Hi Richard,

See my mods at this link here. https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=135939

Cheers

John.

Has anyone fitted anything like to a Lux mill ? I have the same problem.

On my mill which is similar to the lux and it has a crank handle to wind the head up and down , the handle sits on a 1/2 inch square ended shaft so i bought a 1/2 drive – 12mm hex drive and fitted the hex into the chuck on a cheap drill and fit the 1/2 drive end over the square shaft . Works a treat !

You could also make up a drive flange that bolts onto the handwheel easily enough and that way you are driving the shaft with a key – you don’t want to chew up the shaft .I didn’t worry about a support the drill just hangs there and i hang onto it when raising the head . If you use a drill with speed adjustment it makes it more controllable , i origionally used a battery drill and it also worked fine but they are more expensive to replace and i got sick of recharging the battery.

Bandersnatch has found the easiest way to drive it !

Battery drills are no problem, find some old ones with dead batteries, they are usually throw outs. 12 volt is a good size (unless you have a suitable power supply for other voltages), use a battery charger as a power supply, although I think that some more complex modern ones won't work that way. I have an 18 volt supply in my workshop, and use an old 18 volt drill connected via a wooden plug that takes place of the battery. The supply also powers the windscreen wiper motor that powers the feed on the milling machine, a 12v automotive tire compressor for my E- bike, and my tank for electrolitic rust removal.

Ian S C

I added a power raise/lower to my GH Universal by using a spare high voltage stepper drive I had left over when I scrapped my cnc build.

I bought a driver control board from eBay which gives me control of the stepper driver. The switch is for raise/lower select and the non-latching push button activates the drive. The pot adds speed control and an estop for safety. The right angle gearbox came from another project and fitted this nicely and I decide on a pulley drive rather than a direct drive just in case I did something stupid.