Cleaning up an old milling machine

[ml_woy]

Well here are some more pictures of the PAL now that it is cleaned up, or at least fifty years of way oil and grease have been removed. You find out a little about something when you clean it up. All of those things which have gone wrong with the machine over the years are brought to the fore front. I discovered that the adjusting bolt which controls the tilt if the head had been broken off and the 5/8" , 20 spline head where the wrench is to attach is missing. A few gib screws have been twisted off making adjustment of the knee a little difficult. The wipers which keep swarf from getting under the ways have totally deteriorated. A prior owner had used grease rather then way oil, assuming that all "Grease fittings" were for grease and not for Way Oil. And the biggest thing, there seems to be no place to fill or drain the gearbox. Actually I am not sure it has a gearbox as the limited documentation I have is for another model, the Mark II and VBSR models. Both have gearboxes and show fill points and site glasses for fluids but this model seems to be missing both.

All that said I think the unit has survived pretty well for all if its' years of service. I am still looking for someone who has operated a PAL and may have some clue to the lubrication.