Got some advice for a “3 way” ……….(from my wife…;)…..(she thinks it’s better in the front, not the rear?)

[Runs With Scissors]

Woodruff keys are an alignment tool. They are supposed to be softer than the parts they are aligning.

Mine are OK then…..

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I put feeds on all three axis on my mill. Probably can count the number of times I have used the Y axis feed on one hand. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to have it when I need it. But you won’t be sorry if you install one on the Z. Cranking that handle gets old quickly.

Yea, it’s one of those, “buy it as you go” projects, so I am reasonably sure that The Z-Axis power feed is not in the too far off distant future…..

I just ordered the DRO for this month……..

 

[Yooper]

If my mill dro dies I will have a new one on order that same day! Can’t imagine using the mill without one!

 

[Runs With Scissors]

If my mill dro dies I will have a new one on order that same day! Can’t imagine using the mill without one!

Yep, I couldn’t agree more…... especially for a beginner like myself, they are invaluable.

The 2 that I have on my lathe and “Chi-Com mill” were ordered from “Ali Express” , but this one is from the "Big A" this time.

I am waiting on parts from H&W Machine repair so I can get things ‘back together’ so I can finish it up.

It always makes me “nervous” when I have lots of small parts scattered around the shop…..Just too easy to either “misplace” or “forget” something…...

 

[Joisey]

I wish you luck with the aftermarket table and knee drive units. I have yet to see one last half as long as a genuine Bridgeport unit. I bought and rebuilt my Bridgeport about 10 years ago. The table feed worked intermittently, which was traced to some bad wiring. I rebuilt the variable speed unit, all bearings in the head, new table and cross feed screws and nuts and a bit to the table feed. Bridgeport makes an excellent milling machine, and the mill makes the worlds best drill press. Are you running a rotary phase converter, or do you have 3 phase where you live?

I took a 10 inch handwheel and milled slots in the face to match the crank handle that you use to raise the knee. Twice as fast as an electric knee drive and isn't in the way. Easy to do with a 3/16 end mill and a rotary table with a chuck.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I wish you luck with the aftermarket table and knee drive units. I have yet to see one last half as long as a genuine Bridgeport unit. I bought and rebuilt my Bridgeport about 10 years ago. The table feed worked intermittently, which was traced to some bad wiring. I rebuilt the variable speed unit, all bearings in the head, new table and cross feed screws and nuts and a bit to the table feed. Bridgeport makes an excellent milling machine, and the mill makes the worlds best drill press. Are you running a rotary phase converter, or do you have 3 phase where you live?

I took a 10 inch handwheel and milled slots in the face to match the crank handle that you use to raise the knee. Twice as fast as an electric knee drive and isn't in the way. Easy to do with a 3/16 end mill and a rotary table with a chuck.

I am going to run a VFD (to start with at least).

This is my very first 3-phase machine, so with the current prices of “El Cheapo” VFD’s it will get me going.

So far, I have decided to keep the “knee adjustment” manual, but that is “negotiable” as I progress.

As “per normal”, nothing is going like planned, so my progress has been hampered by “life” lately.


I decided that while I have it “apart”, I should go through the upper half and kind of look at things and make any necessary “repairs” for things that I see as “obvious”.

Well, this “Quill return trip lever” is clearly "buggered up”….I don’t know what it is acutally for, but I decide that I should try to repair it….if possible.



Clearly, someone has “jacked it all up”….and I cant get this piece out….




No matter what I try, I simply can’t get it to slide out like Barry indicates, so I have to resort to my “Bag of tricks"

Now living in the “rust belt” has afforded me many, many, many opportunities to remove “stuck things”……...

Well after spraying, tapping, chiseling, cursing, grabbing all fail to do anything, I am left with not a whole lot of choices.

[Even my “Westman pliers” won’t grab it……(Pliers are named after the guy (Bill Westman) that told me “you have to buy a set of these…they are the handiest set of pliers you will ever own”…he was pretty spot on…..they are pretty handy]





I decide that drilling it out might be necessary.

But as I reach for the drill, it occurs to me that if I can “weld a bolt” to it, it might give me the leverage I need…….

Enter: The Tig Machine…..





After grinding a “pointed tip” on the bolt, I gently/carefully weld the bolt on….






Wala!!!!!! (or voil'a if your so inlined…. )




OK…I have no idea what I have accomplished at this point, but I got “it” out and will order the proper replacement lever and see “whats what”.



As I am putting things back together, the shaft that lowers the quill has a stud that looks worn out, so the “return clock spring” wont grab onto it…...



So again, I try “everything” to get it out…..I spray it, whack it, chisel it, swear at it, ….you name it…..


I even try “freezing it"



But again its back to the Tig machine.




By the “Grace of God” I finally get it out.

A few other miscelaoneous things come up while working on it.

One thing that kind of amazed/surprised me was the “oiling system"

When I was taking it apart, I found what appears to be a “pipe cleaner” stuffed into the oiler cup.

Well I was shocked/angry/dumfounded when I saw that….I mean, who the hell would do that?????

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I was really kind of depressed/pissed/angry to see this dirty ass pipe cleaner in my machine….So I grab it and yanked it out in a “fit of anger"




Well as it turns out……..”What the hell do I know?”…..

Hahahahah….as it turns out, that “dirt ass pipe cleaner” is actually listed as a “part” at H@W machine repair…..hahahahahah….

So I ordered a pack of them, and replaced them….

Now at least I have a “clean ass, pipe cleaner” in my machine...

I test it out, on the bench and it surpringly works very well…..Who Knew???





During reassembly, I have been “secretly weighing” things to try and get a better idea of the actual/true weight of this machine.

The "turret and arm” kind of surprise me at ~550 LBS.



Well reassembly seems to be going well.







The 2nd “new pipe cleaner"











Now I prepared the turret “mating surface” with a Scothbrite pad and some cutting oil.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Now I gotta sit down and figure out this “VFD thing”…..





So far, it appears to be rather simple to hook it up.

I am thinking that “R” and “S” are the 2 lines that connect to my 220 volt wall source, and that the “U”, “V”, and “W” go to the the motors 3 lines.




Apparantly (if i am correct), it does not matter which of the 3 “motor wires” goes to the U,V and W …..








and I am “reasonably sure” that the “yellow wire nut wires” go to ground some way…...

But I have to check this out a little better, so that I don’t “let the smoke out of the box”….

 

[Hugo Habicht]

When swapping two wires of UVW you change the direction of rotation. Can most likely be reversed in the inverter or simply swap any two of the wires.

I think your floor is not able to handle the weight of this beast

 

[Joisey]

When you hook up the three legs to the motor, read across one leg at a time to ground and write the voltage reading down. All three will be different voltages. You could put tags on each motor wire, 1, 2, 3. Write the voltage of each number to ground, then connect them 2, 1, 3, and record the results, and so on. What you are looking for is for the voltage across all three legs to be as close as possible. Makes for a longer lived, more happy motor.

I went with a Rotary 3 phase converter, to run my lathe and mill. A VFD works fine, until it doesn't. If you notice your motor lagging, even a little bit, investigate the wiring so you don't fry the motor.