Paul
 
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