Running a vintage milling machine

This mill is one of several vintage metal-working machines I use. This particular model was the most sophisticated mill there was ca. 1940 because in addition to the usual vertical mill operations of cutting metal in the two perpendicular axes of the "table," the spindle (same as a drill Chuck) can be set to move by power in a circle at any diameter up to 8". The powered rotary table can also rotate the workpiece located on a different center, at up to its 12" diameter, at 12 different selectable speeds. The previous owner had disabled the rotary table power drive, not sure why, but it was easy to restore, just remove one metal plate and find the proper size of 6-tooth splined shaft (took a couple hours web search, several phone calls, and $76.)

 

They sure don't make them like that anymore. A couple things I noticed. It has been upgraded with electronics of sort. Is yours upgraded and is it a pain in the ass to do? I also noticed on the last piece they were working on. The chuck had a cutting tool installed that looked a lot like a lathe tool. Were they a specialized tool or can you use a standard lathe type tool?

 

Yes last owner, an Army laboratory, added a "dro" short for digital readout. That keeps track of the moving table's location in X and Y directions, down to 1/2000 inch. DRO's are available that can be added to most any machine tool but seldom used on lathes. These may need some holes drilled and tapped to fasten on the position transducers. The mill was originally sold with precise- length rods and dial indicators to give position, but those must have been tossed when the dro was added. The troughs for the rods and steel pods for the indicators are still there.

Yes the fly cutter uses traditional lathe cutting tools which can be adjusted in radius and secured with two set screws. A cheapo but usable set of fly cutters like mine has 3 cutter bodies in 3 sizes, with cutting bits, Chinese, set maybe $30-$40?

 

Velly Interesting!!!!!

 

Just found this 1955 film showing how this mill is used to do various things. I did know about the "cherrying attachment" for it, which is one of the few things still on my "buy" list. I've never seen one for sale by itself, though. I'd consider buying a whole milling machine that comes with that attachment, then reselling all but that attachment.