New mill Wells-Index 745

Sorry everyone for being so slow with the updates.

I do have a progress to report:

I had mess around with the with the return spring on the quill. As far as I could determine the spring kept poping out for no reason, seemed like everything was as designed but it wasn't working. I ended up using a little JB weld to help hold the return spring in its groove. Seems to work good now.
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Next up was to clean up and repaint the last few pieces. I sand blasted them and then just brushed the paint on. As it wasn't worth setting up the spray gun for 3 small parts
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Assembled:
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Installed on the head:
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I also polished up a few brass screws that had been overlooked:
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Next it was time to turn the head upright:
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And install what I think is the actuating mechanism for the back gear:
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And now the lower head is pretty much completed. That is as far as I got for now. I just need to mate the lower, middle and upper parts of the head and install on the machine... then look into a phase converter or VFD.
 
I made a little more progress, on the Mill. I got the lower head mounted and in place.

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Also the JB weld worked and the return spring on the quill is staying in place now as it should.

Just baby steps but it's getring close to making some chips.
 
Got a little more reassembally done on the mill today...

Got the back gear put on and the pulley installed. I had bought a key way set so I could replace the various Key ways on the mill...As per usual the key way for the pulley was an odd size so I had to use a file on a larger keyway to gey the correct size again.:( Not sure why every key way on this machine is an odd size.

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Next I got the belt guard on put on as well as the main drive cone pulley's put on, that was easy. Both belts are in good shape so I will re-use them.

Had a little trouble getting the back gear belt on but got it figured out.

Belt in place:
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Its starting to look like a Mill again:

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Next up I need to repaint the motot housing...But that will be another day.
 
Thanks, yes I'm looking forward to finally having a working milling machine. Hope to do a little more work on it tomorrow. I had to work 6 days this weeks and some evenings.

How is your machine coming along azshadeguy?
 
I keep getting sidetracked with other projects
I have to stop buying stuff at auctions
Bought a scissor lift and a 36 foot man lift
 
I know how that goes, its very easy to get distracted with other projects, happens to me a lot. The scissor lift sounds like a really useful piece of equipment.
 
I tinkered with a few things on the mill and got them working better. After that I partly dismantled the motor case/ electrical components and got them painted.
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motor and components freshly painted.
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The motor was working fine when I purchased the mill so I will just leave it as is other than painting.

That's all for now.
 
Hey everyone. I got a little more done on the Mill today. I put the electrical components back together and installed them and the motor on the mill.
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I also media blasted the on/off switch and powder coated it wrinkle black. I need to make an extension rod as that was missing.
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The mill is just about done now.

The things that still remain are:
-I need to track down a few revolving knobs for the hand wheels as I don't like the original plastic ones and the knob on the knee was just a bolt when I got the mill.
-I also need to find one plastic knob that is missing from one of the leavers the head.

-I want to add some accent paint to the Cast 'Index' logo and to any cast raised lettering.

And of course I need to find a way to power this 3ph machine. I'm really not good with electrical stuff but I'll have to figure it out.

I'm Thinking my best options are VDF or a rotary phase converter. VDF is nice for the variable speed control...A Rotary converter might be handy for when I get my South bend 13 restored since I could use it for both machines...
 
The mill is just about done now.

The mill looks amazing!

However, I worry that those shelf brackets above and behind it are overloaded! I'd hate to see any damage to the machine or paint.

-brino
 
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