Diamond Victory Milling Machine

[NilesRock]

Got the machine last week and the mill is somewhat mysterious as it has no model number only the Victory name. Also, the pulleys for the spindle have six different diameters versus the normally seen three different diameters driven by double belts. The power feed is set up to work in both directions by moving a lever on the front of the mill. I've been looking at advertisements and online pictures of Diamond mills and haven't noticed the power feed set up that way on any.

Was wondering if anyone knows about lubricating the vertical milling attachment it's kind of noisy. I opened it up and there's grease inside but it's not full. If I spread the grease around it runs quiet for a while but then gets noisy. There is a zerk fitting that might be routed to the head as it's near and a screw possibly to remove air. Does anyone know if the attachment is supposed to be filled all the way with grease?

Currently the vertical milling attachment is only two speeds. Eventually, I'll get a belt for the main spindle so the power feed can be connected and I'll drive the vertical head off the main spindle which would make it 12 speeds. There was a belt found inside the base storage and it seems about the size to go from the spindle to the vertical attachment as seen in the pictures. At first I was thinking that wouldn't work but then realized the pulley is adjustable. Is a direct connection from spindle to attachment the standard set up for a vertical milling attachment on these Diamond horizontal milling machines?

 

[Mini Cooper S]

I can't say that I have any information for you, but it is a fascinating looking machine. Best of luck with it.
Richard

 

[brino]

Very interesting machine.
Does it have two spindles?
The top one for the vertical head and the bottom one for the horizontal?

I would have suspect it was old enough to originally have three flat-belt pulleys.

Any idea the age?

-brino

 

[brino]

There is some history on lathes.co.uk

http://www.lathes.co.uk/diamond/
http://www.lathes.co.uk/diamond/page2.html

the mill at the top of page 2 looks closest.

They show one with separate horizontal and vertical heads motors.....and a third motor for table feeds.

You are right about the three pairs of v-belts.

-brino


EDIT:
also some history at Vintage Machinery: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2681&tab=0

and a couple documents: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2681&tab=3

 

[NilesRock]

Brino,

Thank you for the information. I've spent hours online researching and came across one other Diamond milling machine with the 6 step pulley. Also, found a post with pictures of a Diamond vertical milling attachment that appears to look the same. The OP there said the vertical head was manufactured by the Brown Mill Co. or Brown Machine Co., something along those lines in Los Angeles, CA. I can't find anything on that company.

I don't have a clue as to the age of the machine but would guess early to mid 40's? Sadly the motor name tag has been removed so no help there either. The motor appears very old it's single phase and has brushes rather than having a capacitor start.

The prior owner said the vertical head uses 3C collets. Funny thing is I pulled a Rivett 1A out. After using prussion blue I think he's right there's plenty of threads left in the drawbar for a longer collet.

Another odd thing about the mill is it seems a prior owner installed nuts where they weren't originally. The horizontal B&S based collet spindle has that nut that most likely isn't original. Also, on the back of the adjustable pulley there is a nut that seems out of place. Thinking about what spindle should be in the mill I'm not even sure the horizontal spindle is for B&S the OD seems large. Perhaps there was a reason for the nuts?

I'm going to pull the vertical head apart and post pictures. It would be nice if the vertical milling attachment doesn't need to be rebuilt but until it gets properly lubricated it's hard to determine what direction to go. From past experience working on cars I would think the type of gears in the vertical milling head would take gear oil. Currently there is grease in there. Maybe I'll be able to figure out what type of seals the bearings have. This milling head has me scratching mine.

 

[NilesRock]

Brino,

After closely reading the history link you provided it appears the machine is from about 1943-1945 as the base casting and Diamond Victory name tag both identify as Diamond Tool Company. Apparently sometime around 1945 the name changed to Diamond Machine Tool Company.

 

[brino]

The vertical head of my 1916 Cincinnati 3S milling machine takes oil.
The company recommended ISO HL-46; I use regular tractor hydraulic oil.
Here's a picture of the horizontal to vertical head still in the truck:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/gallery/dcp_6422.94584/
Both of my spindles are B&S #11.
-brino

 

[NilesRock]

Thank you for the luck Mini Cooper S I'm going to need some on this one.

Brino your Cincinatti 3S mill looks to be quite a work horse. All that tooling gives you lots of options. All I got with my machine was a 1/2 end mill with some chipped flutes. I'll get some pictures up soon.

 

[Aaron_W]

Is this the same machine that was on the Reno Craigslist a couple weeks ago? If not then the plot thickens with two unusual machines turning up so close together. Prior to that machine I had never heard of a Victory model, although before I bought my mill I had never heard of the Diamond Tool Company either so...

I have a Diamond M20 horizontal mill that I bought last year, I have a post on it I made when I brought mine home. Not a lot of traffic in this part of the forum so it should be easy to find. I did include a summary of the machines Diamond made based on what I was able to find online.

Mine was made in December of 1944 and says Diamond Tool Company.

Apparently many of these mills have had an aftermarket vertical head added, but at least based on the information at the lathes uk site, only the 22-M was available from the factory with a vertical head. It appears there were 3 table sizes 5-1/8 x 20" on the B-12 and M20, 5-3/4 x 20" on the 22-M and 7 x 30" on the M30, and presumably on the M24, but there is little very information on the M24 just a few photos. The size of your table may give a clue to which machine yours is most closely related.

Mine has a 3 position dual belt pulley (6 grooves) while yours appears to have a 6 position single belt pulley drive.

I get the impression that at least during the war years these machines saw a lot of minor tweaks in production, which is added to by the 70+ years they have been around to have owners add their own changes. With the minimal documentation on them it is hard to sort out production line changes and aftermarket owner changes.

The horizontal spindle should be a Brown and Sharpe #9. The vertical head spindle could be just about anything. I would think if it was an in house item it would use some type of Brown and Sharpe spindle to be consistent with the horizontal spindle, but even if a factory option it may have been sourced from another maker. You seem to have found a rare version of an already little known mill.

 

[NilesRock]

Aaron_W, Yes I picked up the mill close to Reno in a town named Mound House. The seller said there was a lot of interest but I was the only one that asked to see it. When I talked to him on the phone the power feed worked, it was for sure a 1 HP motor, and he, as well as the prior owner, hardly ever used it. When arriving it was obvious the machine wasn't all the it was hyped up to be. Good thing we had already negotiated a price less than what he was asking. Thank you for all the information you provided. I really like how detailed your post is on these Diamond milling machines.

I took the vertical head apart and took pictures. With the elbow and head removed the mill is relatively quite. It looks like the upper bearing in the head has a sealed bearing with rubber seals. The lower bearing looks like it may have a metal shield seal on the outside but there's no way to tell what's inside. For now it'd probably time to get as much grease out as possible, fill it full of grease, and see what happens?

Some interesting observations are two parts in the vertical attachment have Boston L 153 B stamped on them. Perhaps that will be a lead as to who made the attachment. Also, the nut on the back of the attachment shaft does seem to be correct, earlier I was thinking it wasn't unnecessary.

Thank you all.