# New mill is on the way



## gbritnell

Hi gang,
 Well the new mill is ordered. It should be here within a week. I looked at Bridgeports, Bridgeport clones, mills similar to Bridgeports, some larger, some smaller, and I came to the conclusion that I didn't have a tractor to try and lower it down into the basement so I settled for what I believe is the next best thing.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/VS-Milling-Machine-with-Ram-Head/G0695
 It has some nice features, some I'm not crazy about but I can live with. First and foremost it has a knee. Second it has a variable speed with reverse. Third it has 20 inches of space between the spindle and the table.
 I'll keep you updated on the arrival, disassembly, move to the basement, reassembly and set-up. 
George


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## maverick

Very nice, I can't wait to see what comes out off your shop now.


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## steamer

Good for you George!  Looking forward to the report!

Dave


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## Blogwitch

George,

Like yourself, I used to use a mill/drill for many years but now I have one with a knee lift, I could never go back.

It makes life so much easier.

I had to have fitted a power feed onto it as I couldn't raise it too well with the power I have left in my arms. That bit of kit transforms the way you can use the machine, especially for large drilling and boring, I can get surface finishes that I could never achieve before.

I was astounded at what you produced on your old mill, goodness knows what you will be able to do with this new one.


John


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## lazylathe

That looks like a winner George!!! ;D

Nice solid construction and a one shot lube system!!!! 
Looking forward to the trip to the basement and the first project!!! :big:

Andrew


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## n4zou

I have the 1979 LuxMill version of that Grizzly Mill. You'll be happy with it.


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## Mainer

I've got a 1985 Jet version of that milling machine. It's been pretty good. This Grizzly looks better, assuming it's of decent quality and is probably is. The Grizzly has a VFD, a one-shot oiler, and 2" of Z space. I had to buy a VFD, there is no one-shot oiler, and the Z space maxes out at around 12 3/4". You can sort-of see mine in my photo.

According to a friend of mine, the white/cream machines are Grizzly's "premium" line and are of better quality than the green machines. FWIW.


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## Troutsqueezer

Very nice. This one doesn't require a tractor then? Just slam it onto a hand truck, get your wife on the other end to keep it upright and down the stairs you go? ;D


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## gbritnell

Hi Trout,
Boy I wish it was that simple. I will be breaking it down into manageable bits to make the move. That will also give me a chance to see if there is any 'debris' lurking in the shadows.
George


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## CMS

Even in smaller pieces, it will still be a handfull. Be carefull and watch out for your back. Hope the new one only increases your capabilities by 10 fold!!!!! Does this mean that your radial engine project may be put on hold till you are acquainted with your new toy? Anyhow, congratulations and good luck to ya.


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## Maryak

Good luck with the new toy, tool, turret mill. :

Best Regards
Bob


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## Mainer

A few hints, which you may or may not find useful:

Assuming your new mill disassembles more or less like mine, you should find nearly all the pieces can be managed by a single person if you grunt loudly enough, though by "managed" I mean "lifted well enough to disassemble the mill without having anything drop on the floor because it's too heavy." You will appreciate a hand truck.

The exception to single-person moving is the column and base. I took the two apart and I still found the two pieces more than I could lift individually, though I admit I am no weightlifter. I managed with a hand truck and creative rigging, but a second person would have helped a lot. 

It would be advantageous, if you can manage it, to move the column+base as a unit. The joint between them is not dowel pinned, just bolted, and it's possible to reassemble with the knee screw slightly out of line with its nut in the base.

FYI: The table comes off mine by removing the left-hand handwheel/leadscrew bracket from the table and unscrewing the leadscrew from the nut, at which point the table can be slid off the saddle. Be careful of the gib.


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## gbritnell

Thanks fellows,
The owner of my old Enco is coming with a friend tomorrow evening to haul it away. I'm going to start taking it apart to give him a head start. I took pictures of all the digital hookups and mounts so he shouldn't have trouble reassembling it. 
George


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## cfellows

Congratulations, George. Ought to make a great addition to your shop.

Chuck


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## Mosey

I installed a similar mill in my basement, down a narrow flight of stairs, alone. It is a Clausing 8525, that is about the same size and weight, and I am a little guy. First, I took the pieces down with a big rubber tired hand-truck. Hoping not to sound like a braggard, I then used the Egyptian method. That is, levers, wedges, and ramps. Seriously, I took it apart into the several big pieces, table, knee, motor, etc., and gradually walked each piece up to it's required height with a big pry bar, stacks of 4 x 4 wood blocks, and many wedges. It took a few hours, but except for the motor and it's mount, I didn't actually lift very much, and it all went back together by sliding across the wood blocks. If you approach it right, you only have to lift one end of each piece at a time.


