Town Woodhouse milling machine re-commission and cnc conversion

[minimutly]

Using sohcahtoa, sin30 times 7 equals 4 thou...
feels more than that. Perhaps need to allow for the scraping of the dovetail as well. Oo-er, I don't think it was that much - a thou or so max.
Starting to think I neeed one of those filing machines...
Maybe drilling oversize, offsetting the counterbores, and a pair of washers will do it.
Measure twice drill once...

 

[minimutly]

No progress on calculating the horizontal offset for the nut - work doing my head in, so I'm doing hands on stuff to destress.
Tonight I made a 1/2 inch whit socket head screw from a 1/2 inch shouldered bolt - local supplier didn't have one. This is to replace the one that had snapped in the fall.
Also been doing some shimming - shimmed the short y gib as suggested by @pressbrake1 - 21 thou glued to the back face - worked a treat. Put two 21s together on the knee gib - damnit, still slack, will need to try again.

 

[minimutly]

Well, thanks for the offer @pressbrake1 , but I spent most of a day scraping the deck. It's close enough for now, and anyway - it doesn't need to be perfect, you should clock everything before machining anyway?
So, surface and both undersides scraped.
View attachment 321597
Been checking them together, a bit more to do.
So I have a question - the underside of the table has been scraped - it was 2 thou worn in the middle, I don't recall how much I scraped off the top of the carriage. Lets say another 2 thou. So the lead screw will be misaligned by 4 thou. So what to do about it? Both ends have dowelled castings, so I guess I could make some offset dowels, and offset the screw holes?
And then there is this:-
View attachment 321598View attachment 321599This is the nut holder thing that sits under the carriage. Again it will need moving. Anyone got a suggestion how to offset the holes by 20 thou or so? (Guess there from me)..

So, back to this blighter. My schoolboy maths, using two seperate triangles, one to represent the dropping of the carriage (is it a carriage on a mill?), and a second triangle to represent wear and scraping of the dovetails.
7 thoudrop, moves it across 4.04". Plus allowing 4 thou wear and scrape moves it a further 4.61". So 8.65" in all. Which means
- WAKE UP AT THE BACK THERE @pressbrake1 !
A hole at least 17.3thou bigger than the one I have is needed, plus moving the counterbores and making some washers. Bit of a faff....

 

[pressbrake1]

Just get on with it!

 

[minimutly]

Just get on with it!

Hmphhh

 

[fizzy]

Your progress is astonishing it really is. I never thought that machine would be back together again - seems like only yesterday we were loading the head into your XF

 

[minimutly]

Your progress is astonishing it really is. I never thought that machine would be back together again - seems like only yesterday we were loading the head into your XF

It's been a journey that's for sure, and although largely the big bits are back together the's still a way to go, the spindle and most of the stuff in the head isn't right, and will need to come apart.
I've not gone away from the cnc conversion idea, but tbh the costs of converting your own just don't stack up vs buying one, and then there's no fun in it, and if I don't have a plan to make one pay for itself whats the point?

 

[Pete.]

Hmphhh

View attachment 322658 View attachment 322659 View attachment 322660

What the hell was in that oil can?

 

[mtt.tr]

Hmphhh

View attachment 322658 View attachment 322659 View attachment 322660

I'm truly impressed, I would have had that In a scrap yard from how it started

 

[minimutly]

What the hell was in that oil can?

Oil, damage was caused by an unskilled gorilla I guess. I decided to leave it there, too deep to grind out (2mm est.), and although I've stick welded cast iron in the past I thought the risk/hassle wasn't worth it.

 

[minimutly]

Tonight I was gluing some shim strip to the back of the long gib under the table, so decided to clean, abrade and fill that circular groove in the table. We’ll see how that works out.
Also removed the box of electronics on the side (defunct speed control I think), and made the light work.
By making it work I mean I mounted the thing on the flat so it doesn’t drop towards the floor all the time. Did away with the 400/50V transformer, used a 240V led. I guess it should be ELV?
Small steps

 

[minimutly]

Latest from this is rebuilding the table drive gearbox. It's a rough old thing, looks to have been running dry. Also getting the lead screw ready to reinsert, making taper pins...

The short pin was one I removed from the larger hole in the shaft - not sure why someone would redrill next to the original. Will wash the gearbox out tonight. It reall needs binning and a servomotor fitting instead, so maybe I'll just grease it for now.

 

[fizzy]

Latest from this is rebuilding the table drive gearbox. It's a rough old thing, looks to have been running dry. Also getting the lead screw ready to reinsert, making taper pins...
View attachment 324359View attachment 324360
The short pin was one I removed from the larger hole in the shaft - not sure why someone would redrill next to the original. Will wash the gearbox out tonight. It reall needs binning and a servomotor fitting instead, so maybe I'll just grease it for now.

We're the bearings/gears made of chocolate

 

[Seadog]

making taper pins...

Why, they're cheap enough.

 

[minimutly]

We're the bearings/gears made of chocolate

The gears are hard, as are the dogs. The bronze worm wheel has seen better days, the selectors are in the bottom, assumed to be the culprits for leaking all the oil out, wearing the worm wheel. And you can't put new seals in without knocking pins, shafts and more pins out to remove the selector shafts.
The reason for making my own pins? Because I can I guess?

 

[mtt.tr]

Do the right thing buy some ball screws, drivers, motors and a controller

 

[minimutly]

Do the right thing buy some ball screws, drivers, motors and a controller

Yeh, right. Trouble is the table ball screw will cost a couple of hundred on its own. Add the motor, belt and pulleys, controller, and I'm £500 plus into it. If I had an inkling I might get some work for one I would buy an older cnc needing an upgrade. Maybe...

 

[mtt.tr]

Yeh, right. Trouble is the table ball screw will cost a couple of hundred on its own. Add the motor, belt and pulleys, controller, and I'm £500 plus into it. If I had an inkling I might get some work for one I would buy an older cnc needing an upgrade. Maybe...

Yeah the costs soon add up

 

[minimutly]

In true @Parm style I sneaked out earlier. I'd got to the stage of dressing, cleaning and inserting the table lead screw under the table, through the nut, bearing, spacer, forward gear, selector, reverse gear and out of the gearbox yesterday. So I had to have a go at running it didn't I?
I'd previously dressed the well worn worm wheel and worm on the motor, given it a good dose of cluber grease, so all I had to do was connect it up.
And it ran, for the first time in a while, the table moved. Granted, the motor (still on 415 star connection) didn't have enough torque for fast speed, but for now, it's progress.

 

[minimutly]

I was right about that gearbox, it's maked its territory in classic style. But then I did overfill it to make sure it was well lubed. Pace has slowed, I'm shimming and doing various other small jobs before tackling the stiff quill feed gearbox.
Pic fr @fizzy , before and after.