Atlas milling machine refresh project

[VSAncona]

VSA, is it easy to switch between pulleys ? That is change speeds.. On mine the belt is very close to the mount, at the moment the link belt lets me disassemble the belt to move between pulley sheeve selections.

Yeah, it's pretty easy to switch the belt with the tension released. I think the link belts are bulkier, so that might be part of the problem if you don't have room to slip the belt over the pulley steps.

I got the motor wired up and installed tonight. It's running, but there seems to be an issue with the back gear. Even with the pin in the bull gear pulled out, the bull gear and spindle pulley still seem to spin together. They must be binding somewhere. I will have to see if I can get it sorted out. The motor bearings are also a little noisy and I suspect they need replacing.

 

[wa5cab]

Victor,

Did you pull the screw and lube the pulley bushings? If you slack the belts and pull the pin out, does the pulley spin freely?

 

[VSAncona]

I played around with it a little more and I think it's okay. What was throwing me was that when I had the back gear disengaged and the pin pulled out and the belts slacked, the spindle gear and pulley would turn independently by hand, but both would spin together when I flipped the power switch and tensioned the belts. I checked my lathe though and it does the same thing, so I'm not concerned about it. In use, I won't ever be running it with the pin pulled out and the back gears disengaged, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I have a few more small parts to finish up -- cover plates, arbor support, etc. Then I'll do a pre-flight check to make sure everything is adjusted and oiled correctly. If everything goes well, I'm hoping to make my first chips this weekend.

Vince

 

[ogberi]

Sounds like the drag of the pulley bushings spinning it. If they turn easily, independently by hand they should be fine. Don't forget to oil the pulley via the set screw once in awhile, too.

 

[34_40]

Yeah, it's pretty easy to switch the belt with the tension released. I think the link belts are bulkier, so that might be part of the problem if you don't have room to slip the belt over the pulley steps..

Thanks for the info.. I need to look at mine again. Your jackshaft mount seems different than mine. I'll need to get a picture to compare the 2. Congrats on the progress, I'm excited for you! Can't wait to read your making the chips fly...

 

[wa5cab]

34_40,

He may just have a different model mill than what you have. Over the years of production, there were three different countershaft pulleys used (4-groove, 3-groove and 2-groove), three different countershaft hangers, two different countershaft brackets, and three different pairs of belt guards.

 

[34_40]

And I can guess one of the reasons why they redesigned the jackshaft mount! LOL..

 

[VSAncona]

I got it running tonight and started to make some chips and then the mill started making a clanking sound. I opened it up and saw that a set screw had come loose from one of the collars on back gear shaft. So it's back to troubleshooting tomorrow night. I think it's going to take me awhile to get all the kinks ironed out.

 

[34_40]

Sorry the first ride didn't get all that far.. but I'm certain you'll nail it!

Is this a location for a thread locker?

 

[VSAncona]

I had some limited success tonight. The table kept binding up and stopping mid-cut. Turns out the nut holding one of the crank handles on had loosened up allowing too much backlash in the lead screw. Once I tightened it back down, the auto feed worked fine. I still need to sort out the issue with the back gears, but for tonight I just tried using it in direct drive. It's working and I was able to make some cuts, but something still needs adjusting someplace -- it really labors and makes a lot of noise if I try to take a cut deeper than .010". But even with those issues still to resolve, I was able to do some milling tonight.

Here's a couple of shots of the mill finally all put back together:





For my first project, I am making a fixture plate from Rudy Kouhoupt's plans:





One thing I've already noticed is that the working envelope of this machine is even smaller than I thought. By the time you account for clamps or fixturing devices, there's not a whole lot of working room. I will have to get creative with how I hold workpieces to the table. And I will need to start picking up some clamps and other holding devices as I can afford them. But I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this machine.