Milling Rite

[Dave Bonzo]

Well... this is fun.

Pictured: Yet again, it's exactly not fun.




There was so much garbage on this spacer that the camera had trouble focusing on it...and I just kind of went with that, because it seemed appropriate. After I started cleaning it up, I figured out what it is:

Pictured: It's...this.




I'm going to go ahead and call that the top plate on a thrust bearing assembly...and that would make sense, because the other two pieces of it are still attached to the elevator screw. Also, I thought that raised lip on the inside was just that: an intentionally-machined, raised lip, covered in grease...but it turned it to be just grease. And it's not the good kind of grease that offers lots of lubricity and possibly features Olivia Newton-John. Rather, it's the bad kind of grease: solidified and abrasive, offering zero slickness and likely doing more harm than good simply by existing...so, more like John Travolta.

Pictured: A visual diagram of Scientologist logic.




I shouldn't pick on him; he was great in Welcome Back, Kotter. But, I'm in a bad mood because I now have to go find something like a pipe cleaner in order to start getting all of the overplayed late-70's musical out of the oil passages in the knee. Speaking of: said knee is currently hanging out in a bathtub in the driveway, which is not nearly as fun as it sounds like it should be, and also definitely not where I was planning on placing it...but there's so much grime and grease and murder-confetti inside it that I can't easily clean it in the garage.

Pictured: "Your dreams were your ticket out..."




So yeah, that's where we are; hopefully I'll have it mostly hatred-free here in a bit...which means that I then get to do the exact same thing with the table. Yay Saturday!

 

[Dave Bonzo]

I made some progress yesterday...and although it was mostly based around getting seventeen pounds of shavings out of the inside, I also decided to take the saddle leadscrew apart and clean it up. Something about how it feels when it moves is a bit... hesitant. Or perhaps it feels reluctant, or restricted, or just kind of gritty...but regardless, it doesn't feel right.

Pictured: Foreshadowing.




It seems like every time I look at this mill and think "I wonder if the _____ is okay..." I end up taking something else apart in order to confirm or deny my suspicions...and lemme tell ya: suspicion is constantly increasing.

Pictured: It's currently above 9000.



Anybody remember my good buddy Chimpo? As it turns out, he was into this leadscrew along with everything else. I think he felt like it needed a bit of extra detailing or decoration underneath the mounting plate.

Pictured: "Well there's your problem..."




Yeah... that's not gonna get fixed anytime soon. Thankfully, I don't think it has to be fixed: the abused portion rides under the mounting plate and it's basically confined to that portion of the shaft. There's a thrust bearing both ahead of and behind it...so the loading of the screw is still being handled; the issue is that the screw can now move laterally a bit as the handwheel is being turned. I think the grittiness I was feeling was garbage trapped underneath this area, scoring that shaft...and there was so much of it, I didn't feel any play in the screw shaft itself when I was moving it. And that makes sense: it had basically lapped itself into place, and then the grease hardened and cushioned the area it had cut. I got everything reassembled and I put just enough preload on the thrust bearings to hold the screw mostly-steady, but not enough to prevent easy rotation...so it works fine for now. And it cleaned up rather well, in the end.

Pictured: Along with some other stuff.




The knee elevator shaft cleaned up pretty well, but I did have to get a bit aggressive with the green pad in order to get the disgustingness fully removed; likewise, the knee gib isn't too bad. I ran some pipe cleaners through all the oil passages and pushed a LOT of old grease out, so that was a smart move. I got the knee mostly cleaned, too, so I can actually put a couple of parts back together if I want...but I think I'm going to look for some dowel and taper pins before I tackle that.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Well... this is fun.

Pictured: Yet again, it's exactly not fun.

View attachment 490418


There was so much garbage on this spacer that the camera had trouble focusing on it...and I just kind of went with that, because it seemed appropriate. After I started cleaning it up, I figured out what it is:

Pictured: It's...this.

View attachment 490419


I'm going to go ahead and call that the top plate on a thrust bearing assembly...and that would make sense, because the other two pieces of it are still attached to the elevator screw. Also, I thought that raised lip on the inside was just that: an intentionally-machined, raised lip, covered in grease...but it turned it to be just grease. And it's not the good kind of grease that offers lots of lubricity and possibly features Olivia Newton-John. Rather, it's the bad kind of grease: solidified and abrasive, offering zero slickness and likely doing more harm than good simply by existing...so, more like John Travolta.

Pictured: A visual diagram of Scientologist logic.

View attachment 490423


I shouldn't pick on him; he was great in Welcome Back, Kotter. But, I'm in a bad mood because I now have to go find something like a pipe cleaner in order to start getting all of the overplayed late-70's musical out of the oil passages in the knee. Speaking of: said knee is currently hanging out in a bathtub in the driveway, which is not nearly as fun as it sounds like it should be, and also definitely not where I was planning on placing it...but there's so much grime and grease and murder-confetti inside it that I can't easily clean it in the garage.

Pictured: "Your dreams were your ticket out..."

View attachment 490424


So yeah, that's where we are; hopefully I'll have it mostly hatred-free here in a bit...which means that I then get to do the exact same thing with the table. Yay Saturday!

You did nothing worng, John Revolting is always fair game.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Pictured: One of these things is not like the other.




Yep, I have two different sets of gib screws...and I'm honestly not sure which - if either - is the factory model. I'm inclined to think it's the one on the right, though; that seems to fit the gib recesses much better than left-hand option. I'm also short by one; no idea where it went. Guess I need to get some lathe tooling and fix this issue.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Two discoveries, today...

1. Lathe tooling is complicated.
2. The gib lock screws are bent.

Pictured: I...I honestly don't know how this happens.




It ain't much, but it's there; you can see it most clearly at the very end. They're both like this, but they'll work for now; once I get a toolpost and some other things figured out, I can try to make new ones.

 

[woodchucker]

Two discoveries, today...

1. Lathe tooling is complicated.
2. The gib lock screws are bent.

Pictured: I...I honestly don't know how this happens.

View attachment 490599


It ain't much, but it's there; you can see it most clearly at the very end. They're both like this, but they'll work for now; once I get a toolpost and some other things figured out, I can try to make new ones.

Looks like they may have been over tightened, the gib is probably at 60 degrees and the force maybe not in a dimple, so it forces the tip off center.