$400.00 Fray All Angle No. 7

[Dr Stan]

I picked up my Fray mill in the West Virginia panhandle. It was not operational as it was missing some parts and it had just been sitting for quite some time.

BTW, even though I have 40 years of metal working experience this was the first time I'd even heard of a Fray, let alone came face to face with one.

I gave it a complete tear down and made several parts, including a graduated dial. Some of the gears were trashed so I bought gear blanks from Boston Gear and modified them as necessary as I did not have the capability to make gears at the time.

Fray was built in Compton, CA from the 1930's until the 1950's. At some point they had Bridgeport make their heads and X axis gear boxes and my mill has both. That made it easier to repair the gear box as I was able to find a BP manual with the exact same gear box in it including a complete exploded view.

Originally the machine was equipped with a 1/2hp 3 phase main motor and a much smaller 3 phase motor for the gear box. I replaced the main motor with a 1 1/2 reversible single phase motor and the gear box motor with a fractional single phase. I took this route as it was much cheaper than a phase converter and increased the horsepower of the mill.

I've also added a 4 axis DRO since the rebuild. I plan on two more major modifications. One will be to broaden the RPM range slowing it down so I can run a 3" carbide insert face mill at 100 SFPM. I'll add a third set of step pulleys, bearings, shaft etc to effect the RPM decrease. Plans have been drawn up and I need to order bearings and pulleys.

The other change will be to turn the head 90 degrees to the left. As of now the orientation of the head makes it awkward to use the quill feed lever. This will require loosing one swivel/angle but it will also increase the rigidity. I hope to also include a worm & worm wheel to make it easier to tram the head. Right now it requires precision tapping with a soft faced mallet.

One of these days I'll actually rearrange the pics in the album so they are in some sort of logical order. So for now the pics are here:

http://s1016.photobucket.com/user/drstan...%20Machine

[EdK]

Interesting little mill you've got there Dr.

Ed

[stevec]

Dr Stan, That head position sure is strange! I'd like to know what advantages it offers (if any?).

[Mayhem]

Interesting looking mill. I have seen one here before. Perhaps you posted pics in the "show us your mill thread". That is one mill that you will never forget having seen. Quite unique.

I would have thought you would want to increase speed for carbide...

[Dr Stan]

(07-09-2014, 07:58 AM)Mayhem Wrote: Interesting looking mill. I have seen one here before. Perhaps you posted pics in the "show us your mill thread". That is one mill that you will never forget having seen. Quite unique.

I would have thought you would want to increase speed for carbide...

The lowest RPM is still about 2X the proper speed for the 3" carbide insert face mill and I've burned up inserts. The top speed of 4000 RPM will remain the same for the 1/8" & smaller carbide end mills.

I also want to get my 3/4" HSS end mills down to a reasonable speed as they are running way too fast for steel. I also have the pump, etc to set up a flood coolant system as I have done on my lathe.

[Dr Stan]

(07-09-2014, 05:46 AM)stevec Wrote: Dr Stan, That head position sure is strange! I'd like to know what advantages it offers (if any?).

I really don't like the head position thus the plans to remount it 90 degrees to the left.

[PixMan]

What the low end speed of your mill in RPM, and what 3" face mill & inserts do you have? What material are you cutting?

I've got a 3" Walter F4080 43º lead angle milling cutter that take octagonal ODMT/ODHT 0605ZZN inserts. With their WKP35S grade in an F57 chipbreaker, I can run 750 to over 1200 surface feet per minute in 1018CRS, 500 to 850 in 4140 with a chipload of .004" to .006" per tooth and the inserts barely look used. Granted, that's a high-end cutter and pricey inserts, but worth every penny.

When describing inset failure modes, it's best to define that in terms of flank wear, depth of cut notching, chipping, cratering or built-up edge. I have a nice chart showing those modes, but not sure how to post a PDF file. When the failure mode is correctly identified, proper corrective action can be taken.

Flank wear - lower the cutting speed and increase feed rate
Depth of cut notching - Use a harder, more wear resistant grade or lower the cutting speed or both
Chipping - use a tougher grade with higher cobalt content
Cratering - use a harder, more wear resistant grade and/or power the feed rate
Built-up edge - lower the cutting speed and/or increase the feed rate

I can always help with carbide insert application issues as I know a few things about the subject from lots of training and reading. A little bit of experience also seems to help.

[Dr Stan]

(07-09-2014, 07:58 PM)PixMan Wrote: What the low end speed of your mill in RPM, and what 3" face mill & inserts do you have? What material are you cutting?

Most of the damage was chipping. I'm not sure of the material, but it certainly was not 1018 CRS. Even after I had it annealed at the local machine tool program at the community college it was a bear to machine with sparks and very hot chips flying everywhere. I found it along the side of the road and believe it was a replaceable edge for something like a dozer, road grader, etc. Tougher than all get out, but I did make the motor adapter for the Fray's feed gear box and the round plate with notches for my arbor press.

Working it in the lathe was not nearly as difficult, but it still was not easy. The old 14 1/2" South Bend I had at the time sure complained, but did the job.

Eventually I decided it was not worth the trouble and tossed it with my scrap and sold it to the recycler.

I agree experience gives one an advantage. When I started the trade in the US Navy the best cutting tools we had were cobalt & moly (MoMax). It was not until I was working in civilian shops that I began using carbide of any sort. Relied heavily (and still do) on the speed & chip load charts when setting up a job, especially on the mill.

[EdK]

(07-09-2014, 07:58 PM)PixMan Wrote: ... I have a nice chart showing those modes, but not sure how to post a PDF file. ...

Ken,

Attaching a PDF file is the same as attaching a picture to a post. I know you link to your pictures from photobucket so here's a thread that describes how to attach files to a post. Just upload the PDF file rather than a picture.

http://www.metalworkingfun.com/showthread.php?tid=1006

Otherwise you can just send me the PDF file and I can take care of it. That chart sounds like it would be useful to the members.

Ed