Possible first v-mill?

Today I got it cleaned up, powered up, and trammed in. I also cleaned up the massive 8" vise that came with it. My back is hating me for lifting that thing. Everything seems to work great except two small issues:

1. No elevation crank. It is a 30mm, 7-toothed crank and I can't seem to find any on eBay except for one that won't arrive from China until Oct. Maybe someone here has a lead on one? For now I'm going to try to 3d-print a Crank Yanker and if I can't eventually find something I guess I'll machine my own.

2. The quill auto-feed works if I hold the engagement handle in, but it does not stay in on it's own. My best guess is that there's a retaining ball / spring somewhere in there that is either worn or missing? Any ideas there? I'm looking in my manual but the resolution of those parts is so crappy it's hard to tell anything.
 
3d printed crank yanker worked better than even I thought it would. Will report back on how long it lasts.
 

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You might just want to machine out that part in some kind of steel while the printed version is in working order. Then swap it in permanently.
 
Mitch Alsup said:
You might just want to machine out that part in some kind of steel while the printed version is in working order. Then swap it in permanently.
Click to expand...

The steel crank from China shipped yesterday. So I just need to make it until it gets here. It says it will be a month but it's never actually that long.

That piece was doing good until I tried to put aa power tool on it. LOL. I'm going to print it again with a collar around the cogs this time.

I fixed the quill auto feed today. It was just gunked up.

Drill some holes for the first time with the mill, too. Having fun.
 
Mitch Alsup said:
You might just want to machine out that part in some kind of steel while the printed version is in working order. Then swap it in permanently.
Click to expand...

I would like to eventually make it out of steel. I don't have an indexing table though. How would I do it without that?
 
HEPHAESTUS said:
I would like to eventually make it out of steel. I don't have an indexing table though. How would I do it without that?
Click to expand...

The best low-cost way would be to use a hexagon collet block in your mill vise. Very accurate, very affordable.
 
pontiac428 said:
The best low-cost way would be to use a hexagon collet block in your mill vise. Very accurate, very affordable.
Click to expand...

You're suggesting that as a way to hold the piece I think? But that's not my main issue. My issue is how to mill the grooves from 7 equally-spaced angles. 360 / 7 = 51.42857142857143 degrees of rotation for each cut. Easy on an indexing table but how would it be done without?
 
Actually, now that I think about it, it wouldn't be 7 angles. It would be 7 PAIRS of angles, one cut to cut each side of each cog / tooth.
 
Aaahhhhh, you said 7 tooth crank... yeah, division by 7 takes a different approach. You can do the geometric layout with a compass and scribe using dividing techniques known since antiquity, and using a mill vise, v-block, and square you could mill the form "good enough" for a crank handle, yes? If you have the Karl Moltrecht books, the chapter on dividing is excellent.
 
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