01-17-2014, 05:43 PM
Way back when, I had some long 12 foot long shafts that had to have keyways milled on each end and in line with each other. They were only about 1.5" in dia. so they weren't ball busting to pick up, but I had 90 pcs to make so at the end of the day, you were feeling the pain!
They were shafts for a windmill farm that was being put in out in the Berkshires of Western Mass.
Anyways, at the time, all I had was my Lagun FT-2 knee mill with a 50" table??.....can't remember the length for sure, but it was way the hell shorter than 12 feet, I can tell ya that!
With my machine being so close to my office wall, I had to punch a hole through the drywall into my office for the shaft to go into in order for it to fit onto the machine. To support the end hanging out I simply placed a step ladder in my office with some blocks under the legs and had the bar resting on one of the steps positioned to just the right height.
Yes sir.....Yankee ingenuity at it's finest right there!
Well, to make all this work, I clamped the bar right to my table using the middle t-slot to locate the shaft.
Then I milled the slot at the far end of the table, clamped a v-block upside down just off the table at the opposite end and ran an indicator over the top tapping it in to zero across the top. Released the shaft, moved it down the full length of the table and indicated my v-block for zero again, then added another at the opposite end and repeated the process until the end of the shaft was able to have the keyway milled at the opposite end.
It sounds really long and involved, but it was really a piece of cake.
What helped out a lot was using a precision level to line up the v-block each time to get in the ballpark before indicating and for the most part it was always within a few thousands before any rotating was required to bring in to zero. That was achieved by simply snugging up a c-clamp on the OD and just tapping it in the direction necessary to make the bottom of the v-block read zero.
The hardest part of the entire job was bringing the shaft outside every time to turn it around because I did not have enough room in my shop to swing it around. With 90pcs to do it wasn't long before those things felt like they weighed a ton each!!!
The v-block in combination with the vise sounds good as well, but sadly my v-blocks back then were too low for my vise, so this was the only thing I could think of to keep the slots in line with each other.
Best Regards,
Russ
Here's an old picture of my son Christian watching my Lagun mill a keyway in a long shaft. Certianly not as long as 8 or 12 feet, but once again, I find the best method is to clamp it in the middle t-slot to locate. Keeps the part aligned, and also allows you to mill nearly the length of the table without any lack of rigidity issues.
![[Image: 100_2198.jpg]](http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa90/wrustle/100_2198.jpg)
![[Image: 100_2194.jpg]](http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa90/wrustle/100_2194.jpg)
They were shafts for a windmill farm that was being put in out in the Berkshires of Western Mass.
Anyways, at the time, all I had was my Lagun FT-2 knee mill with a 50" table??.....can't remember the length for sure, but it was way the hell shorter than 12 feet, I can tell ya that!
With my machine being so close to my office wall, I had to punch a hole through the drywall into my office for the shaft to go into in order for it to fit onto the machine. To support the end hanging out I simply placed a step ladder in my office with some blocks under the legs and had the bar resting on one of the steps positioned to just the right height.
Yes sir.....Yankee ingenuity at it's finest right there!
Well, to make all this work, I clamped the bar right to my table using the middle t-slot to locate the shaft.
Then I milled the slot at the far end of the table, clamped a v-block upside down just off the table at the opposite end and ran an indicator over the top tapping it in to zero across the top. Released the shaft, moved it down the full length of the table and indicated my v-block for zero again, then added another at the opposite end and repeated the process until the end of the shaft was able to have the keyway milled at the opposite end.
It sounds really long and involved, but it was really a piece of cake.
What helped out a lot was using a precision level to line up the v-block each time to get in the ballpark before indicating and for the most part it was always within a few thousands before any rotating was required to bring in to zero. That was achieved by simply snugging up a c-clamp on the OD and just tapping it in the direction necessary to make the bottom of the v-block read zero.
The hardest part of the entire job was bringing the shaft outside every time to turn it around because I did not have enough room in my shop to swing it around. With 90pcs to do it wasn't long before those things felt like they weighed a ton each!!!
The v-block in combination with the vise sounds good as well, but sadly my v-blocks back then were too low for my vise, so this was the only thing I could think of to keep the slots in line with each other.
Best Regards,
Russ
Here's an old picture of my son Christian watching my Lagun mill a keyway in a long shaft. Certianly not as long as 8 or 12 feet, but once again, I find the best method is to clamp it in the middle t-slot to locate. Keeps the part aligned, and also allows you to mill nearly the length of the table without any lack of rigidity issues.