Info on Sheldon Vernon horizontal mills

My Sheldon Mill was delivered yesterday. I've been busy getting the cutting oil and grease off in prep for a repaint job. Right off I found that the arbor is stuck in the taper. I've applied the best of penetrating oils, taped on the draw bar (when backed out slightly) and even taped side-to-side using a wooden block to hopefully break the "taper weld." No luck thus far. Any suggestions?

Secondly, on the left side of the mill, there are two "plugs" - one says OIL and the other says GREASE. Are these plugs meant to screw out? There is a long and quite narrow slit in each plug.

Thirdly, I can't seem to get the "Backgear/Direct" feed lever to move. Does the machine have to be running to move this per chance? Label instructions suggest so, but why?

Fourthly, I had to remove the belts from the lower "Reeves type drive" in order to crank the spindle. Is the Reeves drive very difficult to crank? I suspect I have some work to do down there :))

Any and all comments and suggestions are welcomed.

I'll be un-crating and sorting through the cutters and tooling that came with the mill tonight.

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Sorry but I don't see how to rotate these images :angry:


Mike
Charlottesville, VA

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Any idea what this mill weighs?
 
Around 800 lbs, as I recall.

Mike
Thanks Mike,
I guess somewhere in that range but wasnt able to find it or scale it while I had it on my trailer.
John
 
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I see you have a Rockwell 21-120. Did you sell the Vernon/Sheldon because you wanted a larger mill?
 
I see you have a Rockwell 21-120. Did you sell the Vernon/Sheldon because you wanted a larger mill?

The Rockwell is a beefier, not larger machine. The overarm support is larger in diameter. The Sheldon is a fine mill but when the Rockwell came available, I made the switch. The Sheldon should be fine for most home jobs.

Mike
 
You may know already, but the nut on the arbor is left hand threaded.



bedwards
On the Vernon Sheldon Model zero. Which direction does the spindle spin in the Forward position?
 
Jbar,

I'm not personally familiar with your Vernon but conclude from context that it must be a horizontal mill. Forward on lathes and horizontal mills at least in the English speaking world is the direction which would cause a standard Right Hand drill bit or end mill to cut if you mounted the bit in the spindle, turned on the machine, and pushed a work piece up against the cutting end. So viewed looking into the business end of the spindle or cutter, the spindle would be turning Counter Clock Wise (CCW).
 
I have one just like that one. I really like it. Great feed and speeds. You will love it.
 
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