Table movement

Latinrascalrg1 said:
Or it shows the quality of the machine in general!
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Yes. I'd love one of your Bridgeports but they're not common in Australia and this mill was the best bang I could find for my buck here.

Looking at it the table ways and the dovetail have been hand scraped so I'm hoping that that is an indication that it is actually accurate, rather than a suggestion of a coverup of horrible tolerances.

I have some test equipment and once I have the mill properly mounted in my shop I'll be able to start pulling it down and measuring it if my results are not up to scratch.
 
My Millrite mill has the X axis feed screw going through the end caps, which is pretty common. It was stiff at one end until I loosened the bolts that hold the end cap to the table, and then ran the table all the way the other direction, to minimize the lead screw length from nut to end cap. This automatically lined up the feed screw with the end cap. Tightened down the cap, smooth all the way from one end to the other. Did the same at the other end, just to make sure it was correct. This was on a mill in new condition, but 40+ years old. Cleaning everything up was also a necessity. Smooth as silk and near zero backlash, and no table shake since the easy cleanup and adjustments.
 
G'day Andrew, welcome to this great forum I also live in Adelaide, I think we have 3 or 4 members here in Adelaide, plus a number of good operators scattered around the country.

While I'm not familiar with your machine I'm local, sort of depends where you are, but if I Can help I will. I'm in Eden Hills area near Blackwood. Do you have any other machines?
 
Downunder Bob said:
G'day Andrew, welcome to this great forum I also live in Adelaide, I think we have 3 or 4 members here in Adelaide, plus a number of good operators scattered around the country.

While I'm not familiar with your machine I'm local, sort of depends where you are, but if I Can help I will. I'm in Eden Hills area near Blackwood. Do you have any other machines?
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Very kind! I'm in Mitcham and grew up in Bellevue Heights. I have a Chinese knockoff lathe as well. My interest in machining developed out of my hobby of car restoration.
 
Abowie said:
Very kind! I'm in Mitcham and grew up in Bellevue Heights. I have a Chinese knockoff lathe as well. My interest in machining developed out of my hobby of car restoration.
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Ah, Mitcham, just down that windy road down the hill, And Bellevue heights just across the road shepherds hill road that is. Not far away at all.

Restoring cars, never got into that. Messed around with a few hot rods in the 60's.

Like i said if you need any help give me a call, and if I can I will.
 
I have taken the opportunity to tidy my workshop and paint the floor with epoxy.

Mill is mounted and I can at last start to set it up and start using it.

Still waiting on the 3/4" steel top for my other bench which goes on the left.

I daresay I'll have more questions soon. Thanks to all who replied.

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Nice shop! Talk about tidy. It would feel like sacrilege to dirty it up. Is it an industrial building or did you just put the corrugated tin on the walls? I love it.
 
Wow what a sanitary shop you have there. Are you sure you don't perform surgery in there ? That's never gonna be me but i can dream. Good luck with your new mill.
 
It didn't look like that 2 weeks ago; it was filthy.

This is built next to my house. The section you can see is 4 x 4.5m. Through the doorway is a 5x6m double garage with my car hoist and pallet racking for storing car parts. Corrugated iron is commonly used in Australia for making garages and sheds.

I have had a problem with the concrete in the workshop, as opposed to the garage you can see behind. The workshop was a later addition and the concrete is soft and wears easily, producing a lot of fine concrete dust. I didn't want to use the mill in such a crappy environment.

I hope that by grinding the top of the concrete and sealing it with epoxy it might be a bit better.

As I had to remove all my stuff into the garage, I Karchered the whole space and am now moving everything back in. The spiders were particularly displeased. The blue floor does make the area a lot brighter.

As an anaesthetist I am not allowed to perform surgery, just keep the poor patient alive while watching my knife wielding colleagues.
 
As an anaesthetist you are vital to keeping the paitent alive and comfortable while the mechanics work, a very hard job if someone is already affected by drugs or alchohol.
I have a Hafco HM-46 which like yours is a RF-45 clone. It will get smoother with time and as has been pointed out the ends of the X-axis rarely see use so unless you use full travel often there will be some tightness at the extemities of travel.
Very nice shop you have.
 
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