A year ago I had the same problem, but I removed the transmission completely and fitted the drive with V-belts. This is a better solution and the milling machine is much quieter than before.
I had a mini mill and benchtop lathe from Machine Mart with the same problems, the only difference was, that I first made a gear hob using silver steel which was then hardened, Made a 40 to 1 dividing head and plates, cut the gears from steel sourced from the scrap skip at a steel distributers, (with their permission and a contribution to their xmass party fund), and also made a replacement set of change gears for the mini lathe. The mini lathe control panel went south after a couple of years, so instead of replacing the mother board at a cost of £90 plus, I opted for a larger AC motored lathe for which I had to make a reversing gear and also made a taper turning attatchment. turned various morse tapers for mill and lathe, made an extended tailstock barrel for the lathe. The milling machine had the same fine quill feed mechanism with the universal joints which introduced around 15 thou of slop, so did away with that, made and fitted a column side down feed with split nuts to disengage the fine feed which gave far better fine control. Had to remove the spring loaded assist arm, so made and fitted a blank plate with two pulleys to the top of the column and got a long brake cable inner from Halfords, Attached the cable to the top of the head, put a hole in the workbench to thread the cable over the pulleys and through the bench top and fastened a counter balance weight to it. Then spent many a happy hour pottering about in my shed cum workshop until Osteoarthritis of the spine meant that I couldn't stand for more than half an hour at a time.
Appreciate your video, concise and nicely narrated without a lot of fluff. Thanks for posting. I have a MicroMark R8 mill that looks exactly like yours.
I stripped so many plastic gears and burnt out a motor all I was building is small steam engines. So I got rid of it and bought a new Milling machine with a 2hp motor with lots of grunt. Now I’m happy.Doug
I did the belt upgrade to my mill. I wound up removing all the gears from it for good! I wish I would have had this video when I did the Mod though because it was a bit of a pain to get the thing apart, but your video made it look super easy LOL.
You're not going to believe this, but I was just in our shop putting our grizzly lathe/mill combo back together after cleaning it up and trimming it, when I tested the mill which I never took apart. I noticed it has a winning sound. It is exactly like yours but I'm sure it has metal gears so I'm guessing a bearing is going bad. Anyway, the funny thing is your video was in my feed after I got back to by barracks and turned on my laptop. That was freaky enough, but the real interesting part is I'm stationed at Mcmurdo station Antarctica! 😆 I was puzzled how it came apart and this was defiantly a great help! Thanks for the upload and greetings from the land of ice, darkness and questionable chow hall food!
Very good video, but a couple of points. You always press a bearing into it's housing by it's outer ring. Why not replace the original bearings with tapered roller ones.
Awesome video! Very detailed with great views and production value.... I don't need this upgrade yet, but I will save this video for when I do! Thanks!!!
Un video ilustrativo , gracias profe x mostrar para los amantes de máquinas herramientas. Lo k no me kedó claro es el piñón de teflón k función cumple , i x k no lo cambió con metal tratado . Saludos desde Sicuani Perú 🇵🇪
The plastic gear on top is easy to get to and would be the part that breaks should a cutter snag or have a sudden overload for any reason. Thank you for watching and leaving a comment!
You have no idea how much I needed this video! My mill has been in the fully disassembled state for like a year now, and has been through a move. (God I hope I have all the pieces) the other vids a good, but this one is definitely more detailed. I have to go grab an H frame, but this video is 100% what I needed. Thanks alot man!
The plastic gears will give good service if not overloaded. Mine lasted years, until one day I snagged a block of steel with a flycutter. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
@@metalwooddesign I guess I tempted fate last week. My gears let go this afternoon while drilling a 5/8'' hole in aluminum, no shock load. I have ordered a metal set. The timing is lousy as I am in the middle of a project.
Just for anyone who is interested in the bearings. The spindle bearings are already deep groove ball bearings. The lower bearing is 6007zz and the upper is 6206z. The idler shaft bearings are 6001z C3. My spindle head is all apart. I am just waiting for UPS to deliver the new metal gears. Thanks to the video, everything went well. Of all things, I had issues removing the 5mm setscrew holding the shifter arm. I tried penetrating oil, heat, impact, swearing, etc. but the Allen wrench just twisted. I ended up drilling the setscrew and removing it with an easy out. The setscrew is cone point, impossible to find locally. I will put a point on a 5mm socket head cap screw which should do the trick. The gears that failed were on the idler shaft and both sides were broken. Almost as if the shifter arm was not properly engaged. The main gears were in good shape.
All back together. It is noisier than before but I can live with that. Some observations for the next guy: Remember to match mark the two parts of the housing before you separate them as the bolts are a loose fit and you can get misalignment at re-assembly. Nothing is deburred and there are cast iron particles everywhere inside. A good debur and clean is essential before it goes back together. Two inch pipe works well to push on the bearing outer races of the main shaft. Inch and a quarter pipe works well on the inner race of the smaller bearing on this shaft (I used ABS pipe, no problems). Various sockets from my wrench set do the trick on the idler shaft bearings. The main gears are a little tight on the shaft when re-assembling. I heated them with an electric blower to about 180F and they slid on without effort, no need for pushers as shown in the video. Check the alignment of the gears after assembly. My low speed gear was only 2/3 engaged when the ball was in the detent. I had to rework the detent position with a Dremel to get 100% meshing of the low speed gear. This may have been the cause of the initial failure also. Many thanks again to MetalWoodDesign for the great video which made my life a lot easier!
I did this to a mini mill I owned years ago. It worked as a solution but it made it so loud you had to wear ear defenders! I also sealed the gearbox and grease filled it in the hope of quieting it a bit, but it didn't help much. Great step by step guide for those who want to do this, thanks.
Thx! I needed this, tool holder stuck inside the spindle (MT3 on mine) 🤣 "Don't buy old big, buy new small" is what I kept hearing from RUclipsrs so that's what I bought, now I'm in a qualified position to say they're proverbially full of it. Before I bought it I wish I'd known how kinda bad this mini mill is. On mine the Z-axis fine adjuster is an utter pig to contend with. The X-axis ways are too tight in the middle so I guess they foresaw wear, issue is when I loosen the gibs, they slip out at both ends. Tramming it in the Y-axis isn't all that easy either, and in general any sort of precision from factory = Forget about it. All of this can be easily fixed, and I am, but, wish I bought a cheaper, old big mill that I likely would have only had to give a slight service/rebuild & some small fixes to get a FAR more capable and durable machine.
You got it, older and bigger, biggest you can get away with. It is fussy, and there's a fine line between getting the play out of the X/Y screws and locking it up. It's a small cheep Chinese machine that needs to be used within its limits. Mine's got an R8 like Bridgeport, but you need to have some restraint as the plastic gears will break. If/when that happens definitely go with the metal gears. Thanks for the comment! Have fun with your projects!!
