Picked up a Rockwell 21-100 mill

[Buickgsman]

So I picked up a Rockwell vertical mill a few weeks ago and have been working on getting it back together. I've been mostly cleaning and painting, but I've had to make some parts for the micrometer dials and handwheels as well as one bearing holder. The machine is coming together nicely and so far I have no major complaints. The guy I bought it from had mentioned something about metric dials on it but I didnt pay much attention. Well, anyway to make a long story short, at some point in the machines life someone decided it would be a good idea to machine down all of the handwheels on the machine to fit these weirdo half metric, half american dials on it. So now I want to put the original style dials on and they didnt fit. Ive been making bushings the last few days to bring the handwheels back to life. I was lucky and found dials for it. I also had to make a bearing holder for one of the screws which was actually a fairly smooth process. I am hoping to have the table all mounted up and working tomorrow and then it's on to the head! In the first picture below, the weird metric dial and handwheel is on the left. An original handwheel and original dials are on the right. You can see how much they machines off the handwheels to get the strange dials to fit. Has anyone seen these type of metric/ american dials before?

 

[stevecmo]

Has anyone seen these type of metric/ american dials before?

I'm not absolutely sure, but those dials do look vaguely familiar. :whistle:

 

[Buickgsman]

I've made some pretty good progress on my mill in the last week. I installed the table, got the head all cleaned up and painted and got it all back together. I tried to use stainless hardware whereever i could which I think gives it a nice appearance. I put power to it tonight and it runs nice and smooth. I am adding a 3 phase motor with VFD in the coming weeks so that will be the next major part of the project. I also have adjustments and some trim work to do but otherwise the hard stuff is mostly done.

 

[the gentleman]

Were the dials both inch and metric ? The latest Rockwell Vertical mills have this feature. I had a mill like that which is sold a few weeks ago.

 

[Buickgsman]

Yes Ginther,

That was me. The dials were both inch and metric and I have found that they appear to be an aftermarket addition. The handwheels were machined down to accept them which was quite unfortunate. I was lucky to find a set of dials and make everything work. If you have any supporting information to show that the inch/metric dials were indeed rockwell parts I would be interested in seeing it. Thanks

 

[LEEQ]

That's a nice looking machine. Want to come paint a Bridgeport?

 

[the gentleman]

You did a super paint job on the Rockwell . . . Enjoy your mill . . Regards Ginther

 

[timbertoes]

really nice , congrats on a job well done