My Milling Quest - Assembling my Beaver Mill

[Pete.]

Looking at the first pic, the shaft that holds the pinion looks to be in a collar that does not exit centrally from whatever housing is supporting it. Perhaps that collar is an eccentric adjuster for the gear's backlash?

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Looking at the first pic, the shaft that holds the pinion looks to be in a collar that does not exit centrally from whatever housing is supporting it. Perhaps that collar is an eccentric adjuster for the gear's backlash?

You have great eyesight
I hadn't really noticed before, so I have just been in the shed to investigate. Indeed it does look like that kind of system. It seems that it may be the outer shaft housing that rotates. I dont know for sure until I look deeper, but it will explain the reason for the damage, and make my life easier when fitting new gears.
I had visons of pinning the gears to the shafts pretty close to where they should be, then shimming them up to the required tolorance.

I shall learn a lot from this build I reckon.

Pete, I followed your thread you posted on another forum regarding scraping your Warco. It was a good read. I only hope I don't need to do any scraping on my machine. I know at least the saddle gib is worn pretty badly, but the knee gib 'looks' ok.

 

[stormin]

You have great eyesight
I hadn't really noticed before, so I have just been in the shed to investigate. Indeed it does look like that kind of system. It seems that it may be the outer shaft housing that rotates. I dont know for sure until I look deeper, but it will explain the reason for the damage, and make my life easier when fitting new gears.
I had visons of pinning the gears to the shafts pretty close to where they should be, then shimming them up to the required tolorance.

I shall learn a lot from this build I reckon.

Pete, I followed your thread you posted on another forum regarding scraping your Warco. It was a good read. I only hope I don't need to do any scraping on my machine. I know at least the saddle gib is worn pretty badly, but the knee gib 'looks' ok.

It was indeed a good spot on the eccentric shaft!

Now where will I find the milling machine scraping thread please? Are we allowed to post links to other forums on here? If not a few gentle hints may help.

Edit: Found it at BBS Home shop machinist. Havent looked on there for a while.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

It was indeed a good spot on the eccentric shaft!

Now where will I find the milling machine scraping thread please? Are we allowed to post links to other forums on here? If not a few gentle hints may help.

Edit: Found it at BBS Home shop machinist. Havent looked on there for a while.

I have seen some references to other forums in past threads, but I'm not entirely sure of the rules for it. I would guess its ok if the information from the other forum is relevent to the thread at the time.

To be on the safe side, type 'adventures in scraping' into google, to point you in the right direction

 

[Pete.]

There's nothing wrong to linking to more information, especially when it's such a great forum as HSM:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/56483-Adventures-in-scraping

P.S. I wouldn't swap those gears. A tidy-up on the crowns of the teeth with a file to remove the wrinkles but it's only a hand-crank gear not like it's going to run noisily.

 

[MattF]

Now painting on the other hand...one problem with that, what colour to choose

As long as it ain't either a hammered type finish, light blue or yellow, pretty much owt goes, (can you tell I'm not a fan of those finishes? ). My personal favourites/choices are either Brunswick Green or Wine Red. I use Black/Blue, (Schwarzblau), for nondescript bits and pieces, then the green or red where I think it suits best.

 

[Pete.]

I paint everything light grey, because I have a 5 gallon tin of light grey polyurethane floor paint that's been used to paint my garage floor twice and still isn't down to the 3/4 mark. Cost me £30. It's very good at resisting chips etc on machines.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Unfortunately the shaft isn't on an eccentric for adjustment. It is a poor (bent like a banana) casting that gives the impression of eccentricity.



The bearing (currently removed) sits central within the face plate. I also done a phisical test to see if the shaft moves when turning the housing through 360 degrees.



No matter, there are other methods for adjustment.

I have also ordered a tin of paint

 

[MattF]

I have also ordered a tin of paint

What colour have you opted for?

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

I went for a grey Polyurethane Floor/metal/wood Paint. I will slap some on and see how it finishes.