Excellent video. I just an hour ago busted the plastic drive gear on top of the gearhead. I totally agree that this is a perfect place to have a failure point because it is dead easy to get at. I will probably end up replacing the internal plastic gears with metal, though, at some point, but I need to get the plastic drive gear now so I can finish my project. My machine is apparently a Sieg X2 or clone, the WEN 33013. Big Orange. My lathe is Big Blue, the Vevor 7 x 12 I think it is. I will probably upgrade its gears, too. Both machines have served me well for a couple of years now, just making parts and doodads for house and boat. Honestly, making a full set of gears should have been my first milling project. Now, I got too many other jobs waiting to do. Again, great vid, thumbs up, thanks for posting.
I covered the rear opening with a copper shim to prevent swarf from entering and greased all the gears. I’ve modified the whole lot to 3-axis CNC. It’s noisy but been working for a few years now.
Loved the video. As someone looking into making via 3d print, cnc, milling and lathing at the cheapest cost it helps to know how it all fits together and works. Thank you. With everything what I have found hard to understand is how to try and get motors that can be used for multiple things, and how much power is needed to cut stainless/steel/wood and the power/torque needed and how much power is lost through gearing/belts
I have a Wen Mill that looks just like this one. I haven't crashed it yet, knock on wood. It sure takes a lot of intimidation out of the equation when I know what everything looks like before I get started. Thank you so much for taking the time to record this in a video. If I decide to switch to metal gears I think I will add a port for oiling them. May all your projects be successful and just challenging enough to be interesting.
I rarely comment on videos but I must say you did an outstanding job on this one! Well done. Clear, concise and excellent videography. This is what I come to RUclips for - not jazz hands and lame jokes. Well done. (I'm now a subscriber)
Great video and thank you. I have a WEN version of this and looks just like it except orange. I will keep this mind if I ever break my gears. I would say, someone either jammed the cutter hard, by a part coming loose or dropping the head while running, or shifting gears while running. Hope none of that happens to me. Cheers
Just the video I needed! Thank you so much and especially for taking the time to show the many views of the assembly. Gave a big thumbs up and subscribed!!
Excellent instructions and video. Fortunately for me, I only needed to replace the plastic gear on the very top. I was thinking I would need to buy a press if the inner gears were damaged
I'm surprised the input plastic gear did not fail first. I put the metal gears in my metal lathe but they actually had more backlash and noisier so wish I had left the plastic in as they were fine. Just watched too many wasted video on it. but I did put in sealed angular contact bearings for a true improvement.
In my case, it was a slotting saw - they tend to be a bit out of round... Now I think my low speed gear is missing a tooth or similar. High speed sounds like usual. I got the mill in 2005 or so, so the plastic gears have had a good run. Will get the metal gears, new bearings, etc next year…
Nicely detailed video but would have obviously been nice if you turned on the machine so we could hear the difference in sound between the original plastic gears and the new metal gears. We also gotta wonder why no grease is being used on the gears.
The gears were well lubed with grease before reassembly. The metal gears are a bit noisier, but I do love the sound of straight cut gears! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Interesting little upgrade. But a couple of comments, based on personal experience. It didn't look like you put new bearings in, in particular the bottom main bearing. I would always fit new bearings if I was stripping something down this far, in the great scheme of things it does not add a vast amount to the cost on something like this (lathe headstock bearings would be a different issue). I'd put in a decent set of SKF, Timkin or NSK and possibly change the bottom bearing to an angular contact bearing if ones not already fitted, space allowing. When pressing bearings in push in on the race which is being fitted to the shaft or housing. Don't press the outer race in to the housing by pushing on the inner race. This can cause brinnelling by having the balls press small dents in the bearing surfaces, leading to premature bearing failure. When pushing a bearing onto a shaft and into a housing at the same time, use a large thick "washer" to push both races at the same time. I'd probably replace all the other bearings at the same time, just to know they were decent. The last bearings I replaced were on the Dyson vacuum cleaner brush bar. A new brush bar was £30 odd and two bearings were £3.50ish. The difference in noise levels was worth it alone.
I think that's where most people run into issues with these. They just get it, half ass clean it n fire it up, with dirt probably all in it. I have a pretty good plan for when mine arrives, probably just spend a week cleaning it.
@@Mikesmeyer88 I think you are right. Anything with bearings needs to be clean. When I got my small mill the first thing I did was drain the old oil, fill it with cheap oil to run and flush, drain that overnight and then fill with the good stuff. While that was going on I could clean and lube the rest.
That remaining plastic gear is certainly a weak point it would be nice to be able to replace that also! A good tweek to improve this mill is to place some shim washers between the rack and column which reduces the backlash in the vertical microadjustment knob but be carefull not to use shims that are too thick since this will damage the teeth of the rack and pinion. 0.6mm worked for me.
Good tip, thanks for sharing! The one remaining plastic gear is easy to get to. That's the part that gives way (hopefully) if something snags hard under power.
That last plastic gear is essentially acting as a fuse. If anything goes wrong, it will be the first one to go, protecting the rest of the gears from damage.
It may or may not have already been said, but keep in mind that using all metal gears will shift the stress of force directly to the motor in the event of a bind or overload. Ironically, the original plastic gears breaking prevents that from happening. A belt drive conversion is really the only permanent fix to both problems, since it's much easier to deal with a broken\slipped belt than broken gears or a burnt out motor. After owning a more common Sieg X2D variant for roughly 2 years now, I'm going to upgrade to an LMS 3990 instead since a solid column and belt drive should really be required on these benchtop mills.
Thanks for the feedback! There's one plastic gear left on top driven by the motor gear. That's easier to replace and will be the part that gives if (when) it gets into a jam again.
The Sieg X2D also has a solid column... Are you sure you dont have the Harbor Freight Mini Mill? Its not the same as the X2D.. HF has a tilting column and not a solid column whereas the LMS Sieg X2D has a solid column. They may look alike but theyre slightly different. If a solid column is all youre after then buy a LMS Sieg X2D for $800.
One point about bolting the two main assemblies back together. The spindle/motor block needs to be EXACTLY parallel to the gibb block. If not, the spindle will be canted of at an angle from the Z axis of motion. It might have been a good idea to "chisel/scribe" mating marks on the mated sides of these two blocks as originally attached.
I don't do machine work. And probably never will. But I love watching it. Especially when someone is explaining what they are doing. I have a question, why did you not go ahead and replace the last plastic gear?
The plastic gear on top is easy to get to and would be the part that breaks should a cutter snag or have a sudden overload for any reason. Thank you for watching and leaving a question!
Excellent video. I have a similar mill to this one and although the gears on mine seem OK at the moment, I’m sure it’s a job that I’ll need to do at some point in the future.
