Rockford/Hedwick MV100 power table feed install

[shelby grinders]

As you can see the top of the spindle has a little Gits oiler cup, which, as far as I can see, has nothing in it but a straight hole down into the spindle which should probably be full of nice light weight oil. Unfortunately it would appear that the seal on the bottom of my spindle is 100% shot, so I'll probably have to track one down/figure out how to get to it in the mill... Has anyone had their spindle apart? Has anyone screwed off the piece on the bottom of the spindle/quill with the spanner holes in it?

In other Rockford/Fenlind/Rock-Mill news, it turns out that the company was renamed from Fenlind Engineering at some point to Rock-Mill Inc, which was then later renamed to Production Machine Company, which only closed its doors in 2015 with an auction in Rockford, IL. The man who sold it all off was Steven Hall, who signed the quote for parts in 1985 I mentioned in the last post. Surprisingly recent, all things considered.

Thanks,
Will

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My god guys, this is a WEALTH of information on my new mill. I have the EXACT one. I wasn't even sure about it, but something kept drawing me back to it and ended up taking this one over a nicely refurbished BP. I have some photos I'd like to post as well of what I have, but I"ll have to get them from my phone (currently dead) but I will post them. Are you still planning on fixing this thing up Will? This is so great. I also need that belt you have in the pictures. Mine is missing. I also have some sort of arm that extends over the top of that gear, not even sure what that is. Hoping to get mine looking beautiful. I still can't stop staring at it, it's an incredibly beautiful machine!

 

[wcunning]

@shelby grinders

It's fixed up some, and will be fixed up quite a bit more when I get a new house/bigger shop sometime soon. As you can see, I just mounted a tach in mine, to replace the original. I've also done quite a bit of work installing way wipers and cutting oil grooves in my mill, since it didn't have any of that before. I eventually plan to do a *full* rebuild with a rescraping of the ways and everything.

I'm looking forward to pictures for your mill and more info about it. I'll also be keeping an eye on this thread if you have any questions in the nearer future. Belt numbers and such are in another thread on here, but I'll pull them up if you're having trouble finding them on here. Also, if you're looking for help disassembling or moving the thing, I've had mine into almost as many pieces as it comes into, apart from the head.

Cheers,
Will

 

[shelby grinders]

@shelby grinders

It's fixed up some, and will be fixed up quite a bit more when I get a new house/bigger shop sometime soon. As you can see, I just mounted a tach in mine, to replace the original. I've also done quite a bit of work installing way wipers and cutting oil grooves in my mill, since it didn't have any of that before. I eventually plan to do a *full* rebuild with a rescraping of the ways and everything.

I'm looking forward to pictures for your mill and more info about it. I'll also be keeping an eye on this thread if you have any questions in the nearer future. Belt numbers and such are in another thread on here, but I'll pull them up if you're having trouble finding them on here. Also, if you're looking for help disassembling or moving the thing, I've had mine into almost as many pieces as it comes into, apart from the head.

Cheers,
Will

That sounds great man. Here’s a few pictures of mine. As you can see I’m missing the belt that goes on that clutch of sorts for boring. Not sure exactly what else I’m missing. My tach is there but not hooked up either. Everything else works barring the power feed but I’ll soon be adding a dro, hopefully so that shouldn't be an issue.
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The power supply is strange to me. It’s a 1.5hp motor on like 360 power. Still unsure if I want to go vfd or rotary converter. Not sure if I could use the VFD to control speed or should I use the variable speed on the machine? I’m pretty lost with this belt thing and missing o ring as well. Any and all help would be very much appreciated. Lastly, could I run this on a dedicated 20amp, or would I need 220? I can do either just as well, just wondering. I can post pictures of the electrical system currently there if you'd like as well. Thank you so much for all of your help brother.

 

[Larevo]

I just picked one of these MV100 mills up last week. Runs great, the previous owner installed a digital tach which works pretty good. My power downfeed of the quill doesn't work so will eventually get to that. My first project for it is installing a DRO. Does anyone have one installed? If so, which one did you find worked for it the best? I purchased the Mititoyo quill dro for it but, not sure it will work. It's designed more for a Bridgeport it looks like to me when i got it out of the box and compared it the quill setup on the MV100. I'm leaning towards a magnetic 4 axis and hopefully find something that works with the quill. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. And thank you to everyone that has shared all this info...

 

[Brucepts]

Sorry I've not kept up my end of the bargain of keeping active on this thread! Nice to see it's alive with new machines showing up!!!

I currently have pieces parts of a Sony Magnescale on my mill been using it that way for probably the past 10 years? I just recently picked up a "SINO" 3 axis (generic Chinese DRO) to replace my Sony DRO which used 2 different displays one for each axis. I have been using the same style SINO DRO (2 axis) on my lathe now for 2 years and am pleased with it's operation so figured I'd grab one for the mill. Just so happened I bought it right before the virus and the price had dropped to less than $200, it took a few months though to get it and it just came about 3 weeks ago. I stuck with the same style display to make it easier on myself swapping from machine to machine.

