Mill power feed

[Dougie SwanParticipant @dougieswan43463]

Hi

Has anyone had any experience with the mill power feeds advertised in a few places

I’ve been thinking of getting one so any info would be appreciated

Thanks

Dougie

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

The make and model of the mill might help for suggestions?

I would suggest being careful with cheap chinese offerings.

long travel is likely easier than cross travel – and z travel could be from obove or below (or both), depending on whether the mill has a knee….

[Phil LinghamParticipant @phillingham79132]

I fitted one of the cheap flea-bay power feeds to the X-axis of my Warco GH Universal mill last winter – it’s been used a lot and so far I’ve been more than happy with it.  Certainly takes the boredom out of fly cutting and speeds up squaring the vice!

It came complete with limit switches and everything worked perfectly out of the box.

Being probably designed for a Bridgeport clone a few modifications were required to adapt it.  The only tricky bit was milling the keyway in the leadscrew for the drive gear because once I removed the leadscrew I no longer had a functional milling machine!  Fortunately I was able to borrow a friends machine to complete this.

First thing was to make a new mounting plate to replace the cast one supplied, I incorporated the thrust bearings as used on the original leadscrew support.

 

I mounted it at an angle as shown to clear the swarf tray. In use this works very well as the controls “fall readily to hand”

 

I also had to modify the bronze drive gear to enable the handwheel to provide drive, and chamfer the handwheel itself a little to clear the drive unit.

[Dougie SwanParticipant @dougieswan43463]

Hi

It’s an Axminster mill drill and I was referring to the Chinese offering on ebay or Amazon
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Dougie</p>

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Yeah, I have a cheap generic unit on a Warco Major (it’s the type that lays horizontally by means of a clamp on the end of the table), it came as a kit with all brackets, gears, etc., 240v with a fitted UK plug – the parts all fitted as they should without modification. I took some care to get the gear clearance right (piece of shim between table and bracket) – It’s been fine. I’d buy the same again.

 

 

[MacolmParticipant @macolm]

See topic #811776 for some more info about this type of power feed.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I have recently fitted 2 of these to my warco vmc. (X and Z).

The first was a Chinese Asong branded one from warco and cost over £300. (X)

The second was from AliExpress and cost £82 (Z)

There are some subtle differences but they are basically the same unit! In a lot of ways I actually prefer the cheaper one. The warco one has a straight cut bronze gear while the AliExpress one has a bevel cut gear, the cheaper one has a more solid feeling handle and a more visible led light for example.

Both units are good and perform pretty much identically. They are powerful enough, even for lifting the knee. Though I wouldn’t fit it to anything bigger than my VMC.

If I had to buy again, I would. And I’d definitely go for the cheaper one!

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

Yeah, I have a cheap generic unit on a Warco Major (it’s the type that lays horizontally by means of a clamp on the end of the table), it came as a kit with all brackets, gears, etc., 240v with a fitted UK plug – the parts all fitted as they should without modification. I took some care to get the gear clearance right (piece of shim between table and bracket) – It’s been fine. I’d buy the same again.

 

I’ve been looking at this type of power feed (from Warco) for my WM16B mill.

As the WM16B has a relatively long bed at 700mm, I am concerned about the additional mass affecting manual feed effort towards one end of the table travel (and maybe a little extra wear).  A situation not encountered very often I will admit.  A vertical unit would have a less effect, but I think it may contact the bench that my mill is bolted to.  Any comments, or am I overthinking it?

 

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I was going to buy a power feed for my WM18, but not sure what measurements I need to take to find the correct one.

 

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

I think there is probably a slight increase in drag at certain degrees of extension, but the units aren’t very heavy when compared with the full weight of the table, and the effect isn’t as noticeable in use as I imagined it might be – you could add some ‘mass’ to the ‘inboard’ end / bias the workpiece position of/on the table if it’s a concern.

I don’t think it makes a vast difference whether it is sticking out or hanging down, for that reason.

The biggest ‘downside’ with this style (I found) is losing the L/H handle – I didn’t realise how much I used it for ‘jogging’ /setting-up..

I find for fabrication / ‘full-scale’ work it’s useful, but for a bout of model-making/small scale work with many set-ups it’s a pain (and I actually take it off and stick the hand-wheel back on!).

HTH D

 

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