Bearings were good, and are still hanging in there. The one plastic gear on top is like a fuse. If something gets jammed that's the part that will give way, and it's easy to get at to replace. I appreciate the commentary! Thanks for watching!!
Enjoyed the video. Just was wondering since you had it torn down why you didn't replace all the bearing and left the one plastic gear? Just asking to learn. Thank you.
The bearings were still good, and I'm cheap, so they were reused. Still in service today. The one remaining plastic gear is the failure point, or fuse in the system. It's also easy to get to. That's what gives if something gets jammed. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
@@metalwooddesign thank you for sharing your thought process for that upgrade. Sharing like that is how we learn from each other. Where is the best place to get the metal gears ?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com That would be the first place to check. They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks and have fun with your project!
Good video. Quick tip. NEVER press out bearings like that. If you press on the inside and the outer is causing friction.. You will indent the ball bearings into the race. The bearing will go bad shortly. It may not be a sealed gearbox.. Grease is your friend. It's tacky and provides good lubrication forever.
There was that one bearing that fit tight on shaft, loose in the pocket, thus pressing on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
@@metalwooddesign Do you have a part number? I have been searching the web and cannot find them, even on Little machineshop site, still searching and the gear that I broke is the plastic one you did not replace. My machine came from Harbor Freight and is a central machine shop. exactly like yours but red. thanks for your help.
@@metalwooddesign Do you have a part number? I have been searching the web and cannot find them, even on Little machineshop site, still searching and the gear that I broke is the plastic one you did not replace. My machine came from Harbor Freight and is a central machine shop. exactly like yours but red. thanks for your help.
Interesting video for sure and I bet the metal gears will work tons better as well. They may make a little more noise running, but you are not going to break the teeth off them easy. I have to ask, if you had to do over, would you buy the same mini-mill? I ask because I am looking to get a bench top mill and wanted to know how well you like this one... Thumbs Up!
Like anything, it depends what you're going to do with it. It is a handy little mill and does a good job operating within its limits. There are a lot of similar ones so parts shouldn't be an issue. Everything is a compromise, but for something like a milling machine, if I were to get another, I would tend to lean towards the best one that I could afford, have room for and are capable of moving. Great question! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
What size is the PVC fitting used to press in the top bearing on the main shaft? (At, or around 18:50 in the Vid.) I’m thinking it’s 1 inch schedule 40. Is it? Gotten to that point in the reassembly, and I’ll need to go buy one - or make a substitute out of Delrin (during 100+ heat wave, without AC). Addendum to above: 1 inch schedule 40 does work.
Hay I think your doing a great job. But I noticed that you didn't put any grease on the shaft that the gears ride on will they be ok with out the grease and also I was wondering if you need a little grease on the gears ⚙️ them selfs.
All the metal to metal moving parts were well lubed with grease, including the shafts, shifter fork, detents and gears. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
It doesn't take a lot of force, but you do need a press so it can be done in a controlled manner, and variety of pieces to press with, like PVC fittings. I used a general purpose synthetic grease. Link is below if you want to check it out. www.amsoil.com/p/synthetic-multi-purpose-grease-nlgi-2-glc/?zo=5265385 Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
The bearing fit very snug on the shaft and easy into the pocket, thus it was pressed on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in detail! I appreciate the the comment!!
Surprised to see that that casting is identical to a mini lathe, with the exception of the grooves for the ways. I agree with the others that mentioned replacing the bearings. The bearings that come with those are complete crap, it would have made a huge difference to put angular contact bearings on the spindle, and some name brand 6001's on the jack shaft.
I know about these mills but I watched whole darn thing yet not own a mill. Want to buy a bigger performance Matthew 7something series. The pm brand. But great video...thanks from Houston TX brother
Thank you very much for your usefull video. I'm going to buy a similar mill, and - having already experienced with the gears of my lathe ( broken as usual it happens to be, and changed myself with steel gears modulo 2 - not original but machined with my lathe with the remaing functional speed till functioning ) ... then i think i'll have to do that work again on the mill ... At that time i had no idea were get spare parts, then i decided to install modulo 2 gears ... 13 + 33 for lover speed, and 23 + 23 for higher speed ... they ... fitted !!! Do you know if Little Machine Company can supply parts into Europe ? So i can begin with ordering the needed spare parts ... in Italy we said "to buy the whip first, and the horse later ... " My best regards ...
Great story, thanks for sharing! I don't know specifics about their shipping but a quick check of their website (littlemachineshop.com) says they ship to many parts of the world. Thanks again for watching and leaving a comment!!
@@danilomonti4199 veramente la fresa non l'ho più comprata, un po' per la spesa, poca ma - essendo solo per hobby - non strettamente necessaria, ma anche perchè non saprei dove metterla, a meno di non disfarmi ( sigh ! ) di un trapanino Proxxon TBH che ho sul banco ... la fresa penso lo potrebbe sostituire abbastanza bene, ma darlo via - dopo anni di onorato servizio ... mi repelle !!! Comunque molti ricambi ed ingranaggi ( anche per fare filettature particolari al tornio ) li ho presi da Ali-Express, se ti serve qualche informazione fammi sapere ... Ma tu hai un tornio, o una fresa ? Il mio tornio è un simil-cinese, sistemato da me quasi bene ... quasi perfetto oserei dire ... è tipo un C2 Sieg ...
@@alessandroandrenacci2372 ho una fresa la solita cineasta , ma andava bene, poi l’ho forzata e gli ingranaggi essendo in plastica sono andati… riesci ad aiutarmi a trovarli in metallo , io non riesco forse perché non parlo inglese se non con il traduttore😂
The bearing was tight on shaft, much looser in the outer race pocket, thus pressing on the inner race to minimize side load on bearing. Thank you for watching! That's a great detail question!!
Where did you get the new gears from? Was it in the vid and I missed it? Very educational vid. I've been itching to get one of these mills for years. I might just have to do it one of these days before I'm too old to play with it. First thing I'll make will be a new set of gears! lol ;)
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com I used a high quality general purpose synthetic grease during assembly. Here’s a link to that item if you're curious: www.amsoil.com/p/synthetic-multi-purpose-grease-nlgi-2-glc/?zo=5265385 Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
If anyone is going to attempt something like this, know one thing. You should only ever press a bearing in or out using the fitted race. If you're pressing it into an ID, press on the outer race. When pressing one onto a shaft, use the inner race. Otherwise, you risk damaging your bearing, and this video clearly shows this machine wasn't built using quality components. DON'T RISK IT! Otherwise, it's a great video. 👍
The bearing fit in the outer pocket easy and was tight on the shaft, thus favoring the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
Nice job, I was a little surprised that you didn't replace the bearings while you had it all apart (saving yourself some potential hassle in the future).