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## dwentz

That is about the same size as my Clausing 8520. I upgraded from a Grizzly Mini Mill. I really enjoy using my Clausing. I recently added a DRO to it, and I have to tell you I never want to use a mill with out a DRO again! I still have the Mini Mill as it is nice some time to have a 2nd mill. I will be adding a DRO to it also, but not as nice of one as I have on the Clausing. When I got it I removed the tables, knee, motor and head. My son and I carried everything but the column down the steps. Used a two wheel truck to get the column down the steps. Was not that hard of a move. Much easier than my 12x40 lathe!

Dale


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## gbritnell

The new mill is here. It came by UPS freight. 
 The shipping weight is 1200 lbs. so I had 2 of my friends lined up to give me a hand. Having never done this before I didn't know what to expect. 
 The dispatcher said it would come between 10:00am and 6:00pm. I said with such a range could they call me after their last delivery so I would have time to get my people here? They said no problem.
 I was in the basement working when my wife informed me that UPS was here. Oh @#$%^!!! Where was my call?
 I went out to meet the fellow and find out what happened. He said he missed the information on the shipping notice but he had another delivery and he could come back.
 He asked me what my friends were going to do. I said they were going to help me get it from the street to my garage. He replied that he would wheel it up there, no problem! They just weren't allowed to go in the premises. 
 What a relief!!!! I had visions of this thing sitting on the street while we tried to figure out what to do with it. 
 When they put in new subdivision streets they pour the curbing with the street. Then when they put your driveway in they cut out the curbing with a diamond saw. This leaves about a 1 inch step up to the driveway. I had made 3 ramps out of MDF for what I thought would be my job. I layed them down. We lined up the wheels on the pallet jack. He pulled, I pushed and it rolled up to the garage as neat as you please. 
 So here's a pic of the crate with the machine lurking inside. At first glance I'm already thrilled. I couldn't go to see it in the showroom as they didn't have any on the floor so with all the other machines ruled out I wasn't quite sure what this was going to be. 
 Now the job of taking it all apart to get it in the basement. 
George


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## lazylathe

Looks like you are going to have a very busy weekend George!!! ;D

Are you going to be keeping a pictorial update going on the uncrating and moving?
Would make a great thread!!!

Andrew


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## kustomkb

Congratulations George. It looks to be a good sized machine. I would be thrilled too.

I'm looking forward to your report.

I also see you have a potential auxiliary satellite shop there, too nice a space to store cars...


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## gbritnell

Hi Kevin,
No satellite shop in the garage. My hardly driven Mustang resides in the extra space. I bought it new as my children leaving home present in 1990 and it only has 16,000 summer miles on it. 
 Anyway if I built a satellite shop it would need walls, lights and heating for the winter months so that surely eliminates it.
George


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## petertha

Thats a nice looking mill. What are you considering for DRO?


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## gbritnell

I was looking at a site called DROPROS. They have good prices on glass scales and they also have the new magnetic type. For a comparable set of magnetics they run about $300 more. I don't know if I like them that much. They have good prices on the Asian sets on Ebay but I don't know how easy it would be to get replacement parts. DROPROS has a good reputation and they back up their sales with service, at least that's what I hear.
George


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## kcmillin

Congrats George! It is much bigger looking sitting next to your pick-up than in the catalog.



			
				gbritnell  said:
			
		

> I was looking at a site called DROPROS. They have good prices on glass scales and they also have the new magnetic type. For a comparable set of magnetics they run about $300 more. I don't know if I like them that much. They have good prices on the Asian sets on Ebay but I don't know how easy it would be to get replacement parts. DROPROS has a good reputation and they back up their sales with service, at least that's what I hear.
> George



FWIW, in my unbiased and unaffiliated opinion

I have a DRO PRO's unit, and I am incredibly pleased with it. Their service is great, and they are willing to help in any way. 

The unit itself is very easy to use. I can actually use and understand all the functions. The corner rounding function is a great addition. Along with Sub Datum Point Memory. Most common things can be done with one button. 

I use Anilam DRO's at work, and the functions are limited and very difficult to use, rendering them nothing more than a number counter. In fact, I would be much more productive at work if I had a DRO PRO's unit, and it is a third of the price.

