Select 1/2V that I bought from the original owner

[Mr.510]

Torch work is fun! I couldn't really take a cutting pic with my phone by myself so here's one side cut. Pro Tip: Two welding magnets and a piece of damned near anything make a great torch cutting guide. If you want to cheat and cut stuff that looks like a machine did it put a small hose clamp on the torch tip so it rests on your guide keeping the tip height constant.

I knocked the slag off the pockets with a grinder and put a nice radius on the ends so they won't be hard on shoes. Then painted them inside and out with Satin Black Rustoleum.

Today I bolted them on and stepped the mill down to the floor with the pallet jack and blocks of wood.

 

[Mr.510]

Then I spent a couple hours cleaning and oiling the ways and checking things over. It looks like it has hand scraped ways? I didn't expect that. I think the quill spring is broken or (hopefully) incorrectly put together as it wants to park the quill about mid travel. One screw on the side of the head is missing so I'm sure somebody's had it apart. It feels like it's under spring tension to move up or down. I've never felt a broken one do that. This puzzled me for about ten seconds:

Then I figured out it's a spring loaded belt tensioner with it's plunger missing. I don't know what was supposed to be in there, but a half inch dowel pin about an inch and a half long seems to work. The pin is probably a little long as it can't go all the way flush. Maybe I'll shorten it a little so I get the most slack possible for changing speeds.

There's no year on the machine but the motor is stamped 1977 so I'll guess that's the year the machine was made as well. It's pretty slow to start, is that typical? It's running on 110 but I could switch it to 220. It doesn't seem down on power, cuts about like a 1hp mill ought to. Yawn.

I swept in the head. It was out .0075 in X on a full sweep the width of the table. Got it to ~.0011 and called it good. Really sucks not having a worm screw and there's nothing I want to tap on with a brass dead blow. Good enough for what I'm doing right now but it will eat at me having a mill head that far off. Y is under .0005 and I'm really happy about that.

 

[Mr.510]

It makes chips! I really wish I had a shorter holder for this one inch two flute. Maybe when my collets get here I'll grab it backwards in my friend's end mill holder and turn a .875 shank on the first inch by clamping a turning tool to the table. Then I can grab it much shorter in a collet. Wouldn't really matter on a Bridgeport but it sure does on the little Select.

This is an operation I usually do on a CNC mill but I really need a few to make some customers happy so I'm going to cut them on the Select and see how it does. I mill off the top ~1-1/2" of a Nissan VG30 TBI intake plenum. Then bore the center hole out ~.200 and add four 1/4-20 tapped holes. Then a CNC machined adapter bolts on to accept a Holley two barrel carburetor (or 500cfm aftermarket throttle body injection). I've done at least a couple hundred of these over the last 20 years, usually in runs of 10 on a Fadal 4020.

The Select dig OK for a little mill taking the top off this intake. The tool holder is way too long but it's what I've got. I think I was turning this 1" two flute 1900-ish, I don't remember what the speeds are. I found the hardest I could go was ~3/4 the diameter .075 deep. With this cutter in a collet it'll probably go full diameter .100 deep. That would make me happy. On a Bridgeport it'll go full diameter at max spindle speed and .200 deep. On the 4020 I spin it 7500k rpm and depth of cut is limited only by the usable edge of the insert, which is .600. At higher RPM the casting rings like a bell no matter what you do. Perspective. The Select is a good little mill. Yawn. I'm happy to report the Servo power feed works great. It seemed a little loud at first but now it sounds typical. The ways didn't feel gummy at all but after cleaning and oiling them and then using the machine for an hour there's a bunch of black gunk working it's way out. Typical of a machine that's been sitting for years. There's dried up, gooey oil all over. I noticed one time when I moved Y- all the way to the stop the sliding cover to protect the screw wasn't there, but it has been every other time. I don't know if it's got a spring, tabs, or what in there but I guess I'm going to find out.

