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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default Rebirth of The Pacific FT-2 Mill

    Couple of weeks ago I drove up from Melbourne to pick up a mill in the foot of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. It was a renovators delight (which seems to be the theme to most of my SH machine acquistions). The seller was a young guy who was a machinist and had hopes of re-building it after purchasing it from a previous employer. However, being stored at his parents place 2 hours drive from him, time got away from him and before long, his dad requested for his shed space back.

    It was explained to me that the head needed a major rebuild and that the boiler maker at this work place took it upon himself to do the job. Needless to say the machine spent a prolonged period of time in a state of disassembly. Most of the nuts and bolts were missing and there was no real guarentee that all the majot components were accounted for.

    Also there was no knowledge as to whether the Sony magnascale 2 axis DRO was working, the motor from the power feed on the X axis was reported to be missing too. The spindle was reported to be in OK condition as were the ways.

    On this information I took a punt and bought it. One of the initial observations I have made is that the machine has the model number FT-2 clearly labelled on it. These machines came in two variations, FTV-2 and FT-2 FTV-2 has infinately variable spindle speed from about 50 - 4200 rpm via means of a CV belt. The FT-2 designation has 8 speeds via the use of a step pulley. So my machine shows FT-2 but has the infinately variable speed head. Work that one out!

    The Sony 2 axis DRO has been switched on and works nicely. The power feed on the X axis is NOT missing the motor and is merely missing a plastic cover. Other variations of these power feeds clearly show a motor attached externally to the power feed module but this power feed is more the usual type.

    The variable speed head has two variable pulleys that move up and down on glacier bushes. These bushes have been flogged out and look like the machine has been used even after the pulleys were spinning on the shaft, which is not the best but easily fixable.

    Using a parts diagram from an owners manual and roughly organising all the parts together, it appears that the only components missing are 2 circlips, a 6004 bearing, a 16mm BMS shaft of 220mm long and all the various standard metric cap screws (about 20 in total) used to put it all together.

    While I don't plan on "working" omn this machine for a few weeks, I did want to keep it inside my shed and to do that I needed to disassemble it for ease of movability. One thing leads to another of course so I started cleaning the major parts before dragging into the shed. This started with the colonm and base.

    The base has built into it a coolant reservoir. Sounds like a great idea, until you need to clean the 40 years of crap out of it! I decided to unbolt the base from the colonm in order to make it easier. Still took numerous cleans involving a hand trowel, degreaser and a wet/dry vacuum to get it looking OK.

    Same with the external base and column. I hate working on dirty machines so there is no way its coming into the shed before it's clean!

    Now I am also faced with what to do were the bondo has come off and revealing bare metal. What do others do? Just paint over it leaving an uneven surface? i'm not keen to spend too much time painting this machine, especially since I am yet to find out just how good it will end up.

    Edit: just for interest, these mills seemed to have been made under several names. Lagun (Republic of Lagun) is the other name used. Both seem to be made in Spain, although the Lagun badge seems to have been popular in the US.

    Pics to follow....

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  2. #2
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    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default

    20170616_170351.jpg20170616_170419.jpg20170616_170451.jpg20170616_170528.jpg20170616_170612.jpg

    Pic 2 and 3 are showing the insides and the coolant reservoir after cleaning. Pic 4 shows all the parts disassembled on my shed floor and pic 5 shows what "cleaning" will do. Do I just run a brush over that?

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Near Bendigo, Victoria, AUS
    Age
    72
    Posts
    3,102

    Default

    I think you will regret just painting over the chipped off filler. Just spend a little time removing everything loose, put some rust converter on it, spray with etch primer then a quick fill with body filler (polyester or epoxy). Then a little sanding and coat of grey primer. You can always paint it properly later on then...
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Kyabram. Vic
    Posts
    632

    Default

    Simon,

    It appears to have a single stage elevating screw on the knee. If this is the case I suggest you make careful measurements on how far the bottom of the screw descends when fully down. You may have to knock a hole in your concrete floor to take the extra length. If the vertical leadscrew hits a solid surface on rapid 'down'; the resulting casting damage in the knee is not pretty; and character building repairing.

    Ken

  5. #5
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    Aug 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
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    Default

    Thanks Joe & Ken.

    Joe, I'm happy to invest some time into the cosmetics once I know it will be a good mill. It seems a bit pointless to pretty the mill up only to find it can't mill flat to within reasonable tolerances. It won't be long before I have some idea. I just need to re-assemble the knee, saddle and table and then run a DI from the ram across the table.