Kel


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## kustomkb

Hi George,

I was just kidding about the extra shop space. I know you have a great set-up.

I hope the move goes smooth!


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## RonGinger

I will second, or third, that on DROPROS. I bought their lathe set about a year ago and it has been excellent. I was very pleased at its quality- a heavy cast aluminum control box, all the parts well made.

It came with a small bent sheet piece, I think stainless stuck onto the center of the scale. I could not figure out what it was for, and it was not shown in the manual. So I called the 800 number and talked to a tech. He was kind of embarrassed to admit they had never figured out what they are for either. He guessed it was some kind of shim used in the final test and they just got stuck on and shipped. 

A fine unit, an excellent price and good support.


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## gbritnell

Hi Ron and Kel,
What dro did you get, the glass scales or the magnetic?
Thanks,
George


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## RonGinger

I got mine over a year ago and only the glass scales were offered. I did get the high res ones, so I see the full tenths. Its a bit annoying actually, as the last decimal place tends to wobble a lot- even the slightest machine vibration will move it.


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## kcmillin

gbritnell  said:
			
		

> Hi Ron and Kel,
> What dro did you get, the glass scales or the magnetic?
> Thanks,
> George



I , Like Ron, purchased it before the magnetic scales were offered. I did not get the high res scales, but I am very pleased with .0002" res. More than enough, .0005" would be fine for what I do, even at work.

The fella I talked to over the phone said they have never had a scale returned due to contamination. It does come with a really nice warranty. 

I have heard that the cheap DRO's you can get on e-bay from China are limited to metric only when using the fancy functions like corner rounding and bolt hole pattern, but I cannot be certain of this. 

Kel


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## dalem9

I have a Grissly DRO and love it.it's so nice to make a mating part and have it fit perficly . My work is so much better now it's just so nice to have .Dale


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## Blogwitch

George,

If you are after read head info, this site is well worth looking through as you can get all the specs.

http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-readout-systems.html

You will find attached a screen grab from that site, and if you compare glass to magnetic in the normally used sizes, the magnetics come a very poor second in the accuracy scales (no pun intended)

The main advantage of magnetic over glass is that the magnetics work out at about 2" shorter overall when installed.


John


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## gbritnell

Thanks John,
Very informative.
George


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## Jared

I've been drooling over this mill for awhile but I can't find out if anyone with experience with it has anything to say about it. I'm real interested to see how you like it.


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## gbritnell

Well the mill is in place. 
 When my buddy and I took it out of the crate we moved what we could down to the basement. The 2 remaining pieces, the base and the column would need an appliance truck to get them down the stairs. 
 Saturday my sons came over and we started out by moving the aforementioned heavy pieces down to the shop. I had already measured everything and put some tape on the floor as a guide to locating the base. Everything went great. We got the base in place, mounted the column with the bolts lightly snugged until the knee went on. This way I could drop the knee to the bottom to get the column located back to it's original position. The parts drawing showed 2 dowel pins along with the 6 bolts but there were no dowels. The column had 2 tapped holes which corresponded to 2 reamed holes in the base. I used a couple of metric allen screws to get everything close. 
 The knee was next. I had removed the gib plate to facilitate dismantling so with a coat of way oil it was re-inserted and adjusted. 
 Next came the saddle followed by the table. The gibs were inserted and adjusted. 
 Man that thing moves smoothly!
 The ram and base were located on top of the column and bolted down. 
 Now came the awkward piece, the spindle casting with belt housing and wiring. We put some 2x4 pieces of lumber on the table so that we could carry it in and set it on the wood. Once sitting there the knee was cranked up and the head was located onto the ram and bolted. The final big piece was the motor. It was located on the belt housing, the belt was put back on and snugged up. 
 From start to finish we had about 3 hours of assembly. 
 The boys were dismissed from their labors and I finished cleaning up the remaining spots of cosmolene, adjusting handles, gibs and what have you. 
 The next day I ran over to the local home store and picked up the required electrical items. An hour of stripping wires and assembling plugs and it was time for the test. E-stop button turned out, main power on and turn up the variable speed knob. Everything worked just as it was supposed to.
 I trammed the head, x axis was dialed in to -0- in 8 inches but the y axis was out -.001 in the rear and +.0017 in the front. (in an 8 inch sweep) I loosened the turret and rotated it back and forth just to make sure there was nothing under it. I reindicated and got the same results. I wish it was closer out of the box but I knew how to fix it. I loosened the turret again, put a piece of wood on the table, cranked the knee up until it just lifted the turret/ram and inserted a couple of pieces of .002 shim on either side of the front fixing bolt. I lowered the knee, tightened the turret bolts and reindicated. I now have -0- in x, -0- in the back and +.0006 in the front. I can live with that. 
 All that's left to do is mount the vise and make some trial cuts. 
 I'll keep you notified on the progress. 
 Here's a couple of pictures. One of the machine and one with it's so far happy owner. 
gbritnell


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## kuhncw

Nice looking machine, George. You are going to love that knee!

