After years of using a Harbor Freight mini-mill to make parts for antique cameras, my hobby, I bought myself a retirement present. A Rong Fu RF-45 with power feed and DRO. That was 8 years ago, and I am just now getting to use the mill. I have a few questions I could really use some help with.
- The RF-45 has a fitting on the power down feed that’s not mentioned in the poor excuse for a manual that came with the mill. Is it a grease fitting or an oiling port? What lubricant does it need?
- The mill arrived pre-cleaned and lubed, but I have no idea what products were used. The manual says to use “Lubriplate” but that’s a company not a product. My thought is to clean off the current grease and use one of the ones recommended on this site. Anyone have any idea what the “internal spline drive” might have been lubed with? It’s hard to clean it off and I don’t want to mix grease types.
- I want to change the gear head oil. The manual says to tilt the head 90 degrees to drain the old oil. Is this really necessary? It’s perfectly vertical to the bed right now and I hate to mess that up.
- The horizontal power feed has a speed dial, but it’s not calibrated. Is this something I need to do or am I just not understanding how it works?