I noticed that the tail stock center seemed to be lower then the head center so I was checking whether this was indeed the case. Hence the dial indicator attached to the face plate in the picture. It seems that the head stock center is 25 thousandths of an inch higher then the tail stock which means it will need to be shimmed to bring it up. Often times the South Bend lathes tailstocks will wear at the front end because they are repeatedly pulled backwards via the hand wheel. That doesn't seem to be the case with this lathe which means either the tailstock is not original to the machine or the headstock is not sitting all the way down. It seems to be a static 25 thousandths below center which can be corrected with shim stock between the two halves of the tailstock.
I need to rebuild the lathe before I use it. For the most part the lathe appears to be in good shape except the lower tail stock. However it was supposedly stored in a barn for about six years. So before I use it, I need to clean out all the dirt and old lubricants and make sure that all the oil passages are clear. I bought a rebuild kit from ilion industrial services on eBay.
This past weekend I bought yet another toy - a nice Bridgeport milling machine from Dempsey and Company in Richmond, VA. It was a bit of a challenge to get out of the u-Haul trailer. In order to get it into the trailer we had to take the ram off separating it at the top of the base casting. The total weight of the milling machine is just around 2100 lbs, with the lower casting probably accounting for about 1600-1800 lbs alone. Getting it into the trailer was fairly easy using a forklift, but no such luck at the home end. I had to go out and buy a 2 ton engine hoist to get it out of the trailer and even that was a bit trying to get the thing to balance, in part because I didn't have a long enough sling to wrap the casting and also because the hoist arm had to be off center and lower then the height of the casting to get out of the trailer since the base casting was almost the height of the trailer opening.
In this picture we've already used the hoist to get the base into place. We go the base out by getting it to clear the bottom of the trailer by an inch then driving the trailer out from under it. Then we set the base down across the legs of the hoist and rolled it to the back of the garage. Then we lifted it up off the legs, spun it so that it was between the legs of the hoist and rolled it back into its new home and set it down. Sounds a little easier then it was. Then we carefull hoisted the ram and brought it back to the base. We had to lengthen the hoist to its maximum arm length and really shorten the straps to get it into position. Here Mattheus and I are struggling to get it to line up and Johannes i operating the hydraulics.
Here is a picture of the mill with the ram back on the base.
Here is a shot of the y axis ways with the chrom and some of the scraping still showing. The ways feel tight and there is very little backlash in the feed screws.
Here is a closeup of the milling head.
Not sure I like the red paint but thus far the boys have nicknamed the mill "Big Red". We sprayed a lot of WD40 on the exposed metal of the table and any place on the ways etc and scrubbed it down. The reason for this is it was sitting outside under a "carport" and was getting some water (not a lot) on it during the rain on Saturday. I've been out a few times to check it and spray more WD40 and wipe it down. I haven't seen any new signs of rust and all the light misting of rust that started on Saturday has been wiped away.
I need to get a variable frequency drive (VFD) and a control box, a switch and a potentiometer to finish wiring it up. I'll probably order the VFD in the next couple of days from Automationdirect. I'm looking at getting a GS1 VFD - 1 hp single phase to 3 phase. This will both provide the phase conversion as the mill has 3 phase motor and at the same time it will give me variable speed control of the mill - more then the current 8 speeds attainable using the 4 step pulleys and the back gear. I also need to get a small part that acts as a stop control for the boring feed. Need to order that from High Quality Tools.
I also need to find out what kind of oil is needed to lubricate the ways. I know the "grease nipples" are not meant to handle grease on this machine but rather are used to oil it. Somewhere I need to find a manual so that I can understand the operation of the power down feed for boring operations. I have a lot to learn - its been over 20 years since I last worked in a machine shop.
I've got a crazy dream to build model engines - both steam and perhaps internal combustion. I have a whole stack of Home Shop Machinists that my dad gave me and a pile that I bought on eBay. I've always wanted to build the engine on the cover of the 2nd issue of the magazine (March/April 1982) but unfortunately I'm missing the first and third issues (the only 2 issues I'm missing between 1982 and 1994). I've been trying to find them on eBay but the few times they've shown up they've gone for way too much money. Why that steam engine - well it was one of the first models engine plans that I saw as a kid and always wanted to make but we didn't have a milling machine. But first I need to rebuild the South Bend Lathe first.
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