(06-26-2012, 03:14 PM)Tony Wells Wrote: I need to do the same thing to my mill, and also my Monarch lathe. The Monarch has heavy cast aluminum plates, to my thoughts there were to simply grind way the head and remove the plate. Then I hope there is enough to grab with vise-grips to "unscrew". They originally aren't intended to be removed, but as we all know....where there's a will...

On the mill, the plates are more the normal thin etched and silkscreened tags, so the Monarch option may not work well. A slot in the head, coupled with a little persuasion from a thin chisel usually works. If not, I will simply drill them out and go with the next size up. There are lots of variety in U-drive screws, so replacing isn't a problem. If the back is accessible, a small pin punch can be used to knock them right out.

If you do end up drilling for new ones, pay careful attention to the hole size. It's rather critical.

Sometimes it looks and works better if you replace with the drive screws small screws machine screws, 4-40 or 6-32, tap the hole and thread them in.

Another way to mask the plates is to coat them with grease, works better than masking tape. Just slather a thin layer of grease over the name plate, paint the item, let dry, then wipe off the grease, along with any overspray.

Walter