New bloke from Gippsland

[Pete O]

Hi all, I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to join up.
I live just outside Drouin, Vic. I'm a hobby metalworker and machine / tool addict; my lovely wife bought me a lathe for my 50th birthday after years of hearing me say how handy a lathe would be. This of course involved me finding a lathe for her to buy me, me making the round trip to Sydney to pick it up, etc. My lathe is a Kobe (no you've probably never heard of it) with about a 16" swing and 5' or so between centres. Of course it was not long after having a lathe that I realised how essential a milling machine was, so I bought a Victoria U2 horizontal / universal that I believe spent it's working life cutting slots in screw heads at the Ajax Fasteners factory, I have a step-pulley J-head that I plan to graft onto it this year if I can ever get the time. Also have a Macson 18" shaper and a surface grinder, I made a foundry furnace based on the Artful Bodger's plans a couple of years ago and have dabbled a little in metal casting. Most of the time these machines seem to just make parts for each other although I do get to do something useful with them from time to time.
Looking forward to joining in some of the discussion that I've been eavesdropping on for the past year or so.

Pete

[old1955]

Welcome to the forum Pete.

[KBs PensNmore]

Welcome to a top forum Pete. Any chance of a pic of you mill please, asking as I believe I have a similar machine, but with no name, and would like to use it as a reference.
Kryn

[Grahame Collins]

Hi Pete,

Welcome to our Metalwork Forums,

From your intro, it looks like you will fit right in. There are all sorts of metal workers here. Have alook around the forum.

I have sent you some links to help you do so.

There's wonderful community spirit here and with members always willing to help whenever they can.

Don't be shy, jump in with some posts when you can.

Welcome
Grahame

[OxxAndBert]

Welcome aboard Pete.
I'm only relatively new around here, but lots of nice folk and good info.

Steve

[.RC.]

Also never forget the golden rule.

Pictures or it never happened. :D


Welcome.

[Pete O]

Thanks for the welcome. Kryn, I don't have many photos of the mill- I dredged up a few with it still on the trailer when i brought it home, and another with the mill in horizontal mode during a recent gear-cutting job:
373103373104373105373106

The mill has a robust vertical attachment but lacks a quill, hence my plan to graft the J-head onto the overarm, the plan is to be able to use the vertical or horizontal modes without having to install or remove anything except the arbor supports. There are power feeds on all 3 axes but a couple of the major power feed components had been damaged when I got it, I managed to find another incomplete machine that had all the parts I needed for a couple of hundred bucks so now everything works, it will get a major tidy-up as part of the frankenmill conversion.
If you need any other photos to clarify any part of the machine let me know and I'll take some photos.

[Pete O]

Thanks for the welcome fellas.
Kryn, I have tried twice to post a reply with some photos of my mill but each time, after I post the reply it is nowhere to be seen. Don't know why this is, I'm on several other forums and at least one of them uses the same platform. I'll try again and see what happens.

[Pete O]

Trying again with a few photos of my mill, only photos I seem to have of it are with it still on the trailer when i brought it home- has the vertical attachment in place- plus one in horizontal mode during a recent gear-cutting job.
373118373119373120373121

[Pete O]

Ok that seems to have worked this time. Kryn, let me know if you need more detailed photos and I'll take pictures of whatever you need.
I actually picked up another one of these late last year, when I bought this machine the power feed mechanism had been damaged. I found another incomplete machine that had all the power feed parts that I needed so I now have functioning 3 axis power feeds plus a pile of spare parts. The vertical attachment is very robust but lacks a quill, hence the forthcoming J-head conversion. I plan to give the whole machine a good tidy up as part of the frankenmill project.

[Grahame Collins]

Thanks for the welcome fellas.
Kryn, I have tried twice to post a reply with some photos of my mill but each time, after I post the reply it is nowhere to be seen. Don't know why this is, I'm on several other forums and at least one of them uses the same platform. I'll try again and see what happens.

Hi Pete O
It is something to do with the programming software. From what I can understand new member posts won't show pics under 10 posts without moderator approval.

I thinkyour pic post attempt happened during my medically enforced absence, so no approval was available.It has been approved recently.

I try to contact all new members to explain this but sometimes I am not aware some new members are even here as new forum members until I see their highlighted name and then get in and approve posts..


I believe it is part of the mechanism to stop spamming.

When you hit 10 posts your name highlight will change from red to Black and you can post pics all you want.

Grahame