I have a bunch of other projects so it's going to be awhile until I get it installed though . . .

 

[Larevo]

Finally got a DRO and installed it from Reeson which is a 3 axis magnetic setup... so far works great especially for the $$$. 570 from Amazon and delivered within a week of ordering it... I've been using it for about 3 weeks now so I've had a chance to use a few features and everything works great. Installation was straight forward with not much fabrication needed. Next thing I need is the belt for the Quill auto feed. Anyone know where to get one of those from? I've also been trying to locate some documentation on the lubrication points on the machine? So, if anyone can point me in the right direction for that it would be greatly appreciated. I've downloaded all the manuals I could find online which specify type of oil but, no location for the lube.

 

[GTexas]

@Larevo , I am in a similar situation. I just started to work on my MV100 and also my power quill feed belt is shot. From what I have seen from other posts it is a Gates 150L050 which is widely available eg from McMaster or other belt suppliers like V Belt Guys. My problem is that to get to it I could not get the main spindle belt off yet. I get it up half way on the front sprocket, but that's it. Did you manage to get yours off or can someone else help?

Also on the lubrication I plan to drain and exchanges all gear oils as my machine has not run for over 10 years. From what I see there are 3 gearboxes:
1. The one in the head with the high and low gear seems has a fill and a drain plug on the back side of the head, top and bottom facing the rear. The fill plug is marked "M" in the one page instruction sheet.
2. The power quill feed gearbox on the left side has fill and drain plugs in the middle of the side wall at top and bottom. The fill plug is marked "O" in the one page instruction sheet.
3. The angle gear box from the horizontal shaft to the vertical one going the the high & low gear has a fill plug on the left side of the head (where the sticker "Fill with with AGMA No. 3 lub." is, also marked with "O" in the one page instruction), and @wcunning just pointed out that the drain plug is underneath the head, behind the rotation angle gauge on the head, up in a hollow.

Hope this helps, I will need to go through the same the next days.

 

[GTexas]

I have been researching the gear oil topic for the MV100 a bit. Our one page "manual" recommends to use AGMA 3 oil and additionally specifies viscosity with 490-700 SSU (Saybolt seconds at 100 F). The general recommendation for older machines is to use a GL-1 gear oil, i.e. one without EP additives which could contain phosphorus or sulfur and leach out copper from brass or bronze components. There is even a copper coupon test for gear oils. Today only GL-1 oils (no additives), GL-4 and GL-5 seem to be common with GL-5 having twice the amount of aggressive additives compared to GL-4.
There is also a nice conversion chart of AGMA grades to SAE grades in http://www.pencepetro.com/pdf/ViscosityClassification.pdf. According to that chart an AGMA 3 Gear oil would be a current ISO 100 or SAE85W gear oil. Unfortunately these are only available as EP oils (non GL-1), i.e. with additives which could be harmful to any yellow metals. The only GL-1 gear oils I can find are SAE90 (available at NAPA or Tractor Supply), which would be AGMA 4 or even AGMA 5 oils and on the higher end or outside of the Saybolt recommendation.
In case someone took their gear boxes apart, did you notice any brass bushings, seals or brass alloy gear components?

After further research I am about to give up on finding a true gear oil and plan on using a turbine oil / circulating oil such as Mobil DTE Heavy 100 ISO. This should have the right viscosity (AGMA 3, 100 ISO, 95.1 cSt @ 40 C, 495 SSU) and minimal additives (Copper Corrosion Rating 1b) and also work for the simple gears we have on our machines.
Which oil do you use in your MV100 ?

 

[GTexas]

As you can see the top of the spindle has a little Gits oiler cup, which, as far as I can see, has nothing in it but a straight hole down into the spindle which should probably be full of nice light weight oil. Unfortunately it would appear that the seal on the bottom of my spindle is 100% shot, so I'll probably have to track one down/figure out how to get to it in the mill... Has anyone had their spindle apart? Has anyone screwed off the piece on the bottom of the spindle/quill with the spanner holes in it?

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Interestingly my MV100 does not have that gits oiler cup for the spindle. My serial no. is MV528, maybe Rockford changed to greased spindle bearings or a previous owner changed that. I have not taken the spindle out yet.

 

[samreese]

If it helps anyone, McMaster has the belt, part # 6484K145 is the belt for the quill drive.

Belt Trade Size     L
Belt Trade Number    150L050
Width                1/2"
Outer Circle        15"
Number of Teeth        40
Teeth Shape            Trapezoidal
Teeth Location        Teeth on One Side
Pitch                0.375"