As a comment, it is always better to prees a bearing so that you do not press against the balls. Thus if you press the outer ring into a housing, use a press tool to press on the outer ring. This will prevent brinelling the races
The bearing fit in the outer pocket easy and was tight on the shaft, thus favoring the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
Hi, my name is Joseph Law. I have just watched your video replacing the plastic gears with metal ones I am just wondering where you got them from please I have got the same machine as you so I’m just wondering if you could tell me where you got them please
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks and have fun with your project!
I have learned that you should never press a bearing in or out on the inner ring if you plan to use the bearing again.. supposedly you create micro damages that will make the bearing fail sooner than later...
Yes, that's good practice to press on the outer race. There was one bearing where it slipped fairly easy into the pocket for the outer race and was really snug on the shaft thus favoring the the inner race to press on in that instance. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
I would think to keep that one plastic, buy a bunch of them in packs of 10, and keep the metal version on hand for the more demanding jobs when the plastic simply won’t do. That way, it keeps the motor from getting seized and breaking the electronics, which are a pain to find spares for. But in my case, I have plans to combine the high n low speed gearing AND the belt drive modification from LMS, which will entail making an extended and keyed idler shaft adapter plus a third bearing, elevating the adjustable tension style motor mount to clear the spindle cover, and adding a future mounting option for a power drawbar - all while keeping the spindle lock capability. Essentially four speeds in one machine.
@@asakayosapro i just had that idea, keeping the gears i just added noise. So you woulda 3rd bearing? I want sure that was right. I have the mill & belt kit cant i just remove the gears and use the belt to the spindle? I think a gears broken in mine, its loud as hell. If i could just attach to the spindle and use better bearings you would even know ir was on. Probably just remove where the bearings stop and use heavier top and bottom bearings. Be more ridged too. Lmk if you have an idea
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com That would be the first place to check. They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching!!
So I ordered all my gears separately to save money which really wasn't much, my concern is on the larger 2 gears the set with the spacer on yours well mine came all 1 piece so I'm concerned it's not going to work. What my concern is the gear dimensions are perfect but because they are all 1 piece the bore is the same inner diameter as the smaller one and my original plastic gears the biggest one has a slightly bigger bore diameter.
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Generally, yes the outer race. There was a bearing that fit very snug on the shaft and easy into the pocket, thus it was pressed on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in detail! I appreciate the the comment!!
Buenas noches compañero me llamo Antonio y soy de España, tengo la misma mini fresadora me podrías decir donde compro los piñones metálicos muchas gracias
Very useful reference as I have the same machine branded Busy Bee and the plastic gears seem to be a common point of failure. It hasn't happened to me yet-- but can to tell me where you sourced the steel gears?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
I don't even own a mill and i watched this to the end! Good job
Thank you for watching and leaving a comment!!
A year ago I had the same problem, but I removed the transmission completely and fitted the drive with V-belts. This is a better solution and the milling machine is much quieter than before.
Really sounds like something worth doing, do you have a video of the process?😊
I had a mini mill and benchtop lathe from Machine Mart with the same problems, the only difference was, that I first made a gear hob using silver steel which was then hardened, Made a 40 to 1 dividing head and plates, cut the gears from steel sourced from the scrap skip at a steel distributers, (with their permission and a contribution to their xmass party fund), and also made a replacement set of change gears for the mini lathe. The mini lathe control panel went south after a couple of years, so instead of replacing the mother board at a cost of £90 plus, I opted for a larger AC motored lathe for which I had to make a reversing gear and also made a taper turning attatchment. turned various morse tapers for mill and lathe, made an extended tailstock barrel for the lathe. The milling machine had the same fine quill feed mechanism with the universal joints which introduced around 15 thou of slop, so did away with that, made and fitted a column side down feed with split nuts to disengage the fine feed which gave far better fine control. Had to remove the spring loaded assist arm, so made and fitted a blank plate with two pulleys to the top of the column and got a long brake cable inner from Halfords, Attached the cable to the top of the head, put a hole in the workbench to thread the cable over the pulleys and through the bench top and fastened a counter balance weight to it. Then spent many a happy hour pottering about in my shed cum workshop until Osteoarthritis of the spine meant that I couldn't stand for more than half an hour at a time.
Great story, Thanks for sharing! Many projects with shop made tooling in a skilled craftsman's shed. All the best to you Sir!
Even these budget machines have so many parts! Newfound appreciation
Design is ancient, I have a WEMAS from 1986, same Design. Copied ever since.
Appreciate your video, concise and nicely narrated without a lot of fluff. Thanks for posting. I have a MicroMark R8 mill that looks exactly like yours.
Thank you, I appreciate the comment!
I stripped so many plastic gears and burnt out a motor all I was building is small steam engines. So I got rid of it and bought a new Milling machine with a 2hp motor with lots of grunt. Now I’m happy.Doug
Happiness is a bigger mill! Thanks for the comment!!
Your video was perfect, idk if I would of ever been able to do it without having this video to go to through the process. Thanks a million my friend.
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
I did the belt upgrade to my mill. I wound up removing all the gears from it for good! I wish I would have had this video when I did the Mod though because it was a bit of a pain to get the thing apart, but your video made it look super easy LOL.
You're not going to believe this, but I was just in our shop putting our grizzly lathe/mill combo back together after cleaning it up and trimming it, when I tested the mill which I never took apart. I noticed it has a winning sound. It is exactly like yours but I'm sure it has metal gears so I'm guessing a bearing is going bad. Anyway, the funny thing is your video was in my feed after I got back to by barracks and turned on my laptop. That was freaky enough, but the real interesting part is I'm stationed at Mcmurdo station Antarctica! 😆
I was puzzled how it came apart and this was defiantly a great help! Thanks for the upload and greetings from the land of ice, darkness and questionable chow hall food!
That's a great story. Thanks for sharing! Comments like that make it all worth while!! Enjoy that equipment!
Very good video, but a couple of points. You always press a bearing into it's housing by it's outer ring. Why not replace the original bearings with tapered roller ones.
@@bertsmith5223Porque o esforço é axial e não lateral. No torno fica melhor, mas na fresadora não faz diferença.
Awesome video! Very detailed with great views and production value.... I don't need this upgrade yet, but I will save this video for when I do! Thanks!!!
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Me too. I actually don’t own the mill yet…it’s coming in a couple weeks.
Un video ilustrativo , gracias profe x mostrar para los amantes de máquinas herramientas.
Lo k no me kedó claro es el piñón de teflón k función cumple , i x k no lo cambió con metal tratado .
Saludos desde Sicuani Perú 🇵🇪
The plastic gear on top is easy to get to and would be the part that breaks should a cutter snag or have a sudden overload for any reason. Thank you for watching and leaving a comment!
