Power feed on a Select knee mill

Romoshka

Romoshka

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After a 10+ year hiatus from my lil machine shop, while went off and discovered farming, I’m back in the shop. Approaching retirement and tuning the shop with that in mind. Putting DRO on the V-mill and lathe. Now to my question: I want to add power feed to my mill. This mill is a Select brand and was a Tawainese import in the 70s. So anybody out there retrofitted/put power feed on a mill?810070FB-264F-489B-9D22-B47582D8F7B5.jpeg
 
This looks similar to a number of 6 x 26 milling machines.

I added an x axis power feed to my Harbor Freight mill using the basic steps outlined in this post:
X axis power feed for 6 x 26 mill

I used the same Vevor branded power feed.
It has been working well, but I may have to swap out the speed adjustment potentiometer to something that provides a more even range of adjustment. The one in there now puts out about 0 rpm up to half-way and then jumps quickly to full speed in less than 1/4 of the dial.
 
The horizontal power feed conversion was a piece of cake to install with the Rong-Fu type kit. Obviously, the kit would not be a bolt-on for your baby knee mill, but I can still see some faint family resemblance. Enough to know that a thoughtful person with a mill and lathe could make up the adapter plate and modify any of the coupler parts needed to adapt the system to a different mill. Basically, the handwheel is removed, the leadscrew is coupled to the drive, and a sprag clutch backed by a gear drives the shaft. The drive unit simply needs to be supported after that. Very few moving parts, and the drive housing has all the features cast in to make universal mounting work.
 
pontiac428 said:
The horizontal power feed conversion was a piece of cake to install with the Rong-Fu type kit. Obviously, the kit would not be a bolt-on for your baby knee mill, but I can still see some faint family resemblance. Enough to know that a thoughtful person with a mill and lathe could make up the adapter plate and modify any of the coupler parts needed to adapt the system to a different mill. Basically, the handwheel is removed, the leadscrew is coupled to the drive, and a sprag clutch backed by a gear drives the shaft. The drive unit simply needs to be supported after that. Very few moving parts, and the drive housing has all the features cast in to make universal mounting work.
Click to expand...
Ring-Fu type kit? Could you give more data? URL link? I’m a baby stumbling in the woods.
 
Romoshka said:
$350 vs $120. Think I know which I’ll go for. Thanks for those links.
Click to expand...
So now I’m confused and Vevors response to my question wasn’t helpful. Vector has 2 models with same photograph represented. AL 250-150N listed at an unbelievable 150 lbs of torque and the AL 310 S with 450 in/lb of torque. The balance of the description is identical. There is only $1 difference in price.
 
The two models look the same, and they rolled over the reviews to the new model.

I suppose they either:
a) addressed some quality issues with the old model and made the new one better.
b) cut some costs in production to make the new one cheaper/easier to manufacture.

Put your chips on red or black, the lowest price tool is a bit of a gamble anyway.
 
Just to be clear, you are going to have to do some modification/fabrication to adapt the drives to your mill. I wasn't sure if you caught that. You will have to lay it all out in front of you, figure out what it takes, make/modify a mounting flange, and make/modify the gear to lead screw coupler. It looks easy to me, but that means little since I don't know anything about your mechanical skill level. I wanted to clarify, since I might not have done so, that this isn't a bolt-on job, it's a minor mod with a little head scratching that can be done with a mill and possibly a lathe to adapt.
 
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