Small mill rescued from the Hammerite monster

[lchris21]

Just a few pics of the mill I'm working on at the moment. It spent its life in a school workshop mostly milling "wood" by the amount of sawdust that was packed into the slideways!!!!
Its an old Boxford VM30. Typical British construction when they did'nt mind pouring a bit more cast iron into the mould
Teacher must have let some of the pupils loose with the standard botchers paint........ Hammerite. Various colours its been, grey, blue, yellow even a nice coat of black hammerite on the table

So far I've chopped the base down to a more manageable "limited space in the garage" size. Typical British engineering it was fabricated to last 200 years, and took a few dozen slitting discs and a good workout for the plasma

With the help of the forum I've managed somehow to convert the 3-phase motor from star to delta configuration. This has allowed me to use the inverter I picked up off evilbay.

Its been a bit more than a paint brush make-over. I've tidied up the slides and gibs, stoned and scraped where needed. Removed the molasses from the gearbox and put some fresh oil in. Got the high/low ratio selector working (fully gummed up with hardened PVA !!!) Straightened some of the leadscrews which had been damaged during transit.

Next stage is to fit some sort of coolant system to the exisiting tank and a worklight.

Got to find somat to make on it then

Some pics:

 

[Coo]

Nice job !

 

[darren.a.roberts]

nice work!

 

[Wedg1e]

None too shabby, but I think you'll find you get wet feet using it with coolant

 

[magnet]

cracking job

 

[lchris21]

made a bit more progress this weekend. found an old vice even managed to make some swarf !!! First job is to make some tee nuts as I only had 2

apologies to the electrical purists out there, wiring is not my strongest point, good thing is its all hidden behind the nice door at the back. managed to work out the inputs on the VFD so it allows the use of the original start stop buttons

First project for it, is to fit a motorized feed on the x-axis. already got a few ideas for that...................

 

[zzr1200]

Well done, nice rebuild, I wish I could find project like that....

 

[Robotstar5]

Don't worry about the wiring, this was done by alledged professionals!....

 

[brightspark]

Don't worry about the wiring, this was done by alledged professionals!....

View attachment 39294

undoubtedly all the cables have id markers on them and theres a circuit diagram

 

[Robotstar5]

undoubtedly all the cables have id markers on them and theres a circuit diagram

I wish!

 

[Fintray]

Ichris21 how are you getting on with your mill, has it been used a lot and what limitations have you found?

 

[lchris21]

Ichris21 how are you getting on with your mill, has it been used a lot and what limitations have you found?

its only a baby due to limited real estate in my single garage, but its like the small lathe I've got, its there and is used when needed. Any meaty big stuff gets done during my tea break in work Its limited only really in height when you've got a bigger job in it, but small stuff is no problem. Its no high speed mill munching production machine but is handy for squaring up little brackets, blocks hole centering etc. have milled a few hex's with it. also adapted an old variable speed motor I had lying around and connected it to the X-axis which makes it a bit more user friendly..............

 

[Fintray]

Hi thanks for the information, do you have any pics of the x-axis mods?

 

[Wallace]

Superb. (I've moved you to the top of my most hated list now for posting the photos.)

 

[sardine]

Envy emoticon.

 

[ukracer]

How did you get all the steel so shiny??

 

[penfold]

WD40 and wire wool or green scourer, plus elbow grease.

 

[mfletch]

Nice rescue, what are these mills like for hobby use

 

[ukracer]

WD40 and wire wool or green scourer, plus elbow grease.

Ah I have seen that in the Range...

 

[lchris21]

just extended the lead screw then cobbled together the head off an old angle grinder to reduce the motor speed right down to also increase the torque, few brackets, bit of nylon I had lying around for an adapter flange and away you go. Works a treat.
Even fitted a Chinese DRO to it last year for a few hundred quid.............missus wanted me to get a new moby but I had a better use for the money . My old phone works fine

Its a real handy tool to have and a very small footprint, always wanted my own......don't know why because we got one in work !!!! But its there when you just need that edge a bit more accurate or a small widget nicely machined I can get on and do it rather than waiting for a window in work...?? ideal for hobby use, and yes loads of elbow grease, bit of stoning then finish off with some scotchbrite......