Myford vmf style (KF-VO-A2F)

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Myford vmf style (KF-VO-A2F)

This topic has 13 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 June 2019 at 11:25 by John P.

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4 June 2019 at 19:17 #412623
Mark Slatter
Participant
@markslatter13251
Hi all,

I have been offered an older (1986) Warco Miller that resembles a Myford VMF. Does anyone have any idea if these miller's are any good? Are they decently rigid, how do they compare to an Elliot Omnimill for example.

Any input appreciated!
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4 June 2019 at 19:17 #13543
Mark Slatter
Participant
@markslatter13251
4 June 2019 at 19:34 #412627
Tony Pratt 1
Participant
@tonypratt1
Condition condition, condition should be your criteria, I have a Myford VME so sort of the same size & it's a great little m/c.

Tony
4 June 2019 at 21:16 #412636
John P
Participant
@johnp77052
I have had one of these for 20 + years ,been a very good machine.Modified
mine to part cnc use ,raising block seen here in the photo allows
24 inches maximum spindle nose to table and a two part knee
leadscrew will bring the table up to the spindle nose.The raising block
has an unbroken tee slot and allows the the head to be swung around
as in this instance to mount an auxiliary spindle to cut a rack.
More info at lathes.co.uk look up EME millers.

John
4 June 2019 at 21:20 #412639
Lathejack
Participant
@lathejack
The early Taiwanese made trio of Warco turret milling machines of the 1980's are very good, they are the same as the three Myford machines, the VMC, VME and VMF.

The castings on these early machines are quite substantial, with very wide saddles, deep knee castings and broad columns. They had a quality fit and feel, with a nice scraped finish on the exposed guideways of the column and the top of the knee.

The later versions of these three mills sold by Warco used rather spindlier castings, I have one of them, and although they are still good machines they are just not quite as good as the earlier ones.

So if the Warco machine you have been offered is in good condition then they are certainly worth buying. The 1986 Warco version of the Myford VMF should also have the factory fitted gearbox type power feed for the table which was not fitted on later examples.
4 June 2019 at 21:20 #412640
Lathejack
Participant
@lathejack
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Edited By Lathejack on 04/06/2019 21:26:05
4 June 2019 at 22:11 #412647
Fergus Stirling
Participant
@fergusstirling62506
I would love to see more pics of yours john… Im pulling together bits to convert mine. Mine is an Excel/Pinnacle from around 1983 ish

Posted by John Pace on 04/06/2019 21:16:35:

I have had one of these for 20 + years ,been a very good machine.Modified
mine to part cnc use ,raising block seen here in the photo allows
24 inches maximum spindle nose to table and a two part knee
leadscrew will bring the table up to the spindle nose.The raising block
has an unbroken tee slot and allows the the head to be swung around
as in this instance to mount an auxiliary spindle to cut a rack.
More info at lathes.co.uk look up EME millers.

John
5 June 2019 at 08:19 #412699
Mark Slatter
Participant
@markslatter13251
Many thanks for the replies gents, much appreciated! I read the date stamp on the machine incorrectly and it looks like it was manufactured in 1989 and doe not have the table power feed, so I assume its one of the older non-Taiwanese machines. I will ask the seller anyway though.

John, great looking conversion you did on your machine. What size torque steppers did you use for that?

Edited By Mark Slatter on 05/06/2019 08:20:43
5 June 2019 at 09:50 #412717
Lathejack
Participant
@lathejack
Even if it doesn't have the factory fitted gearbox type power feed it is still probably made in Taiwan. Only the model with the ram mounted head had the table power feed on early versions.

Anyway, they are all good machines and I have seen several for sale over the years, but they were always a bit too far away for me. I would have liked one to replace my smaller VMC that I have had for 20 years.

Edited By Lathejack on 05/06/2019 09:54:14

Edited By Lathejack on 05/06/2019 09:55:00
5 June 2019 at 13:18 #412755
Fergus Stirling
Participant
@fergusstirling62506
I only paid 200 notes for mine and another 130 to get it shipped on a pallet… bargain of the century
5 June 2019 at 14:24 #412765
clogs
Participant
@clogs
I was lucky enough to buy an unused, as brand new Myford VMF…made in Taiwan, 3phase….still covered in wax….

it was from a machine salesman’s private stash…he died and I was first offered all his equip….inc a Super7 in the same condition….no tooling for either….

the mill is a treat to use, will modify mine with a col raising ring….

i also have a sweet Bridgeport J head…..the tooling is the same….

real diff is nothing but the size….

go buy ur new toy, u won't be disappointed..
5 June 2019 at 21:21 #412824
John P
Participant
@johnp77052
Just some more photo's of the A2F,with the table right down there is
plenty of daylight under the drill bit ,the raising block is about 4 1/2 inches.
When i converted the machine to part cnc i made some new lead screws
and adjustable backlash nuts and gained a little more table travel to
21 3/4 inch and just over 8 1/4 on the y axis. The original machine nuts
are quite poorly made and fixed .The stepper motors came from Arc Euro
trade triple stack 34's 14 mm shaft 5 volt 6.5 Nm ,they don't sell these
now.The two photo's show the y axis motor tucked under the knee casting,
extending the hand wheel out it fouls the rise and fall handle on the left,the
hand wheel was moved to the right and drives the lead screw through a
pair of gears as i had made some lead screws i could use a right hand screw
for this .The stepper motor drives the lead screw via a toothed belt.
It is an imperial machine and the lead screws are 1/8 pitch the tooth
belt pulleys reduce this to .100 inch pitch.Photo of the x axis motor
both drive through 3/8 L size belts.The brackets are fabricated from
1/8 steel sheet .
With the table right up the two stage lead screw can be seen ,uses
the original lead screw with a fairly short extension piece the same pitch 1/8
inch about 1 1/2 diameter and a new nut fixed to the base.
Will post some more later on.

John
6 June 2019 at 10:31 #412896
Mark Slatter
Participant
@markslatter13251
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Im going to have a look at the machine next week, the seller also has a Elliott Omnimill available. A tough choice ahead! I think I may be leaning towards the Warco however as it has the raising block and DRO fitted and seems in better nick.

Great work on your miller John! Is that capable of 2D CNC profiling work, with the Z depth manually set then?
6 June 2019 at 11:25 #412903
John P
Participant
@johnp77052
The Z axis stepper motor drives the quill on the machine ,only a small
stepper motor was used have no details on this as it was a scrap box
part.The motor was mounted to keep within the profile of the head so
the head can still be if needed tilted 90 deg without fouling.
The lead screw seen here fits in place of the drill depth stop screw
and nut assembly which was useless item anyway,the nut has some anti
backlash adjustments.
The original block for the drill stop is replaced by a T shaped part that
has a horizontal dovetail and fixes to the quill using the same 2 holes,
a split clamp slides apart on the dovetail,when required for cnc operation
the clamp is positioned around the nut and secured with 2 m4 screws.
Two more photo's first one showing the underside of the table powerdrive,
i made a bracket to fit this to the end of the table and included a geared
take off ,a clutch can disengage the drive from the lead screw so the power
take off can be used with or without the lead screw engaged.View above
the gear output from the drive,one of those things done a long time ago
that was never taken to completion ,the cnc operations make this redundant
now.

John
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