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.

 

[toprecyler]

I’ll look to see if I can find the file. It was in a computer that is dying on me, but it probably still is on my flash drive chip. Give me a couple of days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Bonzo]

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.

Maybe so, yes. They were definitely very tight, but I think most of the rest of the gib screws were extremely loose...so these two may have been doing the majority of the work of holding things in place. I don't have a spec on how tight they're supposed to be, but "tighter than not contacting the gib" is probably a good starting point.

I’ll look to see if I can find the file. It was in a computer that is dying on me, but it probably still is on my flash drive chip. Give me a couple of days.

No rush; I'm nowhere close to needing it...but thanks in advance if you happen across it. And if not: Fusion Time for Bonzo.

 

[Dave Bonzo]

Got the saddle picked up from the machine shop; they got me fixed up. Someone had definitely tried to beat the pin out, before; a large portion of the bore was peined over the broken lip, and that was effectively locking it into place. Amazing, how well that tiny bit of pressure could hold something so securely. So...now I just need to size the broken pins and order some new ones, and I'll be in good shape to reinstall that nut.

On the other "let's fix s*** that shouldn't be broken in the first place" front: the replacement gears should be here Wednesday...which means exactly nothing, because I'll have to 1) bore the centers before I can do anything that, and then 2) figure out some spacers for the larger of the two...or possibly reduce it in height, depending on how it meshes with the smaller one. That means it's definitely starting to look like Lathe Time...and based on what the machine shop quoted me on boring them, I could buy an inexpensive quick-change toolpost and a large box of holders, and a boring bar, and a cutter, and some practice stock. I'd still likely smurf it all up, but I would be ahead in the long run.

So, question: are the US-made tool holders really that much better than the inexpensive clones? I've been researching that for hours now and haven't come to any consensus.

 

[Ischgl99]

For a home shop, the imports are usually good enough. I have a mix of name brand and import, and there is not much difference that I have found. The name brand will likely last longer, but with occasional use, the imports will probably outlast me. You do need to be careful the import does not use an uncommon insert, I have a couple tools I bought from Grizzly when I first started and it uses a metric size insert. I got the standard inserts to work by using a shim, but that was a lesson to do better research.

I bought a couple tools from Curtis at www.latheinserts.com. The tools are from China, but good quality, the inserts too. I have a couple from Shars that so far are working well, but some people have mentioned some items from Shars take hard to find inserts, so you will want to check on that before ordering.