Round column milling machine modifications
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- Опубликовано: 27 окт 2020
- I made a modication to afford a more repeatable location of the milling head on a round column Warco economy mill. I also fitted a stop to the cross slide (Y axis) as the machine does not have one. I also made a shorter chucking arrangement so that changing to drills of different lengths is both quicker and less problematic than using the supplied 2MT taper shank chuck that came with the mill.
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Very nicely done. A solution. I like a good plan and repurposed machinery and tools
Many thanks
G'day Edwin and greetings from Tasmania Australia 🇦🇺 I just happened to stumble across your channel and like you my interests are in stationary steam engines and currently I'm building a No 7 horizontal steam engine, however I found how you explained how you were trying to get the head of the mill ridged, apart from the mill being 25 us old is amazing that the tolerances were so low. Thank you for filming this, regards John
Thanks John and I'm pleased you liked the video. Reality is that u get what u pay for and this mill was cheap back in the day. That said for what I do it has been excellent and much easier than milling on the lathe which is what I had to do before aquiring the mill.
Ed
This video is very helpful. Mine has the holes for stops, but its missing all the peices. I did not know what it was for. Now I do. Thanks a bunch.
Glad it helped!
I wondered if the rack would work to prevent head rotating, now I know it will.
It's a much more elegant solution than the round or square bar off to one side
Many thanks and I'm pleased the mod was helpful. Mine is still in use and works well within the limits of accuracy I need for my model engineeering.
Ed
Thanks for your down to earth approach to this machine!
Any time! Thanks
I had the same rf30 mill, since switched to a round column rf40 (geared tilting head) the dro really is the key. I added a 3 axis on my old one after getting frustrated with moving the head. I added one to my rf40 before I even used it. Just zero the dro, go to work, move the head zero again. Also a er collet set can do everything you need without pulling the arbor (other than a large face mill or boring bar) my r8/er32 almost never comes out of the mill, the clamping range covers every drill bit and mill
Many thanks. Like you I try to use the ER collets as much as possible, I also try and plan my machining operations as far as possible to avoid raising or lowering the head and in so doing loosing lateral position. Fixing the vertical rack in position however has resolved many issues.
I've considered doing what Edwin has done to locate the head. I think that in addition to the screws at the top and bottom of the rack, putting pins through the rack and column about 4 inches apart to stabilize the plot. At each pin location I'd jack the head to zero the head location as shown in the video before drilling for the pin.
As Edwin notes, the problem usually encountered is changing the tooling and there is no room to get it in or out. Therefore, the more important thing usually is to be able to crank the head up to change tools and coming back down to very nearly the same place and still have the head zeroed on the work.
Cheers from NC/USA
The pins are a good idea and I did consider doing that, however I became concerned that I might mess up the teeth on the rack so in the end 'chickened' out. In light of your suggestion I may revisit the issue when I get through (if ever) with making the paddle steamer engine that I have under construction. Many thanks
Thanks, Enjoyed the video. I have basically the same machine, I bought mine used in 1994 and have rebuilt it several times. Added DRO and power feed years ago. Later from Texas usa.
Thanks for sharing
InstaBlaster...
Very useful video Edwin, cheers. I've just picked up a similar machine to yours and have been mulling over how to sort the play in the round column. I can't really foresee a situation where i where i will be rotating the head out of choice so i'm planning on tig welding the rack to the column top and bottom by 3/4 inches and fixing it in place. From what i can tell by looking at my machine is that the movement is caused by the rack moving side to side when under force so hopefully this will sort it out. I may even braze it at a couple of points in the middle to make sure it isn't going anywhere. Good shout on the brass shims too. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Alex. I have never found it necessary to rotate the head of the machine and on mine the head lock does hold things securely. However the issue I had and hence the mod is that the quill travel is a bit limited and I sometimes found I had to change tooling which needed the head raising or lowering with consequent loss of position when the rack moved during this operation. In my case the packing between the rack and the slot was essential to maintain position if I found it necessary to raise or lower the head during tool changes (particularly when changing from drilling to milling mode). Be sure to get the rack as vertical to the column as possible before finally fixing it in position.
Regards, Ed
Many thanks for the tips. I am thinking of buying one of those mills.
