Rockford/Hedwick MV100 power table feed install

Bruce,

I think I have a bigger table than listed in the manual. Mine is 42" instead of the standard one which is 36." The friendly fellow from the other forum that gave me the few documents I posted way up in this thread was also aware of 42" tables being offered, so I don't know if it was a rare upgrade or not.

That said, I got a lot less knee travel than the manual listed, and a lot more table travel, so I think I have to measure all of them myself. I did use the exact method you described, basically making a mark on the saddle where I would mount the scale read head and then marking the table at either end of travel where my "read head" is located, measure the distance between the marks. That got me ~23.7" which I rounded up to 24" based on the binding I was getting in the gibs at the extreme ends of travel where the table was never worn in.

Personally, I'm leaning towards a 4 axis setup with a scale on both the knee and quill and a summing box to tell me the distance from the spindle to the table. I'm also leaning towards a direct-from-China DRO. I've read too many people having problems with the Acu-Rite scales and such to be willing to spend the money on something that's not going to significantly outlast the import.

Thanks,
Will
 
Interesting, I seem to recall years ago hearing about a larger table but never saw any documentation about it.
 
I finally got a manufacturer's page for Fenlind Engineering over on Vintage Machinery, so I've uploaded all of the "manuals" from this thread over there. I also got in touch with a fellow over on the other forum, and he put me in touch with a neighbor of his who owned an MV-100. I should be getting a large packet of 30 years worth of collected information in the mail this week. I hope to be able to scan and upload everything next weekend, so stay tuned for more info!

Cheers,
Will
 
Most of what I got in the mail today was stuff we already had copies of, though there were a few gems.

First and most importantly, there is a spindle oil cup, at least on my machine and on Jeff's (the fellow owner who mailed me what he had). It's located in the head, down below/inside the housing underneath the main timing belt from the gearbox, between the two sides of the belt going over to the power quill feed. I'll post a picture when I've had a chance to clear up about 50 years of horrid, oily, greasy swarf.

Second, and probably more interestingly to me, apparently Fenlind Engineering was renamed Rock-Mill at some point and continued operations until at least 1985 since Jeff had a quote for parts dated that year. I'm curious if it'd be possible to track down anyone who worked there when they closed shop, since that was only 33 years ago. Maybe there's still a parts source book somewhere if it wasn't pitched in the closing, or a pile of spare parts.

I'll get the few things we didn't already have scanned and uploaded in the next couple of days.

Cheers,
Will
 
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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I forgot all about that oil cup!

Below is some email traffic I had in the past with some other MV-100 owners from back in 2008-2010 time frame from another forum:

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"The top bearing only had a fiber type seal at the top of the bearing so dirt does not get in. It was open at the bottom no grease. The large bearings at the collet end the top bearing open both sides. The bottom one open at the top and another fiber type seal at the very bottom no grease. If you put spindle oil in what else would it lubricate the quill is a sealed tube the spindle rides in the bearings that does not need oil. The manual we have does not even mention the spindle at all."

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"Is your theory that the spindle bearings are lubed by oil? I took my spindle and bearings out of the quill and the bearings were definitely packed with grease. I too had replaced a leaking lip seal and squirted spindle oil through the lidded Gitts fitting at the top of the quill. The oil inside the quill was washing the grease out of my bearings. I concluded the bearings should be lubed with grease and the oil fitting should only be used sparingly to lube the quill."
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Might be of some help?

My mill spindle/quill "nut" has been damaged and I don't have the total spanner holes if you could take a picture of what an undamaged one should look like I'd appreciate it? Thanks.

Will, you are going to be the resident MV-100 historian :)
 
I'm trying to be Bruce! I intend to start a full rebuild sometime around the end of the summer -- rescraping, replacing the spindle bearings, probably a full repaint. When I do, I'll likely start a new thread, probably over in the Machine Reconditioning forum, but we'll see. All in all, I'm miles ahead of where I was when the thing landed in my driveway, since I know what the levers and knobs do now :D

The spindle is rated to run at up to 3700 RPM, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that I strongly believe in low viscosity oil. I'm sure that you can get fully sealed bearings these days rated to that spindle speed and spindle-type preloads, but I wouldn't bet on that being trivially the case in 1950. Then again, my expertise in tribology could be written on a grain of rice, and you wouldn't need a magnifying glass to read it...

My spindle protector is not in good shape -- apparently it's supposed to be held in by three little set screws as far as I can tell from the marks on the spindle and the exploded parts diagram. Mine is rather chewed up instead, thus my incorrect assumption that it was a set of pin spanner holes. I'll probably need to find someone else to mount that up in an indexer, drill those out further and re-tap at the next size up. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.

The seal that I need to replace is a C/R 275127-M1, which I seem to be seeing as a Timken 473452. Does anyone have good suggestions of where to go to order Timken seals? The only quick website I found is a company out of Traverse City and they want like $15.00 for shipping on a $12 seal :( Or Motion Industries who don't seem to have it in stock.

Cheers,
Will
 
My spindle protector is not in good shape -- apparently it's supposed to be held in by three little set screws as far as I can tell from the marks on the spindle and the exploded parts diagram. Mine is rather chewed up instead, thus my incorrect assumption that it was a set of pin spanner holes. I'll probably need to find someone else to mount that up in an indexer, drill those out further and re-tap at the next size up. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.

Cheers,
Will

I ran down and looked at my spindle cover, never took a good look at it before but it does have 3 set screws in it. Guess I'll pull it off and have a look tomorrow. I know my seal is leaking also.

I also have a spare set of used spindle bearings I was sent years ago and I can get the numbers off of them for reference.
 
I'd really appreciate the numbers off of the spindle bearings. I don't know that I *need* to replace all the bearings on my spindle, but I wouldn't be opposed to the work if it's not insanely expensive. I think I want the rebuild to be a do it all, do it right, do it once kind of job.

When you get into the thing, do you think you could help me figure out how to get the seal out? I'm not sure where to pry or if the giant nut on the bottom needs to be removed (or if the giant nut sets the spindle bearing preload...).

Thanks,
Will

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That looks like mine so it's possible they are not damaged as bad was we are thinking?

I tried to remove mine a few minutes ago, one set screw was damaged so it took some playing to get it out. I could not get the collar off and didn't want to go any further as I need to use my mill (this was prior to seeing your pics) I see it now just slips on with no threads and the set screws hold it in position.

My thoughts on the seal . . . find a wood screw and screw it into the metal part and pull it out, How I've removed captive seals before on projects. You are installing a new seal so damaged seal is not an issue, just be careful you do not damage the sealing surface on the spindle!

I'll grab some pics of the bearings and numbers in a bit . . .

Bearings I have are:

207 NPP
208 NPP

Both are sealed top and bottom so it appears they are not oil lubed.

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