A new coffee table - Huron KU3

Chipper5783

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My teenage daughter took one look at the new prize and exclaimed that it was a "beast" - it now officially "Da Beast". As if I was short on projects, it is just a shame to see the classic machines getting scrapped. I've been working on a small radial drill (Bergonzi) - but when a classic Huron became available (even delivered), what could I say? The slides are all stuck and I expect electrical problems. I got X and Y moving by pulling the gibs. I removed the table - just gunk and rust plugging the oil grooves. The table gearing is just so cool (in the belly of da beast). Be entertained - as if there weren't projects enough around here!
 

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I saw a similar unit somewhere on the internet. I think it was an auction or something, maybe a CL add posted by Mr W.

That unit looks in pretty good shape all things considered. Electrical in these type of machines is relatively easy to work on. It is when we get into the electronics that I get lost.

Hope to find something similar when I am ready.
 
Just think what the beast will do when you have it running. Good luck on your project. Keep us up dates on your progress
 
I've never seen one before, but looked it up and it looks quite capable. Almost like some of K&T's big universal machines. I think your daughter nailed it.
 
Wow!
I am following this thread.....

-brino
 
A beautiful beast! Makes my Bridgeport seem like a wiggly little drill press! I'm in to see that back running.
 
Making some progress. It seems the machine was outside in the rain for a while. So far, about everything is stuck. I pulled the gibs to get the X and Y to move (I have not tried the Z - I expect the same approach will be needed). I started by removing the table, starting with an easyish task. The table slide seemed to clean up quite well (no big gouges in the ways). Very cool inside the knee - more gears than a wrist watch.

Next step was to tackle the whole Y axis business. The spindle would not turn, so I pulled the universal head off - that turned into quite the project, lots of water and corrosion, numerous tools needed to be made. The bearings took some serious corrosion damage - as often described here on HM, the spindle bearing are insanely expensive. I cleaned everything and will simply run it, as a way to see what else is wrong with the machine. Actually, after the clean and relube - the head does not seem to bad. Down the road, if everything else works out and the spindle does fail, I could see converting the spindle bearings to something more available (nothing to lose, since replacement in kind is never going to be worth it).

The main motor also would not turn. Again, it was very tough to get the motor apart. Again, considerable water came pouring out. I'm guessing it has been sitting with water in it for more than a year (it has been stored in a heated shop for the past year+. There is a pronounced water line about 1/3rd the way up the inside of the motor (TEFC motor). I know the topic has come up here before - how to clean up wet motors? This is a standard 3 phase motor (housings, windings and a rotor). Most of the clean up is just elbow grease. Any pointers on what solvents are legit to clean the windings and recommended methods for thoroughly drying it? Initially I was going to attack it with soap, water and judicious pressure washing (if water would cause problems, then the damage is done). Then some solvents, brushes, air etc. I have access to a megger (perhaps even a PDMA unit) through the electricians at work - that will be final test before energizing.
 
I suspect anything that won't attack the coating on windings will be fine for cleaning the motor, you're looking at it so you will know best though. Time in a heated shop will dry everything sufficiently, you can use electric contact cleaner once you get the major crud out if needed, once again time....

She's lucky to have such a good new daddy :grin: I expect to see chips in the spring....

John
 
A few cans of "contact cleaner"? I'm not sure what is consists of but it seems innocuous to insulation and other electrical items.
 
Huron update (some rehashing the description from further up). Getting pretty good results :). So the story to date. The main issue was that components are siezed. The machine has a great one-shot oiler (I must have pumps a half quart of oil). I got the slides all to move by first pulling the gibs - they were stuck, I've use a lot of penetrating oil, the gibs are fitted with a 12mm bolt, so I could put a decent pull plus some hammering and they would then move. Once the gibs were out I could get things to move. I pulled the table slide right off, the over arm off and left the Z-axis attached - but lot traveled and cleaned it numerous times (got the rear travel plates and the front leg completely cleaned, the actual Z slide left 1" that I could not get to - since it is a 21" knee but there is only 20" of travel). The manual emphasis leaving the elevating ball screw intact - the table is somehow conterweighted (with the table off it takes more effort to lower the knee than raise it - with the table on the effort is the same up and down.

The one shot oiler is quite cool, as every lube point gets its' own line - and each one is fed by a spring loaded metering valve (one pump to ~30 locations and one point can't hog all the oil). It is like a bowl of sphagetti - a few lines were plugged and getting to them involved some serious contortions. The head was siezed, with a mixture of grease, water and rust. The big universal head is quite the marvel inside - the gears survived reasonably well (some damage, but they are very robust), the main spindle bearings are marked up - sort of a crime, but I just cleaned and relubricated them and everything turns nice. A replacement set of spindle bearings (two bearings), if still available would be prohibitive at a 90% discount - the last set the dealer sold was $8000USD in 2014 (they are about the size of a base ball). If everything else checks out, and the spindle bearings could be modified to something more available (the ID/OD are easy to match, there would need some different spacer rings). Spindle bearing mods feels like a bit of a "hack" - but I'm not paying $10,000+CAD - so it would be modify or scrap it. For now I'll just run them, cleaned up, well lubed and not sweat it.

The main motor was scary. It would not turn at all. When I finally got it cracked open, about a quart of water drained out. The lower half of the air gap was plugged solid with rust. I scrubbed it with varsol, then hot soapy water, then blew it dry, more boiling hot water, more blowing dry, then dried with a hot air gun and wrapped in a blanket for ~6 hours (held at 140°F). I was able to borrow a megger and got ~65k ohms :(. So, I reinforced the kitchen oven and baked the stator like a turkey. It took about 10 hours to get it up to 215°F - held it for 2 hours and let it cool overnight. I no longer had access to the megger - so I just put power to it :). The motor sounds great (new bearings of course).

The electrics were pretty ugly - there are 6 contactors and dual controls (front and side operating stations) = = = many wires. I documents the wiring with pictures & sketches, most of the wire labels were still in place. I pulled the contactors one at a time, and tested the result after each one - again all good.

So things seemed to be going okay. The X-axis hand wheel had a lot of axial play, a lot of back lash and the dial were stuck. Getting it out was a trick (again, so much on this is just siezed up) - anyway, I re-did the thrust washer spacer and freed up the dials. Next, the main spindle clutch/brake were noisy - so the motor came back off. The company that made the clutch went out of business in the early '70s. I found a place that has clutch plates, but not in my price range. The clutch and brake are very similar - the brake plates looked great, so I swapped the brake plates into the clutch position and did some clean up of some plates on the surface grinder (and new bearings in the clutch - one of which was quite rough). All back together - and the noise is the same as before! Oh well, run it as there did not seem to be any obvious issues.

Miracles do happen occastionally - still going okay. There are still quite a few small issues (stuck dials, couple broken dials, power feeds that don't trip properly), but hey - I'm ready to try making some chips.

Only problem - I'm back to working on the Bergonzi radial drill (if I'd put even half the hours that the "Beast" go into the drill it would likely be done) - I'm not even sure I have all the pieces (came to me as a few big chunks and half a dozen cardboard boxes of metal!).

Enjoy. David
 

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