Its going to take sime time to move the rebuild along but I am renovating smaller parts in the background. The Vise is now restored and awaits a couple of replacement bolts.
(picture here)
The handwheel has been polished and replainted as a trial. Not sure whether I want it painted or with a cracke style paint or not.
(picture here)
A concerted effort yesterday enabled me to get the lower casting fully dismantled and I can now concentrate on restoring the mill – is is sorely needed at the moment!!
Below is the typical use of my puller on the motor pulleys. A spacer (or should I say socket) is used to enable the pulley to withdraw easily over the shaft. Never force the puller!! If it is stuck, look a sharp blow with a hammer on the shaft normally frees it up.
The motor is easily removed once you can get access to the bolts. Reavealed below is the motor support that is hinged and is removed by 2 very large cap head bolts at the front of the main casting. The upper arm is fairly easy to remove by freeing up the circlips at the outer end and moving the inner ones along the shaft. The whole unit is insultated using rubber / fibre – I assume to protect against vibration.
Once the motor was revealed, then the plate below gives the specification of the motor:
I will use a 220v in to 415v our inverter and replace all of the wiring with appropriate ESTOP and controls using the apertures on the machine.
So, below is the basre lower casting. I now have the task of degreasing all of the componets, cleaning and repainting.
Its now the New Year and I’m cracking on with the rebuild. It has been cold but the impetus is on as I have several milling jobs and no mill!! So I’ve got to get on with it!
The first job today was to de-grease rthe drip tray and get that prepped ready for painting.
It came up fairly well. A final degrease / rust treat and then 2 pack paint will be applied.
The next job was to clean out the coolant resevoir. This was truly an awful job and its not quite finished yet. You can see below that this is sort of sludge I had to get rid of.
I’d say there was al least 2 litres of this stuff! The plus side was that whilst cleaning, a lock screw was revealed that holds the pump into the lower casting. (the photo is very poor but gives you an idea- I’ll redo it next time)
A final clean is now required, the pump pulley removed and then I’ll move onto the motor. Whilst removing the panel at the front I noticed that there was a collection of screws and plates in the bottom of the casting (a sort of trap) There here for reference really but I’m not sure they are relevant (yet)