R-8 collet key

[Lornie McCullough]

I just bought a used Enco RF-30 (and I am so excited!!.... I am still cleaning it up, and need to build a base for it to sit on).

I loosened the draw bar a couple turns, and tapped out the r-8 collet and drill chuck, and used a mirror and flashlight to look inside the quill. The small key (if indeed there is one....) is worn smooth, or broken off, or otherwise missing.

Is this an issue that needs to be fixed, or should I be concerned??

Lornie

 

[dave2176]

Don't worry about it. Most people end up removing it.

 

[f350ca]

The key has been missing in my mill for years, its only there to stop the tooling from turning while tightening the drawbar. It can cause the spindle to wear as collets are drawn in in the same spot every time, without it you'll get more even wear.
Greg

 

[darkzero]

Yup, I took mine out too, so much better without it.

 

[Lornie McCullough]

Thank you all.... you have put my mind at ease.

Lornie

 

[brasssmanget]

Wow - interesting info. I have an RF31 and always considered it a pain to have to spin the R8 Collets each time to get the slot aligned. You mean these will tighten up on their own without the key in place?? :thinking:

 

[wrmiller]

I must have been lucky with my little benchtop machines as I've never had any difficulty locating/using the pin in any of my R8 spindle machines. Same with my friends full-sized machines. Never heard of (until now) of people having to take them out either. I just learned to spin the collet while sliding it in the spindle. Pretty simple.

Bill

 

[sdunt]

I just bought a used Enco RF-30 (and I am so excited!!.... I am still cleaning it up, and need to build a base for it to sit on).


Lornie

One bit of advice on that base. Very heavy duty of course. But on another forum we had someone bolt an RF down to an EXTREMELY WARPED wooden bench and it actually twisted the RF out of tram. Fortunately the casting straightened out after the bolts were loosened and shimmed.

I would kind of put the RF's base in the same category as a lathe bed. They generally will set straight on their own. And spacers MUST be used between them and the floor or bench or whatever you are mounting it to to take up the space. Do NOT tighten down bolts to 'pull the base' tight..

IN the case of an RF you MUST bolt it down unless you want 700 pounds of mill on your foot when without thinking someone swings the head to one side and the whole thing topples over. It REALLY needs bolts to keep it from falling over. As far as it vibrating off a bench or something, not so much.

also that 'key' is actually a 'dog headed' set screw:



I actually found the one for my unit rolling around between the spindle nose and the clamping plate (quill Collar) that the scale and springs are attached to. It had worked its way back out of the threaded hole and was captured there..

Obviously its NOT there to DRIVE anything. That would shear off with very little force. Its the collet in the spindle that does the driving because of the tapers and the tension on it. Tapers must be clean and DRY instead of oiled like everything else.

 

[Lornie McCullough]

The base.

One bit of advice on that base. Very heavy duty of course.

IN the case of an RF you MUST bolt it down unless you want 700 pounds of mill on your foot when without thinking someone swings the head to one side and the whole thing topples over. It REALLY needs bolts to keep it from falling over. As far as it vibrating off a bench or something, not so much.


.

I have been designing the base in my head, but I had not considered the possibility of swinging the head 90 degrees and tipping it over.

Thank you for the heads-up.

Lornie

 

[brasssmanget]

I filled my base cabinet with about 350 lbs of wet sand [in bags] and scrap steel and iron pieces. I have no plans to ever rotate the head out 90 degrees, but vibration/chatter is a lot better now.....