Mill Power feed unit.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

How do these things grip the leadscrew shaft? Is it grubscrew, pin through, engaging the dog clutch handle interface some mills have? I imagine a taper lock as on pulleys is too expensive. How do they cater for lo9ts of different shaft diameters?

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

The gear that fits on the end of the leadscrew has three drive dogs the same as the handwheels. It is held in place by a grub screw.

Martin C

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

Hi Bill, I’m lucky to have two mills my other is a Chester Champion 20vs which is the WM 18 equivalent. I do also have a 3 axis DRO fitted to it but I don’t really use the Z axis on this also. In fact I only fitted scales and read heads to the X & Y axis. The quill on this mill also has a digital caliper fitted by the manufacturer. I agree with your earlier comments about milling with the quill extended but I should explain that when I do extend the quill during milling it is only a few thou or very rarely 1/8″ to 1/4″. I normally remove excess material on preliminary processes and use the mill for finish milling so as not to put too much strain on the quill. With the benefit of hindsight and the fact the head hand wheel is located on the right hand side of the column, the hand wheel could have been used for Z axis adjustment if the Z axis DRO had been fitted. The Champion 20vs head control is way more sensitive to control the head movement compared to the Super Lux.

Hope this explains my earlier comments.

Alan.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

The black top part included with the 450 in lbs model can be removed if another method of fixing it is required. I have always wondered how the drive is turned through 90 degrees since the drive gear looks like a normal spur gear with parallel teeth, not like a a bevel gear. I don’t understand how they would mesh.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

In the ‘horizontal’ ones the pinion is indeed a plain spur and drives a gear on the leadscrew – I’m fairly sure the ‘vertical’ ones have a bevel pinion that meshes with a large bevel gear of the leadscrew.

I don’t want to get into trouble with pics or links, but if you search ‘AL310S Milling’ Ebay will throw up a pic showing the array of bits for the ‘vertical’ models, you will see the pinion and the larger bronzy-lookin’-cone that is the gear – it only comes with the ‘dangly’ kit.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Now I understand how the plain spur gear type is intended to work, the pictures in Alan ord 2’s post and Peterhod’s post show the drive projecting from the left end of their mills. The drive axis is at right angles to the types that hang down at the end of beds. I was getting confused with horizontal and vertical mills.

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