Thanks Benedict. I have owned my mill for quite a few years and although I have made changes to suit myself I have never had any problems with it. If you decide to get one I hope you will get the same satisfaction I have.
@@edwinwhite933 Many thanks.
Great video. I have the same mill with the problems you've mentioned.
I will be carrying out the mods as you have.
Great tip to centre an old chuck👍.
Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Glad it was helpful!
Like the rotation mod using shims on the rack, I have just “obtained “ the Axminster white version of the mill, with very very little use. However I need to address the head. Thanks for the idea to fix the rack. This will be my preferred first mod, I may however make guides and bolt these to the upper and lower section of the head assembly. This way I have a little wiggle room for very small adjustment .
Good work sir.
Many thanks for the kind words. There is a U tube channel called Winkies Workshop and he did a good video on making guides of the type you suggest - worth a watch. That said with more care than I actually took I think fixing and shimming the rack should be ok. Certainly works for me. Regards
Ed
@@edwinwhite933 yes I watched that, I’m just retired and trying to get stuff around me to start to play a little, I have to get some tooling and a vise. It was too good an opportunity to let go but boy was it heavy!!
I have read in comments of other similar videos, that some people use a Lazer pointer for keeping the head aligned.
Thanks Patrick, I have read similar recommendations if you need greater accuracy. However for what I do, my mod is satisfactory, also I like to use what I have to hand and I do not have a laser pointer. Many thanks for your interest, Ed
If you want to see another approach, check out some mods which Winkie did to address this issue i.e regarding preventing the head from losing position when raising or lowering.
Great idea about the modification to make a more compact chuck👍👍👍
Thanks Dwight. Yes I had previously seen Winkies vid which is excellent. However cos I'm a bit lazy and was in the middle of a project I did not want to spend much time on fixing the head location. The 2 bits of shim were fine for what I was doing.
I screwed my rack to my column and each time I move the head height I push the head to the right and I get within a couple thousandths. I tested with a long bar as well but I did it while I was aligning the rack before attaching it.
Many thanks, works for me and a couple of thous is usually more accurate than I need for the stuff I do
excellent....im considering a warco round column major mill.....if you were me....would you buy a round or a square column new mill?
Well prof that is probably an impossible question to answer. The key thing is rigidity i.e. depending upon the components you are likely to make can the mill handle them easily? On that score you always find yourself making something rather larger than envisaged. If the mill is correctly designed I doubt that round or square column makes much difference to rigidity. I bought the Warco on price cos it was all I could afford for what I thought I would be making. The advantage/disadvantage of a round column is the tendency to loose position if the head is raised/lowered cos (in my case) I did not fully assess the different lengths of tooling any particular operation required. Only once have I found the facility to rotate the head to be useful. I have now (sort of) fixed my column head so that it cannot easily be rotated. A Key question is the size of the table and therefore table travel. If it can be avoided the last thing you want to have to do is move the component being machined on the table because of restricted long or cross slide travel. Nothing worse than discovering you can't maching the last half inch of casting or whatever without moving the casting on the table LOL. I have been and continue to be entirely satisfied with my Warco for the model engineering that I do. The best mod I made to the machine was to ditch the single phase motor and replace it with a variable speed three phase - excellent torque and nothing better than adjusting speed with a dial rather than faffing about with belts - when the maching noise sounds right it is right. Same on the lathe! Hope this helps. one last point a big one is usely better than a small one all else being equal. Ed
@@edwinwhite933 thanks Ed, i like the look and support from Warco. i have a tiny proxxon mill
and the bed is far too small. looking to get a larger mill.
My personal experience with Warco is excellent. I have never had any problems with the mill or the 'add ons' such as collets etc. Back lash and tolerances etc are clearly greater than you will find with much much more expensive machines, but you soon learn to live with those slight shortcomings. I would be very surprised if you have any problems. Over the years Warco have clearly kept on top of quality control with their suppliers. Best wishes, Ed
Done quite a few mods to my (same type) mill recently. The simplest was to speed up tightening the head- should have done it years ago! ruclips.net/video/_EK3y8ABuRM/видео.html
That is a good idea Mike - I have added it to my 'to do' list.