Hooray, there's chips on the floor! The five inch risers make the mill a much better working height and it moves easily with the pallet jack. Yes, that's a high precision leveling device compensating for the crooked floor. I might add leveling bolts.

 

[SLK001]

There's no year on the machine but the motor is stamped 1977 so I'll guess that's the year the machine was made as well. It's pretty slow to start, is that typical? It's running on 110 but I could switch it to 220. It doesn't seem down on power, cuts about like a 1hp mill ought to. Yawn.

Your motor is a 50 Hz motor. Running, it might get hot. If the motor has capacitors, check them to make sure they are still in good condition and not swollen.

 

[Mr.510]

Your motor is a 50 Hz motor. Running, it might get hot. If the motor has capacitors, check them to make sure they are still in good condition and not swollen.

I didn't even notice it's 50 Hz. I think this is the first non-60 Hz AC motor I've ever run. Did a quick web search and now I get why it's slow to start. I'll have to check my line voltage, but as I recall from checking it before plugging in my TIG machine it's on the high side, which should be easier on the motor from what I read. If it quits I'll put a 3 phase motor on it. I think I've got a 2hp kicking around here somewhere that might fit.

 

[Mr.510]

I've done about a dozen hours of machining with the Select and made enough aluminum chips to fill a five gallon bucket twice. Everything moves silky smooth now and the oil on the ways doesn't immediately turn black anymore. The motor also starts a lot faster, and once the machine has run about ten minutes to warm the belts up it spools up in about double the time of a typical 3 phase machine, so I'd say not bad for single phase running on the wrong phase! lol The motor barely gets warm to the touch, even when using every bit of it's power with the Carboloy clone 1" 2 flute insert endmill for an hour at a time. The Servo power feed has gotten even quieter and smoother as well, I think this mill mostly sat for the last 20 years and everything just needed to be used so it'd free up.

I'm a little bit surprised there's no way to lock the spindle when tightening or loosening the drawbar. Does anyone know if there was a wrench that fit the spindle spline or something? If so, where can I get one? If not it looks like I can make one easily enough once my lathe is under power.

 

[WEL0058]

Welcome aboard. Another Select 1/2V mill owner. I bought my first mill in March 2021 and found is perfect for my needs. When I tighten/loosen the drawbar, I grab the v-belt together with one hand and use 3/4" wrench with the other. Does not need to be super tight.

Great you also got a Servo powerfeed already install.

Bob G.

 

[Mr.510]

When I tighten/loosen the drawbar, I grab the v-belt together with one hand and use 3/4" wrench with the other. Does not need to be super tight.

That's what I've been doing, but would prefer a way that's a bit more solid. Having thrown tools out of spindles and destroyed expensive parts when drawbars came loose/tools slipped in collets I always like to err on the tight side with drawbars.

 

[Mr.510]

Here's the latest on the saga of the Select.
A while back I bought a 5" Vevor vise. Several people in other threads recommended a 4" vise for this little mill but none of the affordable ones will even hold 4" stock with the jaws in place and that doesn't work for my needs. The 5" Vevor is a cheap Kurt copy but the quality is surprisingly good. I can see that it's biggest weakness is the stationary jaw is cast with a large hollow cavity. If I keep this vise long term I'll make a solid stationary jaw for it.

In order to maximize usable Y travel I decided to mill the drain rail and excess material off the back of the vise. I clamped a 2-4-6 block to the table and squared it up with my Last Word.

Then I flipped the vise over and clamped it to the block.

I used my 1" Seco knock-off two flute insert end mill cutting .075 deep to cut the extra crap off the vise. Had to hang the tool out a long way to mill all the way to bed height. I halved the depth of cut for that part.

I left it .015 proud of the stationary jaw but if I do make a solid jaw I'll take off 1/4" more of the vise.

 

[Dabbler]

I had that same type of mill for around 17-18 years before I upgraded. Great little mill. You will like it. Love your base. I used a Taiwanese 6" vise on it all those years. and it felt like the right size for the mill. I sold the vise a couple of years ago when I upgraded to a Kurt 6" on my big mill.