Regards,

Chuck


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## Shopguy

George
Very nice looking piece of machinery. Will await your reports on how it performs.
I hear you about moving machine tools into the basement in pieces, it's a lot of work and one has to be so careful of finished floors etc. I spent quite a while getting my machine tools into my current basement shop and putting them back together. Before that was disassembling them and crating them up at my other shop when we moved.
Ernie J


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## kvom

Looks good! Don't forget oil in the 1-shot ;D


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## petertha

gbritnell  said:
			
		

> ...but the y axis was out -.001 in the rear and +.0017 in the front....
> I loosened the turret again, put a piece of wood on the table, cranked the knee up until it just lifted the turret/ram and inserted a couple of pieces of .002 shim on either side of the front fixing bolt.




Q1) Do you mean this 'lifting' was to just temporarily unload or suspend the turret weight so you could get the shim in position... kind of like a jack?

Q2) I have an RF45 style mill & spent (too) much time trying to get the travel aligned. Actually I concluded in the end it was probably very close to begin with. I was chasing my newbie tail in circles in the act of indicating the table movement itself. I clamped a precision square on the front face of the mill so it layed accross the table Y-direction, then traversed an indicator accross that. Then I flip reversed the square & repeated (to equalize any non-90 of the square). Then I did something similar by putting the square on the back table edge. Then I moved the square from the middle of the table towards one end or another. It just seemed to be a cluster of small but variable +/- misalignments. Then a machinist friend came over & showed me what the gib adjustment screws were for (DOH!). He figured there was more float in there than what I was trying to achieve & obviously needs to be set first. How did you do your measurement to arrive at those values.?

Thats a nice mill! So is it a belt drive & VFD type variable rpm? If so, that would be a lot quiter than a gearbox.


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## gbritnell

Hi Peter,
By lift what I meant was once the turret was put in place it was not meant to be lifted by rather the bolts loosened so it could be rotated as needed. I used the knee to lift the turret up from the column so that I could slip the shims between the turret and the column to get the 'tram' as close to -0- as possible. To get those measurements I put a rod in the spindle that I could mount the indicator to. The indicator was slid out to sweep a 4.00 radius (the width of the table). The object was to get the axis of the spindle square with the flat surface of the table. At that time I wasn't concerned whether the x and y axis were square to each other. 
The mill is extremely quiet. It comes with the VFD built into it. It converts 220 volt single phase to 220 3 phase. The rheostat adjusts the speed from 0 to 2500 rpms., with a digital readout. No need to change belts or listen to gear noise.
gbritnell


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## gbritnell

Hi everyone,
 I thought I'd give you an update on the mill now that I have some time on it.
 First of all I have the new digital readouts installed. The kit from DroPros is very good. There are a few things that could be improved but in general it's nicely put together. I had a couple of questions while installing it and they were more than helpful over the phone.
 I started by installing the readout box and arm. The mount for this has set screws on either side of the main mounting bolt so that 'plumb' can be obtained. Most of the mounts are either 5 or 6 mm bolts so a couple of taps are needed. 
 Next came the X axis beam. Each of the beams has an aluminum mounting plate that has the aforementioned set screws for plumbing and aligning it. I couldn't mount mine on the rear so to get it to fit on the front of the mill I had to make a couple of T nuts to hold the mounting plate. With this in place the beam is mounted and then indicated true. They say you are allowed .006 in 20 inches but I have mine at about .0015. 
 With the beam in place you now have to locate and mount brackets to attach the reader head. I was really limited on space even to the point that I had to remove the way wiper and cut a piece out of the middle of it. Once you have everything lined up and tightened you can then remove the 4 small screws holding the reader head to the beam and remove the plastic spacer plate.


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## petertha

Is the digital vernier setup you have on your Z-azis a secondary thing, or you are not planning to use that 3rd channel on the DRO box?


