Frankenmill: Bridgeport J head onto Victoria U2

[Dr Stan]

I plan to hang a DoAll vertical mill head on my planner.  Wonder which one of us bit off the biggest project?

[Pete O]

(12-17-2018, 02:18 PM)Dr Stan Wrote: I plan to hang a DoAll vertical mill head on my planner.  Wonder which one of us bit off the biggest project?

I don't know the answer to that Stan but a planer would be an awesome thing to have in the shed. A vertical mill head would definitely make it awesomer.

[Dr Stan]

I need to add a feed screw and motor to the planner for the X axis and a DRO to all three axis's.  However before I even do that I'll have to tear down & rebuild the head and the 24" planner vise I found.  My original intent was to use it for lathe bed regrinding, probably up to 14 X 40 lathe beds.  If I can get the travel speed high enough I'll still do lathe beds as I have a tool post grinder I can mount on the machine.

BTW, it is my understanding the first surface grinders were modified planners.

This one is right around 100 years old and shows no wear.  Picked it up near Baltimore Maryland and I think it was originally used in one of the shipyards.  The only other planner I have used was on the US Navy tender AD-37 USS Samuel Gompers.  Served on her my last 18 months in the Navy.

[Pete O]

I've never even seen one in the flesh. The guy I bought my dividing head from had the table off a planer about 8' x 3' as a workbench, he had bought the machine and scrapped the rest. You must have been ecstatic to find a vice to suit the planer.

[Dr Stan]

It was easier than I first thought.  Found it at an industrial warehouse that sells used equipment near Cleveland, Ohio.  It was actually on clearance so it only cost me about $250 including shipping.  Big old honking thing for sure.  Had to unload it at home with my engine hoist.

[Pete O]

I didn't manage to get to this project at all yesterday, too many pre-Christmas chores aroud the place. I got a couple of hours in this afternoon and got the rear end of one of the cheek plates radiused.
This is the setup on the rotary table
   
That's the first time I've run coolant onto this RT, the rim sure contains the mess. It drains back through the centre hole of the RT onto the mill table. I'm running the coolant from the lathe, one feed hose and one drain hose snaking around the place.
   

Using a 1" diameter roughing end mill. I decided I was happy with the finish from the rougher as this surface is going to be painted. Feeding the Y-axis in for a final pass, my clamping arrangement let go, resulting in one gouge mark and a radius .040 larger than intended. The radius is not a problem- it's intended to follow the line taken by the fly-cutter on the side of the overarm for the sake of appearance. Ended up ok, but I'll have to dress that gouge mark out.
   
   
   

Clamping large-ish items to the RT is problematic with the two broken areas in the T-slots. The breaks always seem to turn up right where I don't need them. This part is fit for purpose so far, might see if I can come up with a more secure arrangement for the other side.

[Dr Stan]

Lookin' good

[Pete O]

I finished a stage of this process today, getting the cheek plates mounted to the sides of the overarm. A pair of 10mm dowels went in to locate everything whilst I drilled, tapped, counterbored and bevelled for thirteen 1/2" UNC capscrews each side. All done in stub-milling mode with the overarm held in the big shaper vice on the mill.
   
   
   

This number of bolts may seem excessive but the thickness of the casting was an unknown quantity; the first side I did turns out to be significantly thicker than the second side. Average about 7 threads in each hole in the first side, on the second side some holes only have about 4 threads so i was thankful I had gone for the swiss-cheese approach.
   
   

   
   

The next step is to machine the top surfaces of the two cheek plates to a common plane, a third plate will then be bolted down onto that top surface at the front edge. Going to have to mount the vertical attachment AGAIN. Then it's going to have to come off AGAIN to stub-mill the front surface of the three plates.

[castellated nut]

(01-22-2019, 01:14 AM)Pete O Wrote: I finished a stage of this process today, getting the cheek plates mounted to the sides of the overarm. A pair of 10mm dowels went in to locate everything whilst I drilled, tapped, counterbored and bevelled for thirteen 1/2" UNC capscrews each side. All done in stub-milling mode with the overarm held in the big shaper vice on the mill.
[attachment=15993]
[attachment=15994]
[attachment=15995]

This number of bolts may seem excessive but the thickness of the casting was an unknown quantity; the first side I did turns out to be significantly thicker than the second side. Average about 7 threads in each hole in the first side, on the second side some holes only have about 4 threads so i was thankful I had gone for the swiss-cheese approach.
[attachment=15997]
[attachment=15998]

[attachment=15999]
[attachment=16000]

The next step is to machine the top surfaces of the two cheek plates to a common plane, a third plate will then be bolted down onto that top surface at the front edge. Going to have to mount the vertical attachment AGAIN. Then it's going to have to come off AGAIN to stub-mill the front surface of the three plates.

Pete O, it has taken about two hours with some interruptions to read through your achievements trials and tribulations. Thank you for taking the additional precious time to share this great example of cheerful perseverance.

john aka castellated nut

[TomG]

Good progress, Pete. It's  coming along nicely. 

Tom