Outstanding video! Wish more people did things this way.
Thanks, I appreciate the comment! Merry Christmas!!
@@metalwooddesign you're very welcome! And a very Merry Christmas to you as well! 😊🎄
You have no idea how much I needed this video! My mill has been in the fully disassembled state for like a year now, and has been through a move. (God I hope I have all the pieces) the other vids a good, but this one is definitely more detailed. I have to go grab an H frame, but this video is 100% what I needed. Thanks alot man!
Glad to hear you find it useful! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Even though I do not have a mill like this, I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing. Very good narration.
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
My gears just went today flycutting aluminium so I'm going to have to replace them so thank you for the video.
Thanks for watching. Flycutting is what took mine out. The metal gears are well worth putting in. Best to you.
Thank you. My mill is OK so far, but it is good to see how easy it is to replace the plastic gears.
The plastic gears will give good service if not overloaded. Mine lasted years, until one day I snagged a block of steel with a flycutter. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
Good to know
@@metalwooddesign I guess I tempted fate last week. My gears let go this afternoon while drilling a 5/8'' hole in aluminum, no shock load. I have ordered a metal set. The timing is lousy as I am in the middle of a project.
Just for anyone who is interested in the bearings. The spindle bearings are already deep groove ball bearings. The lower bearing is 6007zz and the upper is 6206z. The idler shaft bearings are 6001z C3. My spindle head is all apart. I am just waiting for UPS to deliver the new metal gears. Thanks to the video, everything went well. Of all things, I had issues removing the 5mm setscrew holding the shifter arm. I tried penetrating oil, heat, impact, swearing, etc. but the Allen wrench just twisted. I ended up drilling the setscrew and removing it with an easy out. The setscrew is cone point, impossible to find locally. I will put a point on a 5mm socket head cap screw which should do the trick. The gears that failed were on the idler shaft and both sides were broken. Almost as if the shifter arm was not properly engaged. The main gears were in good shape.
All back together. It is noisier than before but I can live with that. Some observations for the next guy:
Remember to match mark the two parts of the housing before you separate them as the bolts are a loose fit and you can get misalignment at re-assembly.
Nothing is deburred and there are cast iron particles everywhere inside. A good debur and clean is essential before it goes back together.
Two inch pipe works well to push on the bearing outer races of the main shaft. Inch and a quarter pipe works well on the inner race of the smaller bearing on this shaft (I used ABS pipe, no problems). Various sockets from my wrench set do the trick on the idler shaft bearings.
The main gears are a little tight on the shaft when re-assembling. I heated them with an electric blower to about 180F and they slid on without effort, no need for pushers as shown in the video. Check the alignment of the gears after assembly. My low speed gear was only 2/3 engaged when the ball was in the detent. I had to rework the detent position with a Dremel to get 100% meshing of the low speed gear. This may have been the cause of the initial failure also.
Many thanks again to MetalWoodDesign for the great video which made my life a lot easier!
I like you self adjusting shop rag. Need to get some of this. LOL. That was great
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
I did this to a mini mill I owned years ago. It worked as a solution but it made it so loud you had to wear ear defenders! I also sealed the gearbox and grease filled it in the hope of quieting it a bit, but it didn't help much. Great step by step guide for those who want to do this, thanks.
Great story! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Helps if your smoth out the gears a bit too wire brush them remove sharp edges without taking any off actual gear
Life saver sir!!! Great Video!!! Just what I needed to fix my mill that I've had for 3 days! lol :)
Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate the comment!!
Thx! I needed this, tool holder stuck inside the spindle (MT3 on mine) 🤣
"Don't buy old big, buy new small" is what I kept hearing from RUclipsrs so that's what I bought, now I'm in a qualified position to say they're proverbially full of it.
Before I bought it I wish I'd known how kinda bad this mini mill is. On mine the Z-axis fine adjuster is an utter pig to contend with.
The X-axis ways are too tight in the middle so I guess they foresaw wear, issue is when I loosen the gibs, they slip out at both ends.
Tramming it in the Y-axis isn't all that easy either, and in general any sort of precision from factory = Forget about it.
All of this can be easily fixed, and I am, but, wish I bought a cheaper, old big mill that I likely would have only had to give a slight service/rebuild & some small fixes to get a FAR more capable and durable machine.
You got it, older and bigger, biggest you can get away with. It is fussy, and there's a fine line between getting the play out of the X/Y screws and locking it up. It's a small cheep Chinese machine that needs to be used within its limits. Mine's got an R8 like Bridgeport, but you need to have some restraint as the plastic gears will break. If/when that happens definitely go with the metal gears. Thanks for the comment! Have fun with your projects!!
Excellent video. I just an hour ago busted the plastic drive gear on top of the gearhead. I totally agree that this is a perfect place to have a failure point because it is dead easy to get at. I will probably end up replacing the internal plastic gears with metal, though, at some point, but I need to get the plastic drive gear now so I can finish my project. My machine is apparently a Sieg X2 or clone, the WEN 33013. Big Orange. My lathe is Big Blue, the Vevor 7 x 12 I think it is. I will probably upgrade its gears, too. Both machines have served me well for a couple of years now, just making parts and doodads for house and boat.
Honestly, making a full set of gears should have been my first milling project. Now, I got too many other jobs waiting to do.
Again, great vid, thumbs up, thanks for posting.
Thanks for the comment! Have fun with the mill!!
I covered the rear opening with a copper shim to prevent swarf from entering and greased all the gears. I’ve modified the whole lot to 3-axis CNC. It’s noisy but been working for a few years now.
Loved the video. As someone looking into making via 3d print, cnc, milling and lathing at the cheapest cost it helps to know how it all fits together and works. Thank you. With everything what I have found hard to understand is how to try and get motors that can be used for multiple things, and how much power is needed to cut stainless/steel/wood and the power/torque needed and how much power is lost through gearing/belts
I have a Wen Mill that looks just like this one. I haven't crashed it yet, knock on wood. It sure takes a lot of intimidation out of the equation when I know what everything looks like before I get started. Thank you so much for taking the time to record this in a video. If I decide to switch to metal gears I think I will add a port for oiling them. May all your projects be successful and just challenging enough to be interesting.
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the comment!!
I just bought the WEN version. How have you liked yours so far? Cheers Mike
You got a Rock crusher two speed now 😁🤠
Thanks for watching! Great comment!!
I rarely comment on videos but I must say you did an outstanding job on this one! Well done. Clear, concise and excellent videography. This is what I come to RUclips for - not jazz hands and lame jokes. Well done. (I'm now a subscriber)
Thank you. I appreciate the comment!!
@@metalwooddesign Where did you get the metal gears from? Did I miss that detail?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
@@metalwooddesign The perfect name for the business. Thank you for sharing. That’s very helpful. Are they working out okay?