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## Davo J

Hi Peter,
Most people put the 3rd axis on the knee and use a cheap scale on the quill.

I have been watching this thread, nice mill and that DRO will make a hue difference.

Dave


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## gbritnell

Hi Peter,
Dave is correct. I have my 3rd axis scale on the knee and the small modified caliper reader on the spindle. I have 18 inches of travel on the knee so it was more useful to have the 3rd one mounted there. The kit will give you any sized scales you want. 
The Y axis was a little more difficult to install than the X axis, not so much for the scale but attaching the brackets for the reader head. They supply you a variety of angle brackets with the kit but one issue I had with them is they have the full thickness of the bracket (.375) where there are existing holes and slots, the other areas are thinned down to half that thickness so if you have to move screws around you have to get a little inventive for mounting. The reader head has a recommended way of mounting which is on the bottom with 4-4mm screws. On the side of the reader head are 2-5mm tapped holes that can also be used. They show it being mounted by the latter holes in the instructions but tell you to use the 4mm holes. ???
I had to make an adjustable base plate to mount the brackets as the surface for mounting was irregular. I made it out of a piece of aluminum with 2 mounting screws and 4 set screws to get it plumbed before I started mounting the remaining brackets. Here are a couple of shots of the finished setup.
gbritnell


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## gbritnell

As I said the 3rd scale was mounted for the knee. This involved making a spacer block to mount the scale as the machine is cast with a tapered column. I mounted the base for the scale at the bottom and then plumbed it to get a dimension for the aluminum block at the top. I cut the block a little thinner than needed as I could jack it out with the set screws to get it plumbed. Once this was fairly plumb I mounted the scale and started indicating it. With that done I started modifying the angle plates to get the reader head in place. With this setup I had to mount the first plate and then add a piece of aluminum plate to get high enough to mount the second plate. This reader head also had to be mounted with the 5mm threaded holes in the side. 
All in all it came out good and is working very well. The readout box has a myriad of functions, absolute/incremental, bolt hole circle, positional memories, bolt holes at an angle, etc. etc. 
It does have one feature that I have been using quite a bit. It's a center reading. You touch off both sides of your job and then hit the 1/2 button and then the desired axis and it gives you -0- for that axis center. It saves some calculator math. 
The hardest thing to get used to is the tenths digit on the reader. I purchased the 2 tenths scales and when you're moving the axis you have to creep up on the reading. 
gbritnell


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## kvom

I use the 1/2 feature more than any other.

A use I found for the abs/inc was to set it to 0,0 at the vise fixed jaw + vise stop. So as long as I leave the vise and stop in place, I have a zero point without needing to measure. The inc setting I use for everything else.


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## ChrisB

Great to see you got the mill and it all worked out OK.

I know I am really enjoying working with mine, such a difference to the mini mill. I have been looking to fit a DRO so its really great to see your pictures of that too. I like the way you sorted out the Y axis tram too, simple and effective. I had been thinking about doing something similar as mine is a couple of thou out over 6".

Do you mind if I ask what length scales you went for in the end?


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## Master_Arvist

gbritnell said:


> Well the mill is in place.
> When my buddy and I took it out of the crate we moved what we could down to the basement. The 2 remaining pieces, the base and the column would need an appliance truck to get them down the stairs.
> Saturday my sons came over and we started out by moving the aforementioned heavy pieces down to the shop. I had already measured everything and put some tape on the floor as a guide to locating the base. Everything went great. We got the base in place, mounted the column with the bolts lightly snugged until the knee went on. This way I could drop the knee to the bottom to get the column located back to it's original position. The parts drawing showed 2 dowel pins along with the 6 bolts but there were no dowels. The column had 2 tapped holes which corresponded to 2 reamed holes in the base. I used a couple of metric allen screws to get everything close.
> The knee was next. I had removed the gib plate to facilitate dismantling so with a coat of way oil it was re-inserted and adjusted.
> Next came the saddle followed by the table. The gibs were inserted and adjusted.
> Man that thing moves smoothly!
> The ram and base were located on top of the column and bolted down.
> Now came the awkward piece, the spindle casting with belt housing and wiring. We put some 2x4 pieces of lumber on the table so that we could carry it in and set it on the wood. Once sitting there the knee was cranked up and the head was located onto the ram and bolted. The final big piece was the motor. It was located on the belt housing, the belt was put back on and snugged up.
> From start to finish we had about 3 hours of assembly.
> The boys were dismissed from their labors and I finished cleaning up the remaining spots of cosmolene, adjusting handles, gibs and what have you.
> The next day I ran over to the local home store and picked up the required electrical items. An hour of stripping wires and assembling plugs and it was time for the test. E-stop button turned out, main power on and turn up the variable speed knob. Everything worked just as it was supposed to.
> I trammed the head, x axis was dialed in to -0- in 8 inches but the y axis was out -.001 in the rear and +.0017 in the front. (in an 8 inch sweep) I loosened the turret and rotated it back and forth just to make sure there was nothing under it. I reindicated and got the same results. I wish it was closer out of the box but I knew how to fix it. I loosened the turret again, put a piece of wood on the table, cranked the knee up until it just lifted the turret/ram and inserted a couple of pieces of .002 shim on either side of the front fixing bolt. I lowered the knee, tightened the turret bolts and reindicated. I now have -0- in x, -0- in the back and +.0006 in the front. I can live with that.
> All that's left to do is mount the vise and make some trial cuts.
> I'll keep you notified on the progress.
> Here's a couple of pictures. One of the machine and one with it's so far happy owner.
> gbritnell



