What have I got?

kcoffield

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I’ve had this Index for almost two years. It’s in good shape for its age and especially what I have in it, but great machine for my home shop and what I do with it there. I just finished a lathe restoration and want to turn my attention to the mill. It was in a corporate maintenance shop for most of its life and a small engine shop for the last 20 years. Here it is as I went to retrieve it.

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Had an B&L DRO and scales……..oldies but goodies.

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Central Oiling system doesn’t look like it’s seen oil for while.

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Quill feed and stop will need some attention.

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Power feed in both axis. Ever seen this feed system?

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Here it is in my shop.

7.JPG

Best,
Kelly
 
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It's a beauty- don't know the model. No nameplate on it?
Looks like the head nods-? if so that's a great feature.
I want one :)
-Mark
 
It's a beauty- don't know the model. No nameplate on it?
No name plate. An acquaintance told me it looked like a model 747 but with the earlier Super 55 feed setup
Looks like the head nods-? if so that's a great feature.
Yes, nods but does not extend. 2HP, 3ph, 9x46 table with ~32" and 12" of table travel, 16" of travel up the knee, and 5" of quill stoke. 75-2850 rpm & .015", 003", 006" IPR of quill feed.
I want one :)
They're out there.

Best,
Kelly
 
So it takes R8 collets?
 
The table feed is just like my Index 645. I just have x-axis feed though.

Looks like you’re missing this handle:
image.jpg
 
So it takes R8 collets?

Yes. The key/pin is still in tact and they seem to seat nicely and release easily with a tap on top of the draw bar.

The table feed is just like my Index 645. I just have x-axis feed though.

I think I've used the other axis feed once.......it was pretty handy for that set up but I don't think I'd miss it.

Looks like you’re missing this handle:

Yah, it has a few minor issues but other than the quill feed they're all easy fixes which I'll attend to in time, except the handle on the quill clamp is missing and the shaft is garfed up because the PO had a pair of vise grips clamped on it......I'll need to fix it or make another one because that is annoying.

No identifying marks on the machine of any kind except the Index name cast into the machine pedestal. Looks like the PO welded on a mounting plate for the DRO arm where the name plate usually resides.

I went to the Wells Index website and looked at the available manuals. I downloaded the manuals for the for Model 745 and the single manual that covered the 555, 645, and 660 because they seemed to bear the most similarity to my machine. They had similar power feed system but all illustrations showed heads with turret and dovetail arms.

However, the second seems to describe the 555 as essentially being a 645 minus the turret and dovetail ram/arm and the head is just mounted to the machine body/pedestal…….which seems to fit my machine. But, the position of the spindle feed/speed controls and the fact it has back gears match the 745 manual, not 645, but my machine features is not totally consistent with either manual. Could just be the manuals are not 100% accurate......dunno.

I poked around Vintage Machinery Forum but not much there, except the registered machines seemed to make the production era for 555 a good candidate based on what the PO told me of the machine’s age and history…..later than a Super 55 but seemed to be too earlier than a 745. Practical Machinist also has some threads on Wells Index machines I may take in.

Anyway, the downloaded manuals are OK. Not great, but better than nothing. For some things there is great detail but for other obvious topics, like the positions of the paddles for drive ratios on the power feed system are completely absent.

The only thing I really wanted was an illustrated parts reference for the quill feed, controls, and kick-out/stop mechanism. The section drawings in the manual must have been E-size Mylar of Velum because they have a huge amount of detail on a single sheet, but I think I can clip the areas of interest and enlarge them enough to read.

I could probably manage without, I usually do, and did find one thread here on an earlier model, but if any of you have done repairs to the quill feed of an Index machine near this model and have any tips as far as order of assembly/reassembly, and finessing parts, that can usually save a lot of time so that would be much appreciated.

Best,
Kelly
 
For some things there is great detail but for other obvious topics, like the positions of the paddles for drive ratios on the power feed system are completely absent.

Here you go:
image.jpg
My guess is that you’ve got a 745 head mounted on a 555 machine. I think they would be a direct swap via the nod worm gear housing.
 
Thanks for that TJ. That's the Rosetta stone for power feed.
My guess is that you’ve got a 745 head mounted on a 555 machine. I think they would be a direct swap via the nod worm gear housing
I was wondering if that might be the case. I think I read in the manual the 555 had three clamping bolts whereas the 645 (and presumably 745) had four, and this machine has three but has more contemporary features on the head. The swap isn't obvious in patina but could have been done a long time ago and also have been repainted. Ya never know with a used machine of this age. I only gave $500 for it and had to drive 90 minutes each direction to get it, but it had power feeds, DRO, decent travel, and after using it on my first visit to see it, it cut better and seemed so much tighter and rigid than all the worn out BP Series 1s I'd seen for 2x or 3x that price. Everything worked except the quill feed and I figured that was fixable. We'll see. Thanks for your help.

Best,
Kelly
 
Heck of a machine for $500. Sweet deal.
Looks to be in very decent shape.
 
Had a bit of good luck today. I was reading through this thread.....and what a great thread it is.....


and when I was looking over the pictures of the quill feed assembly, the linkage for the auto-stop/kickout got me thinking about the few times I had tried to engage the quill feed. So I went out to the shop and upon further inspection, there was a lot of thick gummy grease in the linkage from the stop to the engagement lever. After a little fiddling around, I got the feed to work. So then I did some minor disassembly, removing fouled grease, relubricating and reassembly, and all three quill feed speeds work in down feed as well as the stop.

How bout that? I never get that lucky! I had just taken the previous owner's word that it didn't work, but turns out the gummed up linkage was just preventing the quill feed engagement lever fully engaging and latching. I ran out of time today but the only thing I couldn't get operational in the quill feed system was the upward power feed. The knob in the center of the hand wheel wouldn't budge and I didn't want to lean on it too hard. Is there some combination of the quill feed controls that makes that possible? I jogged the cone pulley a bit while I was fussing with it but still couldn't get it to budge.

Best,
Kelly
 
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