When was your knee mill manufactured? Mine was manufactured on 1998 - 7 => which I guess it means July '98.
Will
just bought an used knee mill ... photos!
- Thread starter wquiles
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When was your knee mill manufactured? Mine was manufactured on 1998 - 7 => which I guess it means July '98.
Will
gadget_lover
Flashaholic
Mine was made in Oct of 79 (date=79-10). The company that made it is still around. Standard Machinery of Taiwan.
The major improvements that are visible on yours:
Better motor, since yours is sealed and mine is open at the bottom.
Nicer handles.
Cleaner (straighter) lines in the castings
Straight Pillar.
The pockets at the ends of the table slots are more open on yours.
The base has a "toe hole" to insert a jack for tilting / raising the unit.
Advantage of the older design;
No openings in the base, so might be more rigid.
The one shot oiler is on the right, so it does not block access to the Z axis locks.
Mine has two Z axis locks, two Y and 1 (?) X.
I gotta post some pictures sooner or later.
Daniel
The major improvements that are visible on yours:
Better motor, since yours is sealed and mine is open at the bottom.
Nicer handles.
Cleaner (straighter) lines in the castings
Straight Pillar.
The pockets at the ends of the table slots are more open on yours.
The base has a "toe hole" to insert a jack for tilting / raising the unit.
Advantage of the older design;
No openings in the base, so might be more rigid.
The one shot oiler is on the right, so it does not block access to the Z axis locks.
Mine has two Z axis locks, two Y and 1 (?) X.
I gotta post some pictures sooner or later.
Daniel
Wow !!! - Almost 30 years ago, and still working nice 😉
Yes, I would love to see more pictures of your mill. It is funny how they changed the # of locks for each axis: I have 1x for the Z, 1x for the Y, and 2x for the X.
Will
precisionworks
Flashaholic
Double cutting is a sure sign that the head is in tram left-to-right. Try feeding front to back & see if the end mill still double cuts ... of course, that's the harder one to adjust out😀
gadget_lover
Flashaholic
Sorry. I'm forever getting things backwards. The X has two locks and the Y has only one. The Z still has two. 🙂
Well, I must have done something good at some point, and this knee mill is my reward, because I am also getting double cutting in the Y direction 😀
This is a closeup of the one cutting in the X direction I did earlier today:
How lucky can I get? :devil:
Will
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Clark
Newly Enlightened
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=742&PARTPG=INLMK3&PMITEM=990-3293
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=743&PMCTLG=00
You put the hub of the hand wheel in the chuck of your lathe.
You then drill it out to the shaft size of the mill.
There is not easy simple way to make a key slot. Hack and and file are the labor intensive way. Using the mill quill like a mortise chopper, with the mill motor turned off is another. A broach is the professional way, but not worth it for one wheel that does not need to be that strong.
If you are left handed, consider putting the wheel on the left end of the table on the knee shaft and putting the new wheel on the left end of the mill table.
Often I have to take a wheel off the end of the mill table to clear that long length of a gun barrel or gun stock. So I would put a tiny wheel on one end of table.
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precisionworks
Flashaholic
+1
But that's gonna be expensive ... postage both ways should just about cover the cost:thumbsup:
This weekend I added an ON/OFF dual-pole 60A switch to the 220V 30A outlet, and added a second outlet in parallel, so that I don't have to switch from the lathe to the mill. Although I have enough current to operate both the mill and the lathe at the same time, since it is just one of me in my "shop", only one tool will be used at any given time. Best thing is that while I am traveling I can put a small padlock at the switch:
Will
Will
Tonight, my first real project with the knee mill: to take a 3/4" Kennametal Top Notch tool holder and modify it to fit into my BXA 5/8" tool holders for the lathe:
and thanks to a tip from Barry, I used Dicropan to "blue" the exposed steel:
Finished product:
You guys were right, even with the steel tool post, it is a piece of cake to do milling in this machine compared to the X2 that I had earlier 😉
Will
and thanks to a tip from Barry, I used Dicropan to "blue" the exposed steel:
Finished product:
You guys were right, even with the steel tool post, it is a piece of cake to do milling in this machine compared to the X2 that I had earlier 😉
Will
precisionworks
Flashaholic
Nice job😀
Your radius corner end mill worked well. Is it solid carbide? What rpm did you run, and how much DOC per pass?