Just curious after three years of use how is the mill holding up?  Also, how tall are you?  I'm six foot five and I am trying to see how the height will work for me.  Thanks


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## gbritnell

After 3 years the mill is doing great. I'm 5' 11" so for you there would be a lot of bending but even with something larger like a Bridgeport or Bridgeport clone you would still be bending. 
Here are a couple of things that are bothersome about the new mill. 
1. With the height of the machine the speed control box is mounted in such a way that when working from certain angles it's just plain in the way. The only cure would be to make a bracket and move it up about 8 inches. 
2. The same goes for the fine down feed handwheel but there's no moving it. 
3. It has a one step oiling system, pull the handle and all the axis get oiled. The problem is the oiling points with the shortest lines get an overabundance of oil while the farthest (knee points) get only a little. I guess the simplest fix would be to pull the lines and put some type of restrictor in place. Usually what I do is pull the handle until the X axis weeps oil and then oil the knee by hand. It's not that the knee is continually going up and down like the other 2 axis so as long as it has a good coat of oil everything is fine. 
After 3 years when I periodically check the tram it's still as good as when I first set it up. That's not meaning that it doesn't move or when I choose to move it it just means that it can be brought back to the original numbers. X- .000, x+ .000, Y- -.0005, Y+ +.001. That's using an 12 inch indicator arc
4. I fought with the knee trying to resolve the accuracy difference when moving it up and down. Let me explain. With the head trammed I set up a known true angle plate on the table (8"). I then set an indicator in the spindle and against the angle plate. With the gibs adjusted to what I thought were proper I would get a difference of .005 when going from up to down. Hmmm! So naturally I tightened the gibs up. This only amplified the problem Hmmm! And by tightening the gibs it made the knee very jerky (sticky) so I stopped to sort out what was going on. Even if the knee was sticky it should have resolved the dimensional error but it didn't so I started going the other way (loosening the gibs). Actually by loosening them I got the vertical error down to about .0015 and the stiction was gone but I felt the gibs were too loose. With this adjustment I have no machining problems and the only thing I do is make sure that when I make my initial setups I have the knee leadscrew loaded (cranked up) and then if I move it up or down I do the same thing, crank it down to where I want to go then turn the handle to take the backlash out, lock the knee and I'm good to go. It will repeat within .0005 by doing it this way. 
That's about it. I love the variable speed control and  I really like the reverse for tapping.
If a person has the floor space and ability to move a larger machine I would recommend a machine like a Bridgeport only for the fact that there are so many of them out there (depending where you live) and that a nice one can be had for about the same money as I paid for my machine. 
gbritnell


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## MachineTom

The system for oiling uses restrictors, either at the manifold or at the finial end, and they are each a different quantity. Check the numbers on them and maybe swap some around, its not the length of the lines, its the restrictor installed.


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## Pull Up Now!

gbritnell said:
			
		

> After 3 years...  I really like the reverse for tapping.
> If a person has the floor space and ability to move a larger machine I would recommend a machine like a Bridgeport only for the fact that there are so many of them out there (depending where you live) and that a nice one can be had for about the same money as I paid for my machine.
> gbritnell



I'm about to pull the trigger on this machine, just want to verify when power tapping, you can just throw the reverse switch to back out the tap WITHOUT NEEDING TO SLOW DOWN THE SPINDLE?  This of course assumes tapping at a reasonably slow speed to begin with.


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