Works great. A bit more noise, but that's OK.
Great video and thank you. I have a WEN version of this and looks just like it except orange. I will keep this mind if I ever break my gears.
I would say, someone either jammed the cutter hard, by a part coming loose or dropping the head while running, or shifting gears while running. Hope none of that happens to me. Cheers
9:44 good find Sir! And nice work.
Thank you for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
Just the video I was looking for! Great tutorial.
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Just the video I needed! Thank you so much and especially for taking the time to show the many views of the assembly. Gave a big thumbs up and subscribed!!
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Excellent instructions and video. Fortunately for me, I only needed to replace the plastic gear on the very top. I was thinking I would need to buy a press if the inner gears were damaged
Thank you for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
complimenti, video ben fatto e molto tile. Ho la stessa cinesina con gli stessi problemi. Grazie
Great comment! Thanks for watching!!
Great video, clean and precise. My only critique is why didn't you upgrade the bearings when you had it apart?
They were still OK and I'm kinda cheap. The same bearings continue working OK today. Thanks for watching. I appreciate the comment!
I'm surprised the input plastic gear did not fail first. I put the metal gears in my metal lathe but they actually had more backlash and noisier so wish I had left the plastic in as they were fine. Just watched too many wasted video on it. but I did put in sealed angular contact bearings for a true improvement.
The plastic gears did last for many years, until one day flycutting a block of steel. Thanks for the comment!
In my case, it was a slotting saw - they tend to be a bit out of round... Now I think my low speed gear is missing a tooth or similar. High speed sounds like usual. I got the mill in 2005 or so, so the plastic gears have had a good run.
Will get the metal gears, new bearings, etc next year…
Nicely detailed video but would have obviously been nice if you turned on the machine so we could hear the difference in sound between the original plastic gears and the new metal gears. We also gotta wonder why no grease is being used on the gears.
The gears were well lubed with grease before reassembly. The metal gears are a bit noisier, but I do love the sound of straight cut gears! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Interesting little upgrade. But a couple of comments, based on personal experience. It didn't look like you put new bearings in, in particular the bottom main bearing. I would always fit new bearings if I was stripping something down this far, in the great scheme of things it does not add a vast amount to the cost on something like this (lathe headstock bearings would be a different issue). I'd put in a decent set of SKF, Timkin or NSK and possibly change the bottom bearing to an angular contact bearing if ones not already fitted, space allowing. When pressing bearings in push in on the race which is being fitted to the shaft or housing. Don't press the outer race in to the housing by pushing on the inner race. This can cause brinnelling by having the balls press small dents in the bearing surfaces, leading to premature bearing failure. When pushing a bearing onto a shaft and into a housing at the same time, use a large thick "washer" to push both races at the same time. I'd probably replace all the other bearings at the same time, just to know they were decent.
The last bearings I replaced were on the Dyson vacuum cleaner brush bar. A new brush bar was £30 odd and two bearings were £3.50ish. The difference in noise levels was worth it alone.
Thanks for the tips! I appreciate you watching the video and leaving a comment!!
I think that's where most people run into issues with these. They just get it, half ass clean it n fire it up, with dirt probably all in it. I have a pretty good plan for when mine arrives, probably just spend a week cleaning it.
@@Mikesmeyer88 I think you are right. Anything with bearings needs to be clean. When I got my small mill the first thing I did was drain the old oil, fill it with cheap oil to run and flush, drain that overnight and then fill with the good stuff. While that was going on I could clean and lube the rest.
That remaining plastic gear is certainly a weak point it would be nice to be able to replace that also!
A good tweek to improve this mill is to place some shim washers between the rack and column which reduces the backlash in the vertical microadjustment knob but be carefull not to use shims that are too thick since this will damage the teeth of the rack and pinion. 0.6mm worked for me.
Good tip, thanks for sharing! The one remaining plastic gear is easy to get to. That's the part that gives way (hopefully) if something snags hard under power.
That last plastic gear is essentially acting as a fuse. If anything goes wrong, it will be the first one to go, protecting the rest of the gears from damage.
It may or may not have already been said, but keep in mind that using all metal gears will shift the stress of force directly to the motor in the event of a bind or overload. Ironically, the original plastic gears breaking prevents that from happening. A belt drive conversion is really the only permanent fix to both problems, since it's much easier to deal with a broken\slipped belt than broken gears or a burnt out motor. After owning a more common Sieg X2D variant for roughly 2 years now, I'm going to upgrade to an LMS 3990 instead since a solid column and belt drive should really be required on these benchtop mills.
Thanks for the feedback! There's one plastic gear left on top driven by the motor gear. That's easier to replace and will be the part that gives if (when) it gets into a jam again.
The Sieg X2D also has a solid column... Are you sure you dont have the Harbor Freight Mini Mill? Its not the same as the X2D.. HF has a tilting column and not a solid column whereas the LMS Sieg X2D has a solid column. They may look alike but theyre slightly different. If a solid column is all youre after then buy a LMS Sieg X2D for $800.
I've been an engineer for the last 60 + years but I still get a buzz from watching machinery being worked on.
Thanks for watching! Great comment, made my day!!
One point about bolting the two main assemblies back together. The spindle/motor block needs to be EXACTLY parallel to the gibb block. If not, the spindle will be canted of at an angle from the Z axis of motion. It might have been a good idea to "chisel/scribe" mating marks on the mated sides of these two blocks as originally attached.
Including witness marks is a good idea. Always want to put things back like they were. Thanks for the comment!
Tell him this machine has 10 thousands tolerance in every direction factory/stock.....he being bit overboard....
Rip chips and make it happen...we use Stanly tape measure not micrometer to get stuff exact....
Great video, once a made a gear for an identical milling machine owned by a friend, but I didn´t watch how to disassemble the entire mechanism
Should have replaced those bearings too. With some taper rollers or angular contact. That head stock is almost identical to a mini latte head stock
I don't do machine work. And probably never will. But I love watching it. Especially when someone is explaining what they are doing. I have a question, why did you not go ahead and replace the last plastic gear?
The plastic gear on top is easy to get to and would be the part that breaks should a cutter snag or have a sudden overload for any reason. Thank you for watching and leaving a question!
@@metalwooddesign cleaver. Sort of like the brass gear in a distributor.
Excellent video. I have a similar mill to this one and although the gears on mine seem OK at the moment, I’m sure it’s a job that I’ll need to do at some point in the future.
Nice video! Why not replace all plastic gears, and may be bearings?
Bearings were good, and are still hanging in there. The one plastic gear on top is like a fuse. If something gets jammed that's the part that will give way, and it's easy to get at to replace. I appreciate the commentary! Thanks for watching!!
