Restoring Beaver VBRP Mill

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

Harry, couple of thoughts on re-reading your post.

The quill spring didn't unwind significantly when removed. When I first removed the the quill I had to "unwind" the spring by holding the lever and gently rotating it. There is a warning in the manual to do this carefully as the tension on the spring could cause the lever to spin rapidly.

Once I had the tensio off I did no further dissasembly on the spring mechanism as it looked like a clock spring that once undone would be a bugger to re-assemble!

On removing the collar on the y axis, pay special attention to having removed the various cotter pins and grub screws, there are some detailed pics earlier in the thread. Mine had a couple of "hidden" grub screws, one under the mic locking ball bearing.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

OK, back on track. Walked over the shed with the casing and pressend out the main bottom bearing.

There is a thin circular plate held on by 4 tiny screws that has to come off first. The bearing and seal is oriented like this.

Then moved onto striping the bottom section of the head, starting with what I think is the idler gear.

Then the bushing that the pinion shaft sits in (IIRC )

And the feed disengagement shaft/pinion

Removed the clutch box cover

Close up view showing location of circlips and pins

Removing the gear from the pinion shaft

Revealing another circlip on the shaft itself, hence why you wouldn't be able to remove the shaft without coming in from the clutch end.

Shaft removed

View inside the clutch cover showing how the clutch lever is located

And finally, removed the worm shaft from the head/overarm

Thats the head pretty much stripped now.

Might move onto cleaning, painting and stuff like that next so I can get some of this re-assembled before I loose any parts or forget how they go together

Cheers,

Paul.

[Harry SoudersParticipant @harrysouders]

Thanks for those brake pictures – it shouldn't be too difficult to fabricate a simple working brake. One question – do you have any idea what material the shoe is made of?

I followed the quill removal instructions, but when I removed the clutch box, the quill spring still unwound. I guess I'll solve that problem when I reassemble it.

An easy way to figure out if your lead screw is hardened is by running a file over it. If the screw cuts easily, it's probably not hardened. If the file doesn't cut easily, the screw is probably hardened. You can try a file on a couple different materials treated to different hardnesses and you'll get a feel for it.

Lastly, my prints don't show the hidden set screw under the mic ball bearing, but that was definitely the issue. I should have taken a closer look at your writeup/pictures, but I got impatient and took a gear puller to the locking ring. The gear puller won the day, but it wasn't pretty. I can now see the hidden set screw, but I still can't push out that ball for the life of me. There must be a burr on the hole that's stopping the ball from coming out.

Is there any chance I can get you to upload your documents? If you give me a couple days, I can probably scan/upload everything I have as well.

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

Hi Harry, material just looks like normal brake lining, probably softer than on a automotive brake, beyond that can't really tell.

Any idea how to attached/upload stuff?

Cheers,

Paul.

[Harry SoudersParticipant @harrysouders]

Hmm, thanks. I'll probably end up using a bicycle brake pad for my brake.

In the past I've used dropbox.com for transferring files to others. You can upload the file to dropbox, make it public, and just share the link. You don't need to use it as a backup service or install the desktop client like they want you to.

[Harry SoudersParticipant @harrysouders]

Here's all the documentation I have….

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/565517/Beaver%20Manual.pdf

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

Thanks Harry, here are links to two I have found,

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/73721422/Beaver%20Mill%20Mk2.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/73721422/beaver%20mk2.pdf

Cheers,

Paul.

[Arnold LayneParticipant @arnoldlayne56018]

G'day gents,

I've also got one of these old girls, all in one piece, mostly complete and reasonable nick for its age.

Thanks for your efforts on this Paul, really appreciate the pics and detail.

My plan is to clean up, do a VFD and get it running on single phase and see what needs fixing.

After that I think I'll be doing at least a head rebuild, or maybe a full restoration.

Heres a video of moving it in. http://youtu.be/l6f7hq3-7-Y

[Dillon MulcahyParticipant @dillonmulcahy99553]

Hey Paul,

I am an engineering student and I am trying to get an old Beaver/Balding VBPR milling machine working again I was wondering If you had any more text on the machine that might be help full. Or any idea where I could get some spare parts for my machine I seem to be missing the cranks on the under belly that adjusts the tilling action on the mill.

Thanks,

Dillon

[Robert James 3Participant @robertjames3]

Hi Paul,

Hello from across the pond, I'm Robert. I just set a VBRP ser 4769/2 in my shop. It's late here and it has been a long day but I look forward to reading your posts in the days ahead. Your posts will be very helpful to get my machine up and running in good shape. Thanks for your posts. Cheers!

Robert

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

not sure if anyone is still reading this

A heck of a job. We are definitely watching

pdf links

[xavier ghislainParticipant @xavierghislain32352]

hello,

i have a milling beaver vbrp MK2 (whit variable pulley for the spindle speed). but i have a problem. do you may to say me the dimenssion of this part please on the pic (your pic). thanks very much.

[josh strathernParticipant @joshstrathern55892]

Just came across this thread. Did you ever happen to get this mill up and running? I just bought a Beaver VBRP mk.II and that's what lead me here. If anyone still happens to have a manual for it handy, mine did not come with one. Look like a well made machine.