Your radius corner end mill worked well. Is it solid carbide? What rpm did you run, and how much DOC per pass?
It's the best cold blue that I've ever tried. Brownells really believes in superb customer service, satisfaction guaranteed, and they have great tech support for all the products they carry.
StrikerDown
Enlightened
This weekend I added an ON/OFF dual-pole 60A switch to the 220V 30A outlet, and added a second outlet in parallel, so that I don't have to switch from the lathe to the mill. Although I have enough current to operate both the mill and the lathe at the same time, since it is just one of me in my "shop", only one tool will be used at any given time. Best thing is that while I am traveling I can put a small padlock at the switch:
Will
The wires all in the wall... Looking good and the locking disconnect is a plus if you need to keep the kids out of the machining business!
The work shop is coming along real nice Will. :thumbsup:
I was taking about 0.030" per pass, at about 1000rpm. I bought it at the local surplus store a while back so I don't remember well, but I think it is a resharpened HSS bit (3/4" shank - I use my ER40 collet system to hold them).
Yes, all of the cables are behind the wall. It took longer to do, but it is safe and looks "semi-professional" 😱
Yes, keeping my two young kids away from the 220V outlet was a very strong motivator 😉
All I need to add now is an external RED bulb so that I can have a visual indicator that the switch is ON or OFF. Right now, I would have to open the cover to know the switch position.
Will
precisionworks
Flashaholic
Quite a few ways to do that ... but a tower stack light is the nicest method, as you can have one, two or three indicator colors:
http://www.factorymation.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.11246/.f
Maybe not the most elegant method, but here is how I did the RED light indicator:
Power OFF:
Power ON:
Will
Power OFF:
Power ON:
Will
Anglepoise
Flashlight Enthusiast
Great idea especially when family members have access to 'the shop'.
precisionworks
Flashaholic
I need to do something like that on my VFD's ... which sometimes get left on for a few days because I forgot to hit the disconnect. But it has to
be a LED😗
be a LED😗
This one is a simple 12V incandescent lamp (just 200mA). I just have a very small 120VAC to 12VAC transformer (max. of 300mA) inside the DoubleD switch box, which then outputs the 12VAC directly to the lamp. The way I wired it, and with the box I used behind the drywall, it should be really easy to do a simple upgrade to an LED-based indicator in the future 😉
Will
precisionworks
Flashaholic
This place has some interesting LED's:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=MR16
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=MR16
On a recent thread in one of the email groups that I belong to there was a link (which I can't find right now!) showing a guy using thin neoprene to cover the ways on the lathe and the top of the milling table to prevent damage and protect from debris and keep things clean. Since I feel that the ruber/neoprene cover for debris in my knee mill is too narrow and allows debris to accumulate on the Z and Y ways, I decided to take advantage of free shipping from Enco and got me some 1/8" material, 36" wide:
Here is the factory (too narrow) cover:
and here I am making a wider one, using the natural curve from the material to my advantage - note now it now "hangs" down:
Since it is wider in the bottom, I am using a hard-drive super magnet to keep it in place:
I will be putting two additional pieces (like shown here) to the sides of the Kurt vise, but this time with the material curving up to prevent parts from rolling off, or from falling in the "T" slots. In these photos I am using the old piece (cut in half) but I will be putting new material as this older material has some embedded metal debris in it !!!
I will also be cutting some to put on the ways on my lathe, underneath the chuck (held also with powerful magnets). That is the next small project in the list 😉
Here is the factory (too narrow) cover:
and here I am making a wider one, using the natural curve from the material to my advantage - note now it now "hangs" down:
Since it is wider in the bottom, I am using a hard-drive super magnet to keep it in place:
I will be putting two additional pieces (like shown here) to the sides of the Kurt vise, but this time with the material curving up to prevent parts from rolling off, or from falling in the "T" slots. In these photos I am using the old piece (cut in half) but I will be putting new material as this older material has some embedded metal debris in it !!!
I will also be cutting some to put on the ways on my lathe, underneath the chuck (held also with powerful magnets). That is the next small project in the list 😉