По английски духа не понимаю,но я инженер . Он только со смазкой оси ручки переключения скоростей ошибся,но вернулся и исправился. А вообще молодец!
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!
Well done and well explained thanx
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Very good video. Thank you.
Thank you for watching and leaving a comment!
Just found your channel and Subscribed. Very nice work.
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Enjoyed the video. Just was wondering since you had it torn down why you didn't replace all the bearing and left the one plastic gear? Just asking to learn. Thank you.
The bearings were still good, and I'm cheap, so they were reused. Still in service today. The one remaining plastic gear is the failure point, or fuse in the system. It's also easy to get to. That's what gives if something gets jammed. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
@@metalwooddesign thank you for sharing your thought process for that upgrade. Sharing like that is how we learn from each other. Where is the best place to get the metal gears ?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com That would be the first place to check. They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks and have fun with your project!
@@metalwooddesign it is nice to see that we shop at the same place. Looking forward to seeing more videos.
Very good explanation.
When mounting the ball bearing in the housing, is it better to press the outer rings?
Yes, just press on the outer race so there's not undo side load stress on the bearing.
Good video. Quick tip. NEVER press out bearings like that. If you press on the inside and the outer is causing friction.. You will indent the ball bearings into the race. The bearing will go bad shortly.
It may not be a sealed gearbox.. Grease is your friend. It's tacky and provides good lubrication forever.
There was that one bearing that fit tight on shaft, loose in the pocket, thus pressing on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
I have the same mill and I need to know where you got the metal gears cause mine broke tonight. This video was spot on, great presentation.
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thank you for watching. I appreciate the comment!
@@metalwooddesign Do you have a part number? I have been searching the web and cannot find them, even on Little machineshop site, still searching and the gear that I broke is the plastic one you did not replace. My machine came from Harbor Freight and is a central machine shop. exactly like yours but red. thanks for your help.
@@metalwooddesign Do you have a part number? I have been searching the web and cannot find them, even on Little machineshop site, still searching and the gear that I broke is the plastic one you did not replace. My machine came from Harbor Freight and is a central machine shop. exactly like yours but red. thanks for your help.
I found my part number, thank you. now to find the drive gear.
Interesting video for sure and I bet the metal gears will work tons better as well. They may make a little more noise running, but you are not going to break the teeth off them easy. I have to ask, if you had to do over, would you buy the same mini-mill? I ask because I am looking to get a bench top mill and wanted to know how well you like this one... Thumbs Up!
Like anything, it depends what you're going to do with it. It is a handy little mill and does a good job operating within its limits. There are a lot of similar ones so parts shouldn't be an issue. Everything is a compromise, but for something like a milling machine, if I were to get another, I would tend to lean towards the best one that I could afford, have room for and are capable of moving. Great question! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Looks basically exactly like the mini lathe casting..
Are these just normal ball bearings? Hope they are at least V type..
What size is the PVC fitting used to press in the top bearing on the main shaft? (At, or around 18:50 in the Vid.)
I’m thinking it’s 1 inch schedule 40. Is it? Gotten to that point in the reassembly, and I’ll need to go buy one - or make a substitute out of Delrin (during 100+ heat wave, without AC).
Addendum to above: 1 inch schedule 40 does work.
I was wondering if you where going to put a little grease on those new gears ⚙️
The gears and everything that turns or slides in there is greased. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
Hay I think your doing a great job. But I noticed that you didn't put any grease on the shaft that the gears ride on will they be ok with out the grease and also I was wondering if you need a little grease on the gears ⚙️ them selfs.
All the metal to metal moving parts were well lubed with grease, including the shafts, shifter fork, detents and gears. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
Questions: 1) how much force was needed on the hydraulic press, and 2) the brand of grease for the gears?
It doesn't take a lot of force, but you do need a press so it can be done in a controlled manner, and variety of pieces to press with, like PVC fittings.
I used a general purpose synthetic grease. Link is below if you want to check it out.
www.amsoil.com/p/synthetic-multi-purpose-grease-nlgi-2-glc/?zo=5265385
Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
15:40, shouldn't you use the outer bearing race to be pressing the bearing in?
The bearing fit very snug on the shaft and easy into the pocket, thus it was pressed on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in detail! I appreciate the the comment!!
Well done!
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
You had to open two holes to relubricante those gears with spray grease.
Would of liked to hear it run.
It will probably show up in another video eventually. Love that straight cut gear whine!
Surprised to see that that casting is identical to a mini lathe, with the exception of the grooves for the ways. I agree with the others that mentioned replacing the bearings. The bearings that come with those are complete crap, it would have made a huge difference to put angular contact bearings on the spindle, and some name brand 6001's on the jack shaft.
I know about these mills but I watched whole darn thing yet not own a mill. Want to buy a bigger performance Matthew 7something series. The pm brand. But great video...thanks from Houston TX brother
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
Thank you very much for your usefull video. I'm going to buy a similar mill, and - having already experienced with the gears of my lathe ( broken as usual it happens to be, and changed myself with steel gears modulo 2 - not original but machined with my lathe with the remaing functional speed till functioning ) ... then i think i'll have to do that work again on the mill ...
At that time i had no idea were get spare parts, then i decided to install modulo 2 gears ... 13 + 33 for lover speed, and 23 + 23 for higher speed ... they ... fitted !!!
Do you know if Little Machine Company can supply parts into Europe ?
So i can begin with ordering the needed spare parts ... in Italy we said "to buy the whip first, and the horse later ... "
My best regards ...
Great story, thanks for sharing! I don't know specifics about their shipping but a quick check of their website (littlemachineshop.com) says they ship to many parts of the world. Thanks again for watching and leaving a comment!!
Ciao Alessandro , hai trovato i ricambi in metallo ?
@@danilomonti4199 veramente la fresa non l'ho più comprata, un po' per la spesa, poca ma - essendo solo per hobby - non strettamente necessaria, ma anche perchè non saprei dove metterla, a meno di non disfarmi ( sigh ! ) di un trapanino Proxxon TBH che ho sul banco ... la fresa penso lo potrebbe sostituire abbastanza bene, ma darlo via - dopo anni di onorato servizio ... mi repelle !!!
Comunque molti ricambi ed ingranaggi ( anche per fare filettature particolari al tornio ) li ho presi da Ali-Express, se ti serve qualche informazione fammi sapere ...
Ma tu hai un tornio, o una fresa ? Il mio tornio è un simil-cinese, sistemato da me quasi bene ... quasi perfetto oserei dire ... è tipo un C2 Sieg ...
@@alessandroandrenacci2372 ho una fresa la solita cineasta , ma andava bene, poi l’ho forzata e gli ingranaggi essendo in plastica sono andati… riesci ad aiutarmi a trovarli in metallo , io non riesco forse perché non parlo inglese se non con il traduttore😂
I’m curious about if the machine got quieter after the change.