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

Hi Josh, still a work in progress! It is fully stripped but not rebuilt yet, if you PM me an e-mail address I have an PDF manual I can send over.

Cheers,

Paul.

[josh strathernParticipant @joshstrathern55892]

Hah, just noticed most of the large nuts on my machine are 3/8 whitworth. The head swivel nuts, head nod, ram to column mount, and the motor mount nuts. Luckily it came with a double box end of this size. It was still in the box of parts I got with my machine and I grabbed my sae wrenches. None of those fit, so I went back to the box and found out it was whitworth. I always wondered when I would encounter one.

[Paul MajorParticipant @paulmajor25237]

Thats where collecting old spanners and tools at boot fairs comes in

Edited By Paul Major on 22/10/2015 11:57:05

[josh strathernParticipant @joshstrathern55892]

Well I got intimate with my vbrp mkII in the last 4 days. Mine seems to have many different parts than yours, but some are the same. Mine also came with the rapid gearbox installed, if you need help with that. It was pretty simple.

I completely stripped the machine down to nuts and bolts and cleaned everything. It was very dirty and looked like it hadn't been cleaned…ever. Also a lot of the oil zirks were filled with grease. No major damage, except the 4 holes that the quill uses to locate were pretty darn wallowed out, so I drilled and reamed 4 new ones and pressed in a new pin. Also my powerfeed does not work, a small pinion gear inside is stripped but it's a small gear I can get for about $15. The oil sight glass on the powerfeed gearbox was broken as well, it's the same one on the backgear gearbox for the head. Looks like a Bijur b5631 is the replacement in case anyone wants to know. Sometime in the future I will strip it again and repaint. I have a job coming up where I could really use this mill, so I wanted to get it working first.

I picked the machine up for $400 delivered to my house. The previous owner said the motor did not work. I completely rewired the machine and cleaned the switches, turned out the issue was the fusebox disconnect switch. One of the prongs was not fully engaging so the feedmotors worked, but the spindle motor would sometimes just hum, sometimes work for a few seconds, and sometimes it would just pop the breaker and shoot sparks. After figuring it all out, it works fine.

I'm satisfied! Thank you for all the pics Paul, they helped a lot. The parts catalog diagrams are sometimes tough for me to read, and pics like these help a lot. If you need some pointers getting everything back together let me know.

[Jasmine PalmerParticipant @jasminepalmer42661]

Hi i have the very same Mill and have just fitted a VFD and new control station in place of the old Rotary switch and a cabinet at the rear to house all the new controls. im looking for parts for this machine that are missing if anyone can help. it is also my intention to convert it to CNC so again any help gratefully received.

thanks in advance

jasmine

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Jasmine,

This could be your lucky day as I'm just about to scrap out a Beaver NC5 CNC which is actually in working order.

PM me if interested or email.

john [ at ] stevenson-engineers.co.uk

[Alan Waddington 2Participant @alanwaddington2]

Bit of a thread resurrection, but have spent the afternoon dragging a VBRP home, and would love to get my hands on some technical literature. All the Dropbox links earlier in the thread are now dead.

There seems to be loads of variations with these machines, so any info is welcome. I convinced myself it wasn't that big, but now it's home……… it's bloody huge, was surprised when the 1 tonne forklift used to lift it onto my trailer did a nose dive with the back wheels in fresh air……

Pictures to follow…….

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Alan,

Send me your email via private message and I'll send you everything I've got (I've got the manual that covers the belt and varispeed VS model)

And while we're talking about it, I'm selling one on behalf of my employer, it's not been used much throughout its whole life, so wear is negligible. We just don't need it and I want to raise some cash for some equipment we do need. everything we design arrives made to measure, and if we change or repurpose something, it is lathe work anyway. I would guess she has less than 250 hours use since new, possibly, significantly less.

I need to drag it out, clean it down, lube up the slides and then I'll do what I can to measure backlash along the screws (I anticipate no variation from left/right to middle) and I'll check very carefully for any wear on the slides that might result in the table being tight at the ends when properly adjusted – again, I'm hoping for negligible wear.

This could be a great opportunity for someone in need of a quality unworn vertical mill.

[Alan Waddington 2Participant @alanwaddington2]

Thanks Russ! that's very kind of you, much appreciated. PM sent

[Daniel RobinsonParticipant @danielrobinson12697]

I also have plenty of info on the V2… I can create a dropbox if your interested, will have to be tomorrow as I'm up to my nose in something else.

Dan

[Daniel RobinsonParticipant @danielrobinson12697]

So, three links with three differing manuals for the Beaver MK2:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9cmiyfdqt40r24/beaver%20mk2.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/porirxiryaod1kl/Beaver%20Mill%20Mk2.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7b2nvtup22gf3t1/Beaver%20Manual.pdf?dl=0

I will take them down after a couple of days,

[Robert James 3Participant @robertjames3]

Thank you for your post to Drop Box. Your post has made a happy weekend for me. I decided that this machine is just taking up space and I need to get it running. I'm off in the morn to get the items I need to run the power to it. Thanks Again! Oh by the way I have two copies one will go into the safe.

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