Got an old Rong-Fu RF-20 mill that the vertical handwheel does not work on.

Your mill is just like mine. The knurled portion of the shaft just inside of the handle is used to engage the Z fine feed. Screw it in to engage and screw it out to disengage..

RF20.jpg
 
I didn’t see THAT coming. Ha! I’ll have to put that in the old rucksack to remember next time.
 
Is that a socket-head-capscrew in the centre of the hub? Does it turn? The clutch on those mills engages by tightening the hub onto the shaft. They may have lost the original and put that in 'temporarily'. I replaced the handwheel on my RF-30 with a cam-lock that I made. Anything that pulls the shaft out against the hub should engage the vernier wheel.
 
mickri said:
Your mill is just like mine. The knurled portion of the shaft just inside of the handle is used to engage the Z fine feed. Screw it in to engage and screw it out to disengage..

View attachment 448803
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip! This makes sense considering it's knurled. Mine is bound completely though, so it seems I'll have to dive in and get it apart somehow.

Much appreciated!
 
Hawkeye said:
Is that a socket-head-capscrew in the centre of the hub? Does it turn? The clutch on those mills engages by tightening the hub onto the shaft. They may have lost the original and put that in 'temporarily'. I replaced the handwheel on my RF-30 with a cam-lock that I made. Anything that pulls the shaft out against the hub should engage the vernier wheel.
Click to expand...
I tried (although not SUPER hard, for fear of breaking something) to turn it. No dice.
 
Speedly said:
Thanks for the tip! This makes sense considering it's knurled. Mine is bound completely though, so it seems I'll have to dive in and get it apart somehow.

Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Note that the sleeve doesn’t turn. It just slides in and out to engage the fine feed.
 
On Speedly's mill the sleeve does turn. There are two ways that the fine feed is engaged on these mills. One way is with a knob on the outside of the handle. See part #38.

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The other way is by turning the sleeve on the inside of the handle. See part #37

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Here is a picture of my mill that clearly shows the knurled sleeve. Turn the knurled sleeve clockwise and it engages the fine feed. Turn it CCW and it disengages the fine feed.

IMG_3940.JPG
 
How do you engage the fine feed?

Interesting. Does the fine feed engage when you slide it in? What is the make and model of you mill? I haven't seen that before.
 
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Yes, sliding the collar in engages the fine feed. You can sort of see that in the video- I’m turning the fine feed, which is causing the handles to turn.
The mill is a Fairbanks-Ward RF-20, but it’s just a re-branded Rong Fu 20.
 
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