Thread: Vernier FV.3.TO Milling machine

Wow into it Ewan.

Would helical cut bevel gears also be correct?

Stuart

You think I'm going to use the HM50 with Mlle sitting in the corner???? I figure i will clean her out and get her running, no paint or scrapping. I have other things i should get done....oh well....

I managed to finally free up the y axis, turns out it was just the x/z axis forward/reverse mechanism that was caked up with rust....the pics tell the story. Feed gearbox is off, lots more gunk cleaned out, handwheels are off (no easy task i might add) and i'm now into getting the front gearbox off the knee so i can get the saddle and knee off.
One thing that is great is most parts that are a pinned or firm fit have threaded holes in them so a jacking screw can be put in and the part pushed out.
The feed gearbox is pretty complicated at first, but pretty easy to work out. It is all free and can be turned over, the main problem is rust in the multi plate clutch for the rapid traverse.

Nice machine, some of those photo's make baby jesus cry - how long did the machine sit outside for?

With any luck it'll clean up without too many dramas.

Best of luck with it

Cheers
Jon

Thanks Jon,
It sat in a carport with a tarp over for 5 years. Everything looks like it will clean up fine, just need new bearings and seals. I am very lucky though that the main box is pristine.
The biggest single problem now is getting the knee off, i either need to remove the spindle, which i really don't want to do, or lift the body of the machine off the base and drop the knee off. Some mills have an extra large z gib so once removed the knee could just slip straight off the ways, but not this one.

Moe progress in the last 2 days, ready now to pull the main motor and electrics out of the body, and then find a 14mm allen key so i can take the body off the base and get the knee off.....
The front feed box was fun to get off, took about 3 goes until i worked out what order everything had to come off in.
The coolant pump is interesting, it is not submersed but has an inlet and outlet hose. As you can see by the pic of the sump it is open at the back, and has a kind of weer, i guess to stop any shavings getting to the pickup?

Ewan , I hope you remember how it all goes back together.

Originally Posted by morrisman

Ewan , I hope you remember how it all goes back together.

I hope so too......Lots of pics, some drawings and not too many beers.....
The electrics worried me at first, but everything is numbered, the wires are wrapped with a band of numbered tape and the connectors are numbered, so its easy.

As far as i have found there is only one annoying design flaw-most of the parts pinned to shafts use roll pins but one gear shifter has a taper pin in it....and its the one you cannot get to from the other side.....

I ended up having to drill that pesky roll taper pin out......but she is 99% disassembled now. Just need to take the worm and worm gear that drive the Z screw out. Lifting the body off the base was fun.....i had to put the crane on blocks so i didn't run out of lift. The Z axis revealed one last surprise....some beaut Olympic rings (just for you Stuart)

An impressive display of getting stuck into it.

Thank you Ewan for taking the time to post the photos of your endeavours for us to share.

BT

Hi ewan,
Now just a little cleaning and putting it back together. should be making chips this weekend
And to think I had been worried I was over doing it with the rings on my crosslide.
Keep up the good work.

Stuart

Well, what a bloody bewdy!! Looks like the French took something like a Cincinnati No2 Universal and then civilised it.
Love that swing away vertical head. I still shudder at the thought of a head swap on my Cinci 2U. Power and capacity look similar to my 2U, and it's near unstoppable. I believe that on production work an amp meter was fitted to the main motor, with a red line at max motor rating, and operators were told to keep up feeds and speeds so that they ran full load all day. Still treading carefully with mine. Can't afford to wreck any tools and materials. Looking forward to some pics of the big gal in action. Combustor.

Thanks Boys,
Nothing like getting stuck in.....it's slowing down now as i have decided to paint her. The paint is not as good as i first thought, it has oil under it in places and is coming right off. Not a full strip, just a good heavy sand, bog and respray. On that note i bought an el cheapo ozito triangle pad sander. $35 or something. With 60g paper it works a treat!

I finally got to the worst mess, the muck in the coolant tank. I scraped out what i could (about a 2l ice cream container's worth) and then rinsed it with degreaser and left it soaking overnight. An hour or so with the pressure cleaner and more degreaser and it's nice and clean, but of course the pressure cleaner took all the softened paint off too.....

I'm not happy with the colour i got mixed, its a bit pale, i'll have to find another large chip of paint and get another tin mixed.

My NT40 tooling turned up yesterday, i got a sweet deal, the ER40 chucks were on special for $33 from CTC. So i have 2 ER40, 1 ER25, a face mill arbor and a NT40-30 sleeve. I put the NT30 arbor in the pic as a comparison, the 40 sure is a lot bigger!

As you can see, my apprentice has been a big help, he had to have a piece of sandpaper to help sand back the bog this arvo....

Hey Ewan,

When Ken was trying to match the green on his Hercus I mentioned Reseda Green, a Euro colour of choice for machinery - http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/we...ml#post1578817

I'm wondering if Mlle was daubbed in the same shade?

Impressive progress. I imagine I'd get more done with a helper.

BT

ps, the 30 certainly looks boyish!

Well, i've hit the mid way point and the re-assembly has started.
The parts that had to go back in the knee before the column are back in, all with new bearings, although the gears are all in good shape pretty well every bearing is wallaby ted. There is few places with some nice scraping, on top of the column, and the piece that holds the y axis nut and bolts to the bottom of the saddle. I have just come in from finishing sanding back the column and putting back in place. Now for some painting.

The fist pic shows the z screw, i'm fairly sure the space i have put felt in should have had some kind of seal/wiper to clean the screw off (the screw sits in an oil bath)
Removing the cap really threw me, it is way heavier than i expected......

BT, you are right, the colour is pretty well spot on Reseda green, for some reason my phone likes to make it look darker than it is in real life.

Some more progress over the last few days. Unfortunately Mike must have jinxed me, i have had to take a few steps backwards on a couple of occasions as i have missed a part that needs to go in at a certain stage.......
Most of the electrics are working, although someone has messed with them and removed a switch to toggle the feeds from "Separate" and "Subjugated" and the feeds are stuck on subjugated-the feed motor will only come on with the main motor running.
Coolant pump is running, just need some new hose, and so far neither the main gearbox or knee boxes seem to have any leaks!
Pics of the machine in place, the y screw covers and oil bath. I've already put 24l of oil in (main box, knee box and z screw lube) and i still have the feed box and saddle bath to go......she likes oil!