Posted By rkapuaala on 02/15/2009 5:43 PM
Les,
I thought it was a bench vise, but a small one. I got it in the same lot, and it is a vice that I can tilt 90 degrees. Its easy to clamp to the milling table. It also has some v slots for holding small round objects.
RK:
~Yes, that's what you want, it's called a 'machinists vise'. Keep in mind a mill vise is much lower in vertical profile so the work will still clear the quill. There isn't so much room as on a drill press.
As far as the indexing tables. I've been checking them out. Keep in mind I'm ignorant of this type of equipment so my observation here is devoid of any true understanding of what I'm looking at, but it looks like an indexing table just has stops built into the either rotation of the handle or the movement of the table. If that's so, then couldn't I fabricate an attachment for current rotating table?
~Yes, it is possible to make one. (Someone made the first one, right?) But making an accurate one is difficult. I know you have a rotary table, and that's a good thing in and of itself. The indexing head, as they're called, will mount both vertically and horizontally--that is, it will rotate in two planes, depending upon how you fix it to the mill bed.
As far as taking a new machine apart and putting it back together, I just figured that was a norm now adays. The last machine I got that didn't need cleaning or tinkering was my Rockwell drill press about 22 years ago.
I've been hesitant to buy a digital caliper. I had a really bad experience when the first digital measuring devices came out about 20 years ago. I got this thing called a smart level with a 6' beam because I used to install a lot of doors and thought it would be handy not to have to read a bubble. Turned out that it wasn't nearly as accurate as my 6' imperial level and there is sits in its nice little yellow pouch to this day collecting dust.
~One simply must have a
good digital caliper. I don't like 'em (digital) because I'm used to the 'pointer-type' (dial) but my son got me one that would read metric/SAE at the push of a switch. He paid nearly $100 for it wholesale. That is the one item you can't skimp on. I'm told new Starretts are junk now--once they were the benchmark of the trade.
Still, even though I'm only 55, my eyes aren't what they used to be, and I'm having a hard time reading even the 1/64ths on my nice starret calipers, so I'm thinking a digital might not be a bad idea. My dad used to have a really nice set of starret machinist calipers with dial indicators. One of them was shaped like a C clamp if I remember correctly. Unfortunately my younger, not so together brother, got hold of his tool box after he passed away and all have from it are the tools I borrowed from him while he was on his death bed, a starret protractor, small square, and a couple of dividers.
What measuring tools do you recommend. Sorry, if I ask to many questions

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~No such thing as too many questions. It's a shame you missed out on your father's tools. I'd make sure I had a good, decent micrometer. Sounds redundant, but trust me on this one. You only need one with .001" resolution. A small square is better than a big one for model work. You'll need a 'wiggler' for the mill, but they're cheap. And a 'tell-tale' gauge. That is the nickel-sized, usually yellow-faced little dial thingy reads from 0-.010". The face turns the scale under the needle so you can use it as a +/- indicator. They come in a 'kit' with little arms and swivels, which attach to the main stalk of a magnetic dial indicator holder--that's also their correct name. They're handy as a pocket on a shirt for a lot of things, not the least of which is 'tramming' your mill--making sure the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the bed. I don't know how these mini-mills are set up, but I do know they tilt, so what tilts will need to be set straight again. You do that by chucking (colleting) one arm of this dial gauge into the chuck such that the wiggler's feeler rests on the mill bed. BY HAND, rotate the gauge in a full circle to see which way the head's tilted, and adjust accordingly. Don't despair if it isn't perfect, you can hand-fit if necessary. Also, run the dial indicator down the entire length of the table, from one stop to the other, and see how much droop you get. If it isn't much (.005") don't particularly sweat it unless you plan to be doing a lot of long top cuts. Now run it along one of the T-bolt edges, and see if its square that way. Do it with the infeed table (All these years, I can't remember which is X and which is Y--I do believe Y is the long table)
. On both of these, try lightly to move the tables when they're at both extremes, and note the 'play'. (On the dial.)Take out as much as you can, down to .001" if you can. You might have to do a bit of scraping or stoning, not a dark art, but just be careful. The idea is to make 'em as true as possible throughout their run. It'll be amazing if these cheap little machines don't have a little slop in them, but it won't kill you if you know it's there, you just learn to compensate for it.
Any other questions, feel free to ask away.
Les