Kondia FV-1 Head disassembly

[Mayhem]

There is nothing to apologise for Ken - you are doing me a huge favour by making this (and other parts) for me.

I'm not on a timeline here and as you can see from my earlier post, I have to take out all the parts I put back onto the head on the weekend as the pinion shaft has a bend in it (that I didn't pick up on previously).

[Mayhem]

One of the parts that Kondia no longer stock or make for my mill is the quill skirt. Like the feed trip bracket that Ken is making for me, Kondia did send me the drawing for the quill skirt, so I can fabricate one.

Well before I look to make one, I decided to see if the BP one will fit the FV-1, as its design is based upon the BP. So, on Sunday, I sent an email to four US based parts suppliers, including a copy of the drawing, in which I had included inch measurements. So far, only one has got back to me (informing me that they are different dimensions [typical]).

Whilst I will refrain from naming those who have not responded (after all, I cannot guarantee that they received the email), I'll give credit to the company who got back to me and that was Hardinge.

I guess I'll have to have a go at rolling one myself. Just not sure how to roll it and maintain the tabs. Any suggestions?

[TomG]

If the part is as I remember Darren, you'll have to cut the tabs after the part is rolled to maintain a consistent radius. Can you post a pic of the drawing?

Tom

[EdK]

What's a quill skirt?

Ed

[Mayhem]

Ed - a quill skirt is a fashion accessory that you can dress your mill up with

Just kidding. When you extend the quill on Kondia and Bridgeport mills (and I guess other makes with quills) a gap appears where the micrometer depth stop is located, meaning the chips and other crap can find their way inside the head. This not only exposes the top bearing, but can score the quill/bore. To prevent this, the quill skirt gets pulled down with the quill to close this gap. If I remember, I'll take a photo on the weekend of the quill in the up and down positions.

Tom - here is my drawing of the skirt showing the metric dimensions, as well as the inch dimensions [in braces].

   

[TomG]

Darren,

Those tabs should be fine to cut before rolling, but you may need to make a custom block to bend them after the rolling process. Just bandsaw a piece of plate to the proper radius, clamp the rolled skirt between the two pieces and hammer the tabs over.

You'll need to roll a complete tube though and trim the edges to avoid the straight section left on the ends. What I've done before is to start the roll at the approximate radius, then stop and trim the flat part off the leading edge, then continue rolling the complete tube and trim the other edge to size. That way, the radius will continue all the way to the edge of the tube.

Tom

[Mayhem]

Thanks Tom - I'm going to see if I can find someone local with a roller.

[TomG]

You could always send it to Dave. At least he's in the same hemisphere.

Tom

[Mayhem]

No - he's in bending mode right now!

[TomG]

Are you saying Dave is on a bender? (the U.S. version, not the U.K. version )