I have ordered 2 new bearings for the housing above. I have decided, I will replace the gears. I could have tidied them with a file, but they are a lot worse that you can see in the pics. I have a choice from 2 companies, one at £45 for the gear set, the other I am still awaiting a price.

(14:34 Paint just arrived )

 

[Pete.]

It'll finish with a dull grey colour but it'll be very hard wearing, as you'd expect from floor paint. I've been working on my lathe for weeks now wheeling it about the workshop on casters, spinning it round to get access to different areas and catching the benches with it and it's picked up very few chips.

I would take that housing and bore it through straight, then add a couple of sleeves to hold the bearings. You could add in a little eccentricity so you have a 3-position backlast adjustment.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

It'll finish with a dull grey colour but it'll be very hard wearing, as you'd expect from floor paint. I've been working on my lathe for weeks now wheeling it about the workshop on casters, spinning it round to get access to different areas and catching the benches with it and it's picked up very few chips.

I would take that housing and bore it through straight, then add a couple of sleeves to hold the bearings. You could add in a little eccentricity so you have a 3-position backlast adjustment.

It's probably not that easy to picture it from the photos. The bore is straight and where it should be, its the bent casting which makes the exit hole look like its on an eccentric. The bore itself is just for clearance and doesnt come into contact with the shaft, which is supported by bearings either end.

making an eccentric modification is almost a project of its own. I think at this point in time, I may put it on a future project list and concentrate getting the mill to a working state (when I can find the time)

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

It'll finish with a dull grey colour but it'll be very hard wearing, as you'd expect from floor paint. I've been working on my lathe for weeks now wheeling it about the workshop on casters, spinning it round to get access to different areas and catching the benches with it and it's picked up very few chips.

I would take that housing and bore it through straight, then add a couple of sleeves to hold the bearings. You could add in a little eccentricity so you have a 3-position backlast adjustment.

It's probably not that easy to picture it from the photos. The bore is straight and where it should be, its the bent casting which makes the exit hole look like its on an eccentric. The bore itself is just for clearance and doesnt come into contact with the shaft, which is supported by bearings either end.

making an eccentric modification is almost a project of its own (for me it is ). I think at this point in time, I may put it on a future project list and concentrate getting the mill to a working state (when I can find the time)

 

[ukracer]

Did you get much further with this project mate??

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Resurrecting a 3 year old thread....

Over the past few days I decided to have another bash at another one of my long lost projects.
My original plan was to fully overhaul it: paint job, electrolysis cleaning of parts etc. Now I have decided to just build it, make sure it works and use it. After that, I may decide to strip it and refurb it properly... at a later date

I finally fitted the new gears for the knee. Not original gears, but I sourced some gears of the same ratio and with a bit of modification I have them fit.
The gibbs have seen better days and I would have liked to have a go at scraping, but put together it seems to operate quite nice with no slop or tight spots. The scraping can wait until its proper overhaul.

I hope to be doing some milling on it...this year...

 

[MattF]

Sweet. Someone else who's a tardy git at getting round to finishing projects. Always nice to know you're not alone.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Just one of many mate...projects...and tardy gits
My bike project (I was planning to get on the road this summer *cough*) will probably be on hold now for 3 years, or should I swap that for one of the other projects on hold

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

I have no idea how 2 of us managed to remove the head and arm in one piece when we dismantled it . Today I dsmantled it into bits and it's still a 2 person job to lift!
Anyway, the hard work is now done.

Also pumped it along a couple feet to it's new home. A trolley jack on its side, between the base and the wall did the trick

 

[HughF]

Nice mill Kev, similar size to the 6x26 I have at home...

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Nice mill Kev, similar size to the 6x26 I have at home...

Cheers Hugh.
Just had to google 6x26 mill, now Im more knowledgable It does look to be in that class. Sort of an inbetweeny between an industrial and a hobby machine. Perfect size for a large shed/small workshop.

The motor mount on it at the moment is a bit of a mashup. I need to make a new plate, spacers, and I have some more Whitworth bolts on order. Once I have the motor in position, I can then work out the size of belt to order. I hope to make some more progress tomorrow.