    Ken, I had wondered if the leadscrew protrudes below floor level (under the base) when the knee is all the way down. It will eventually be on machine screw jacks which will add 50mm or so. It has no "rapid down" as the knee is lowered by hand. I think I would feel the extra resistance of the leadscrew hitting the floor before any damage is done. The machine came with a 200mm riser block which when fitted, makes the top of the ram 2.2M high. When the knee is fully up, I would need a shoe box to see properly over the table which is why I plan on leaving it out.

    You say a single stage elevating screw, I don't have much knowledge/experience with these type of mills. My current mill is a Chinese geared head mill which bares no comparison to this. What other types of screw do knee mills have?

    One thing is for sure, it's really nice going from a cheap machine to a machine of reasonable build quality.

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Kyabram. Vic
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    632

    Default

    Simon,

    I am guessing that the riser block is to allow air space under the base for clearance of the vertical screw. The mill looks like it may have a reasonable amount of travel on the vertical; so that long screw has to go somewhere. What I did with my Rossi was knocked a hole through the concrete floor and then concreted a piece of 100 sewer pipe in the hole about 375 deep. I left the top about 30mm above floor height to keep foreign bits/water out. Any sort of of sump/well would do.

    By multistage screw; I mean one that has a number of screws that thread inside each other; like the old Holden screw jacks. My Macson shaper has this arrangement and somewhere on the forum are photos of it. I am not sure if any mills used this arrangement as they would be harder to make than just a single screw.

    Ken

  7. #7
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    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default

    The riser block was an optional extra available with this mill. I think many makes of machines included this type of accessory. It adds 200mm of headroom between the spindle head and the table. It just increases the work envelope for milling of taller objects.

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Kyabram. Vic
    Posts
    632

    Default

    Simon,

    Righto; I am on the same page now. I was wrongly thinking of a riser stand under the base to lift the whole machine. The Rossi has about 450mm vertical travel on the table and when it is set up for horizontal milling the table is at high chest height. The extra clearance under the spindle is good; as a job I did yesterday involved the vertical head and 200mm rotary table with a 3 jaw chuck on it. I needed every bit of vertical travel to clear the job. With a DRO at least you can clamp the job direct to the table and use the DRO for hole spacings.

    Ken

  9. #9
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    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Hi Ken,

    Unfortunately, this particular DRO does not have the facility for PCD hole drilling. It appears to be a very basic DRO. I was a bit disappointed by that too.

    On the plus side WRT DRO's, I have been using a basic DRO fitted to my Chinese geared head mill and remember how it made life so much better after installing it. Now this machine has an LED DRO, I have to say, looking at an LED DRO is even better again since you can look at the display from any direction and so much easier to read.

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Norwood-ish, Adelaide
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    59
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    6,541

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by simonl View Post
    Unfortunately, this particular DRO does not have the facility for PCD hole drilling. It appears to be a very basic DRO. I was a bit disappointed by that too.
    Have a look around the middle of your Zeus book. It has all the coordinates there to drill up to 12 holes on a PCD. Of course, on those long night shifts without any where to go to warm up, you could write a spreadsheet that would do up to any number of holes that you like.

    Michael

  11. #11
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    Hi Michael,

    yep I know the little black Zeus book has PCD calcs. I never gave it a thought to set up a spread sheet but that's as good as anything else. It did cross my mind to look for an app for my phone though. Ultimately it's a nice to have. In the past I have used a RT to do bolt holes but I guess using PCD calcs would be a lot quicker.

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Far West Wimmera
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    63
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by simonl View Post
    Hi Michael,

    It did cross my mind to look for an app for my phone though. Ultimately it's a nice to have.

    Simon
    I hope you do better with that than your photos.

    Dean

  13. #13
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    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default

    It's not the first time my photos have been criticised...

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    South of Adelaide
    Posts
    1,225

    Default

    If you have a i phone CNC mate has a really good PCD calc. Not sure if it is available for android.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by simonl View Post
    It's not the first time my photos have been criticised...

    Simon
    Not having the pictures the right way up makes it very difficult for me to comprehend and it does not take very much to fix the problem. If you can't be bothered then that is your problem. I am not going to make it mine. I just skip past any photos like that. It seems a typical attitude of people on the net is that they don't care about what they post.

    The camera I usually use for forum pictures cost me $64.00 and is quite old now. I guess this is a tiny fraction of what your phone cost.

    Dean

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