Noisier, but far better than the deafening silence of a broken machine.
You were pushing on the inner race of the bearing when installing it. Shouldn’t you be pushing on the outer race to not damage the bearing?
The bearing was tight on shaft, much looser in the outer race pocket, thus pressing on the inner race to minimize side load on bearing. Thank you for watching! That's a great detail question!!
Where did you get the new gears from? Was it in the vid and I missed it?
Very educational vid. I've been itching to get one of these mills for years. I might just have to do it one of these days before I'm too old to play with it.
First thing I'll make will be a new set of gears! lol ;)
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
@@metalwooddesign Thanks!
Creative video, thanks :)
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Good video and I have the same mill and was wondering where you ordered the metal gears from please
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com
I used a high quality general purpose synthetic grease during assembly. Here’s a link to that item if you're curious:
www.amsoil.com/p/synthetic-multi-purpose-grease-nlgi-2-glc/?zo=5265385
Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
I think it would be a good idea to put grease on the gears?!
Absolutely! The gears, shafts and other metal to metal were well greased before going back into service. Thanks for watching!!
If anyone is going to attempt something like this, know one thing. You should only ever press a bearing in or out using the fitted race. If you're pressing it into an ID, press on the outer race. When pressing one onto a shaft, use the inner race. Otherwise, you risk damaging your bearing, and this video clearly shows this machine wasn't built using quality components. DON'T RISK IT! Otherwise, it's a great video. 👍
The bearing fit in the outer pocket easy and was tight on the shaft, thus favoring the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
Nice job, I was a little surprised that you didn't replace the bearings while you had it all apart (saving yourself some potential hassle in the future).
The bearings looked OK, besides I'm kinda cheap. Thanks for watching! I appreciate the comment!!
As a comment, it is always better to prees a bearing so that you do not press against the balls. Thus if you press the outer ring into a housing, use a press tool to press on the outer ring. This will prevent brinelling the races
The bearing fit in the outer pocket easy and was tight on the shaft, thus favoring the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in great detail! I appreciate the comment!!
perhaps replacing those Chinese bearings would have been a good idea while out with higher quality ones.
I'm too cheap to replace the bearings (in something like this) if they're still good. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
Hi, my name is Joseph Law. I have just watched your video replacing the plastic gears with metal ones I am just wondering where you got them from please I have got the same machine as you so I’m just wondering if you could tell me where you got them please
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks and have fun with your project!
I have learned that you should never press a bearing in or out on the inner ring if you plan to use the bearing again.. supposedly you create micro damages that will make the bearing fail sooner than later...
Yes, that's good practice to press on the outer race. There was one bearing where it slipped fairly easy into the pocket for the outer race and was really snug on the shaft thus favoring the the inner race to press on in that instance. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
Yeah you dint the races which than damages the balls that than damage the races even more
I've just replaced mine with metal gears, it's noisy as hell now. Any suggestions?
hey dude thanks!
Where did you get the metal gears from?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Video: *shows how to disassemble a mini milling machine step by step.*
Me, who doesn't own a mill or anything like it: "Hmmm, yes, interesting."
I am surprised you didn't remove the last weak link by replacing the last plastic gear with a belt drive conversion, you will be in the near future. 😊
That will be easier to get at and install. Thanks for the encouragement!
I would think to keep that one plastic, buy a bunch of them in packs of 10, and keep the metal version on hand for the more demanding jobs when the plastic simply won’t do. That way, it keeps the motor from getting seized and breaking the electronics, which are a pain to find spares for.
But in my case, I have plans to combine the high n low speed gearing AND the belt drive modification from LMS, which will entail making an extended and keyed idler shaft adapter plus a third bearing, elevating the adjustable tension style motor mount to clear the spindle cover, and adding a future mounting option for a power drawbar - all while keeping the spindle lock capability. Essentially four speeds in one machine.
Definitely a good idea to have spare plastic motor gears. Easy to change if something needs to give. Thanks for the comment!
Yeah, definitely switch to the belt drive, whole different world. Great video either way. You have a new sub, keep up the great content 😊
@@asakayosapro i just had that idea, keeping the gears i just added noise. So you woulda 3rd bearing? I want sure that was right. I have the mill & belt kit cant i just remove the gears and use the belt to the spindle? I think a gears broken in mine, its loud as hell. If i could just attach to the spindle and use better bearings you would even know ir was on. Probably just remove where the bearings stop and use heavier top and bottom bearings. Be more ridged too. Lmk if you have an idea
Do you know if the gears are still available
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com That would be the first place to check. They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching!!
So I ordered all my gears separately to save money which really wasn't much, my concern is on the larger 2 gears the set with the spacer on yours well mine came all 1 piece so I'm concerned it's not going to work. What my concern is the gear dimensions are perfect but because they are all 1 piece the bore is the same inner diameter as the smaller one and my original plastic gears the biggest one has a slightly bigger bore diameter.
Gostaria de adquirir peças de reposição para mini drilling, poderia me ajudar informando onde posso comprar?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Hey what does it sound like with the new gears?
You get a good old straight cut gear whine. Way better than the silence of broken plastic gears, Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
I went with LittleMachineShop's Belt Drive and Air Spring Kit. (Part Number: 5069) ~$200usd. No more gears or torsion spring. Much nicer.
press the bearing from the outer ring not the inner one. you can damage the bearing pressing it from the inner one
Generally, yes the outer race. There was a bearing that fit very snug on the shaft and easy into the pocket, thus it was pressed on the inner race. Thanks for watching, and in detail! I appreciate the the comment!!
You went through all the trouble of getting new cast iron replacement gears, but didn't replace the bearings?
The bearings were good. They'll still good now. And I'm kinda frugal. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Buenas noches compañero me llamo Antonio y soy de España, tengo la misma mini fresadora me podrías decir donde compro los piñones metálicos muchas gracias
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Very useful reference as I have the same machine branded Busy Bee and the plastic gears seem to be a common point of failure. It hasn't happened to me yet-- but can to tell me where you sourced the steel gears?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
well done
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Do you have part numbers for the replacements? My son's Grizzly is starting to whine. Suspect we'll need to do this
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!!
@@metalwooddesign I've bought stuff from them. Good outfit. Thanks.
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Nice content👍
Thank you! I appreciate the comment!!
Mine just *CRUNCHED!* not ten minutes ago!
Note that I’ve had the machine since 2005 or so…
where did you purchase the new steel gears ?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
This guy's voice reminds me of a knife maker named Walter.
Please tell us where we can obtain the gear set.
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com Thanks for watching and leaving a question!
Where did you purchase your metal gears?
I got the gear set from www.littlemachineshop.com They've got parts for many different brands of the similar machines. Thanks for watching and leaving a question!