Index Model 645 Mill

T.J, those spindle keys you ordered are going to cause problems later on in life. I would suggest not installing them in my opinion. They are not designed to drive the collet. They just hold the collet while you tighten the collet or arbor. I've been using my mill for over 12 years with out them. Don't miss them one bit. Ken
 
Gentlemen, the mill is back in business! I finished assembling the head and got it trammed in this afternoon.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg

I whittled on some scrap with an end mill before I ran out of shop time, just to be able to say I've finally made some chips! I've only had it 14 months...:oops: Of course, it's not completely done yet. I still have to clean up the table feed gear box and get it mounted. Then I need to make a new drive shaft. First though, I've got a very messy shop to straighten up:confused 3:
 
Here's a funny (now) side note to the mill project. The vise that came with the machine is a Kurt-style that was made in India. I cleaned it up the other day when I was getting close to being ready to use it. It's got a few dings and some pitting, but it will work for now. Two of the socket head cap screws that hold the jaw faces on were missing, so I stopped in town to get new ones: 1/2" x 1". I get home and they don't fit - bummer - I guess I measured wrong and they're metric. Next day, I make a trip to a Fastenal store and get two M12 bolts - they don't fit either! Now, I'm kinda mad. I can't be this bad at measuring. So I reconfirmed the diameter with 2 different calipers - .493". Then I got my thread pitch gauge out - 12 tpi. WHAT!?! What kinda screwed up outfit uses 1/2"-12 bolts instead of 1/2"-13? Those guys that made this thing in India must be...wait a minute...India was formerly British...

I look a little closer, then get out the Machinery's Handbook - sure enough, they're WHITWORTH threads! So now, I just ordered some online - $14.00 after making the minimum order and shipping. Not to mention the time making two wasted trips..
 
Here's a funny (now) side note to the mill project. The vise that came with the machine is a Kurt-style that was made in India. I cleaned it up the other day when I was getting close to being ready to use it. It's got a few dings and some pitting, but it will work for now. Two of the socket head cap screws that hold the jaw faces on were missing, so I stopped in town to get new ones: 1/2" x 1". I get home and they don't fit - bummer - I guess I measured wrong and they're metric. Next day, I make a trip to a Fastenal store and get two M12 bolts - they don't fit either! Now, I'm kinda mad. I can't be this bad at measuring. So I reconfirmed the diameter with 2 different calipers - .493". Then I got my thread pitch gauge out - 12 tpi. WHAT!?! What kinda screwed up outfit uses 1/2"-12 bolts instead of 1/2"-13? Those guys that made this thing in India must be...wait a minute...India was formerly British...

I look a little closer, then get out the Machinery's Handbook - sure enough, they're WHITWORTH threads! So now, I just ordered some online - $14.00 after making the minimum order and shipping. Not to mention the time making two wasted trips..
I recall a few instances in my past where this came up. We just chased the thread with a 1/2-13 tap, installed the new screws, torqued them down and never looked back. Them old English built machines were finally pulled and scrapped out about ten years ago after a 30 plus years of running. So guess they held up....
 
Looks good! I see that your mill has the breaker box mounted below the Index lettering on the side. Mine is mounted directly over top of the lettering :( Why would someone do that! You've got literally square feet of empty space on the side.

Your handles and controls are a lot shinier than mine.
 
Last weekend, I decided to tackle the table feed gear box.
IMG_0325.JPGIMG_0326.JPGIMG_0332.JPGIMG_0328.JPGIMG_0329.JPG
After finding the spindle feed fear box to have water in it, I expected the same with this one and I was correct. There was a little bit of rust on a couple of the gears, but nothing bad. IMG_0330.JPG
I disassembled the whole thing and got it all cleaned up.
IMG_0331.JPG
I got new bearings for it and I've got it most of the way back together as of now. But here is the bad news (you knew it was coming didn't you?). The worm gear is worn very badly. IMG_0334.JPG
I contacted W-I and a new one is $305. For that amount of money, I would rather try to adapt a Servo style power feed to the lead screw. Since I've already spent the money on the bearings for the gear box, I'm thinking I might just go ahead and try it like it is before I go another route.
 
Ah man, that sux to max.
Is there any hope that the 'worm' was a standard pitch and we could find a gear and adapt it to the original 'hub'?

on a side note, at least when you called W-I you received a positive though costly response.
Whenever I called them about a couple of items I needed for my Model 40 I ended up pounding sand.
 
I haven't taken any detailed measurements, but the gear is a 20 tooth and the worm is 3 tpi. That seems to be an unusual combination based on what I've found so far.

I have considered making one myself. The process would be to make a hob from drill rod, then use it to hob a bronze gear blank. I would need to obtain change gears for my lathe to cut 3 tpi (the coarsest thread my QCGB will do is 4 tpi). Then comes the problem of making a hexagonal hole through it (the bore is about 2" long). While I am sure I could overcome all of these issues, I'm not sure the reward is worth all of the investment. It seems like adapting a Servo style power feed to the lead screw would be fairly straightforward. I think I would just need to remove the gear housing from the right end of the table and fabricate a bracket to take its place with the proper hole pattern to mount the power feed. When completed, it would offer a couple of advantages over the original equipment - mainly infinitely variable feeds and rapid traverse.

Regarding Wells-Index, my dealings with them have been all positive other than the prices for a couple of items. I'm just glad they are still around to answer the phone and willing to help me with a machine they sold over 50 years ago!
 
Yeah, the gear on mine is worn too, not as bad as yours. I second the idea of going with a servo drive to takes place. If you buy the servo brand, they may be able to supply the correct setup for the 645 mill. At least, they used to.
 
Back
Top