Thread: Vernier FV.3.TO Milling machine

Going to cost you more in oil than you paid for the mill

Keep it up

Stuart

Coming along nicely Ewan.
You have done a lot of work on that.

Superb refurb there Ewan, You've done extremely well.

Great video, looks like she runs a treat!. Too many umms in there :P

All the best
Cheers
Jon

Looking nice Ewan ...... can you do a OCD SCAN OF THE MANUAL ? Mike

Hi Ewan,
Inspiring work...as usual.
You would almost say its being 'bobbed'.
Perhaps you are the new Bob incarnate.
Keep up the great work.

Phil

Thanks for all the comments.

Maybe i should take out some shares in oil......
Seriously it has cost me about 5 times what the machine cost in transport, bearings, oil, paint, cleaning products, CI for the head clamp etc. Plus tooling of course. Still cheap though....(and 4 weeks of hard work, but thats free right?)

Jon, i would never make a good public speaker......

Mike, tried the OCD, the scan is too poor to get a good read, it ends up in wingdings....i have been translating with google translate on a need to basis, but as the context is rather specialized (not run of the mill conversation) it doesn't always work.

Phil, thanks for the kind words, i don't know about Bobbed. I'm sure Bob would never do some of the dodgy things i have done. Oh, and that nice clean shed you saw a month ago is a right ####fight.

Some more pics while i'm here, in order, the multi plate clutch for the rapid feed, the feed overload clutch (less springs and balls) and the bottom of the saddle in place.

Almost there. I now just need to sort out the coolant pump hoses and i will be able to start on making the uni head clamp. The gearbox and table are on, and everything works. I sorted out the missing switch, once i had my head wrapped around it all became clear, it is pretty simple really. Oddly all the control switching is 24VAC, which made getting new lights a pain, i ended up with 12v globes and a limiting resistor on each one.

Ewan,

Sadly some of your narration is drowned out by the motor noise. Very impressive, both Mlle and your achievement in having the machine running in such a short time and appropriately repainted to boot.

Watching the rapids in play might make me squirm under the 13 and wire up its rapid motor. Might.

BT

Nice work, but I'm still trying to work out whether you paid too much for the mill in the first place...

Michael

Does that machine wash the dishes too it seems to do just about everything else ....Mike

Michael, that purchase price sure was a killer.....

Mike, i don't know about washing dishes but i'm sure it could turn them to grog pretty well.

I started on the head clamp last night and today. I'm already cursing i didn't buy a bigger saw blade, 6" really isn't big enough when your cutting up 120 dia bar. One thing i have found out is my 1" arbor is bent oh well, comes back to that purchase price i guess.
Pics of cutting and slab milling the bar. The last pic shows a full 2" deep cut with the saw, it is only 1/16 thick, 44 tooth. Even with the bent arbor Mlle barely sounded like she put any effort in....(although i had one problem but i'll start a new post)

IMAG1585 (Large).jpgIMAG1586 (Large).jpgIMAG1592 (Large).jpgIMAG1598 (Large).jpg

More progress on the head clamp today. They say 4E does not have any hard spots but i seem to have found some. In the first pic you can see some shiny spots where it is clearly harder. The saw worked fine with no key, I just had keys in the collars to either side of it, thanks Michael.

I also put up 2 vids, the first may make anyone with a lack of Z cry......(sorry BT) The second is a 20mm HSSM2AL Rippa cutter from CTC doing its thing......however it got a bit hot and a couple of cuts later i melted the end 2 teeth and snapped it off. I know that generally CI is machined dry but i wonder if some coolant wouldn't have been a good idea to keep the cutter cooler? I was running it at 490 rpm and 9" a min feed (i think?) This is under the "recommended" feed and speed for hogging CI as per the info i have collected.

Great stuff Ewan, but then....Bugga.
It certainly ripped it out while it was working

Thanks Phil,
I didn't mention above, but i tried one of your suggestions and started by hand feeding (hence the cut is already started in the vid) and then comparing the feed rate to my rate, and it was about the same, so? I guess now i have 6hp to play with the mill won't really tell me when enough is enough.....i shudder to think how the HM50 would have coped with such a cut, damn she is rigid!

Bloody Show Off!

I have machined a fair bit of 4E and it sometimes has hard spots. Hard enough for sparks to fly. The blokes out at Bohler have said it is not uncommmon. I think Bohler sells Flocast cast bar. Cast Iron Bar,Continuous Cast Iron Solid Bar,Ductile Iron,Grey Iron Casting supplier

My Hercus mill arbor is keyless and that's never been a problem. But 1/2 a horsepower aint 6.

B drying his eyes T