Let's See Your Mill

[DaveH]

Bob,
Clever bath you made there
Looks good for a first dip

DaveH

[DaveH]

John,
You have a really nice mill

Now you won't forget me when you "die" will you Although I suppose you will be bluddy awkward and wait till I "die" first.


DaveH

[Bogstandard]

(07-17-2012, 02:23 PM)DaveH Wrote: John,
You have a really nice mill

Now you won't forget me when you "die" will you Although I suppose you will be bluddy awkward and wait till I "die" first.


DaveH

Dave,

You send me the postage, and I will send it to you in bits, one piece per year.

John

[DaveH]

Luv ya' John

DaveH

[EdK]

(07-17-2012, 07:42 AM)Bogstandard Wrote: This is my mill about a month after delivery, about 3.5 years ago. It came with the power feeds on all axis, to allow me to use it, and I had just taken off the 2 axis DRO and fitted a 3 axis one. The one I took off was then fitted to my new lathe, to take it up to a 4 axis DRO.

It is an 836, mini Bridgeport type, a full sized one wouldn't fit because of the ceiling height, 2HP, full variable speed up to 2200, and hasn't missed a beat in all the time I have had it.

I later fitted a 4th axis to the quill using a cheapo Chinese scale running off a wall wart through a transformer so no batteries, just a capacitor between the battery terminals, and then feeding the readout to a small scale fitted on top of my normal DRO.

A few months later, I then converted a Bridgeport right angle drive and matching horizontal arbor to fit my machine, and it works an absolute treat.

It required a pair of tapered blocks making, to change the angle to what my machine uses.

I can now sit at this mill all day and machine to my hearts desire.

John

John,

Does that mill have power downfeed on the spindle? The current crop of 836 mini BPs don't have the power downfeed on the spindle. I know some of the older ones did. That's a nice size mill for the home shop.

Ed

[krv3000]

oooo i wont one

[Bogstandard]

Ed,

Unlike the full sized Bridgy, this one doesn't have the power downfeed, nor the swing forwards knuckle to the head, or the ability to add another head at the back of the top ram. WYSIWYG.

But I got around that by having power up/down on the main table instead. It bores and drills big holes to perfection.

BTW, I got the Y & Z powerfeeds for nothing, plus all sorts of tooling and vice upgrade package with it as well, and no dreaded VAT. All because I walked into the showroom, smiled at the salesman, and dangled a big wad of readies under his nose. I did also buy a largish lathe at the same time, with the same sort of deal, but that is another story.

Receipt for the freebie upgrades



You can't do those sorts of deals any more since the credit crunch.


John

[Rickabilly]

(07-18-2012, 12:41 AM)Bogstandard Wrote: You can't do those sorts of deals any more since the credit crunch.

The credit crunch has put a bit of a dampener on anything fun hasn't it?

But on the bright side, with everyone going bankrupt prices on the second hand market are as low as ever, actually that isn't a very bright side for many but if it works for the hobbyists at least someone is winning out I suppose.

And I must say it's nice to see someone as experienced as your self here at MWF.

Regarding your Z axis feed, I was considering fitting a similar unit to the tailstock on my Colchester Mascot, you might be aware the Mascot is a big machine, with a number 5 morse taper tailstock, that frankly is a bit too much for my back these days, When I see your Z axis and you say that boring and drilling "Big holes" as well as lifting the knee is possible I wonder how big is big and your opinion regarding the feed unit's suitability?

Best Regards
Rick

[Bogstandard]

Rick,

What you have to realise, the Z feed not only has to drill and bore the holes, ie, cutting metal, it also has to lift that very large casting under the table, the table itself with all the stuff hanging on it, RT, vice and of course two more power feeds as well. Guesstimated weight, 400 to 500 pounds. The whole machine weighs around a ton.

So unless you are drilling something like 6" diameter holes from a 1/4" centre hole, I think it could cope with your large tailstock.

I limited myself to 1.5" holes for drilling, over that, I then bore it out, purely because that is the size of my largest drill.

With regards to prices, I follow what is going on in the world markets fairly closely, and told everyone I knew to buy all their new Chinese machines about 3.5 years ago. Those that did follow my suggestion got a bargain, as did I. For nearly the last 2.5 years, the prices have nearly doubled for some items, and although China still has it's head above water, not as much as it would like, and because it has now killed off the majority of it's competition, expect fairly large price rises within the next year or so, as they try to grab back their unpredicted shortfalls.

Quote:And I must say it's nice to see someone as experienced as your self here at MWF

I am no one special, just a model engineer with a little more experience than others, and I have been here almost from the very beginning, but have waited my time, with just minor 'show how to do it' posts in the beginning. Until now, when all the silliness and newness has been got out of everyone's system and from the site. It is now settling down very nicely, and should become a very good informative site in the future if it carries on the way it is doing.
You only have your leaders and stalwart members to thank for that.

John

[stevec]

(07-18-2012, 05:04 AM)Rickabilly Wrote: Regarding your Z axis feed, I was considering fitting a similar unit to the tailstock on my Colchester Mascot, you might be aware the Mascot is a big machine, with a number 5 morse taper tailstock, that frankly is a bit too much for my back these days, When I see your Z axis and you say that boring and drilling "Big holes" as well as lifting the knee is possible I wonder how big is big and your opinion regarding the feed unit's suitability?

Best Regards
Rick

Rick, is there any point/or possibilty of making up some form of "quick connect" to your carriage and use it to pull/push your tailstock to/from the head stock (I'm assuming that's what you meant by employing the power feed unit).
Also, (careful I'm rambling on here) I have seen some large older lathes with a hand crank on the tailstock to advance/retract it, I think it utilized the carriage rack.