Powermatic/Burke mill

[ksouers]

I got the mill home tonight!
Took the trailer with me to work, then headed out to pick up the mill. I was supposed to get it Tuesday but it rained all day so we postponed it a day. The guy already had it loaded on a fork truck when I got there. He put it on the trailer and we got it strapped down. Took all of maybe 20 minutes. Dan had to make an appointment so he took off and I headed down the road. After a short bit I pulled into a business park to check the straps and re-tighten where necessary. Took some pictures while I was stopped.

The TECO FM50 VFD was sitting by the door waiting for me when I got home. I may get the mill under power sooner than I thought. The mill is now off the trailer and safely in the garage. I didn't get any pictures of the unloading, it was already dark when Dan showed up to help unload it.

It's late and I'm beat. More pictures tomorrow when I really start checking it out and cleaning it up.

 

[jack404]

very nice indeed !!

i was offered one a similar size but thought about the 3 flights of stairs to get it up..

enjoy!! ( i'm sure you will )

jack

 

[wareagle]

Very nice! Glad you have your baby where it is supposed to be!!

 

[kennyd]

VERY COOL ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I'm GREEN with envy!

That FM50 is a perfect match also...

 

[Bernd]

This must be the week to bring home mills. :big:

I bring home the Bridgeport friday. Only about 5 miles from home too.

Nice mill btw ksouers. Is it 3 phase or single?

Bernd

 

[ksouers]

W/E, Jack
Thanks! Yes, it's great to finally have it home!

Kennyd,
I assume that's John Deere Green ;D

This must be the week to bring home mills. :big:

I bring home the Bridgeport friday. Only about 5 miles from home too.

Nice mill btw ksouers. Is it 3 phase or single?

Bernd

Bernd,
Yep, and moving heavy stuff
Yes, it's 1 HP 3 phase. That's why I got the FM50. From what everyone has said about it, it sounds like it's going to work out well. I have a busy weekend planned, nothing machine related, so I probably won't have it under power until next week.

 

[ksouers]

OK, on with the pictures...

This is the only picture I took of the unloading. Dan showed up shortly after this and we were just too busy to stop. I picked up the Harbor Freight 2 ton engine hoist, the one with the folding legs. That turned out to be a great decision as once we got the mill set in place removing the legs made it much easier to get the hoist out of the way. Plus it takes up far less room in storage with the legs folded up.

The mill came with some tooling, a couple collets that have certainly seen better days and a beat up end mill. The nice part is a Bridgeport vise. I'm not really sure what to think here. The paint looks brand new, but not repainted. The protractor ring on the base is nice and shiny. But the vise itself looks a little beat up and older than the paint. There are some divots where someone drilled without a backstop or parallels. And the top looks like it was used as an anvil quite a few times. But overall it looks in good shape. I need to check it out with a DTI yet.

The motor is a 1 HP 3 phase Leeson brand. After comments from WarEagle and others about power conversion options I went with the TECO FM50, $130 USD from FactoryMation.com including shipping. I didn't realize how small this unit was going to be. It's quite tiny, not what I expected.

The bottom, where all the wires hook up.

The table is in good shape. As you might expect on a machine this age it has a few divots. Nothing major, all of them small. You can see where those that had a raised rim have been scraped or stoned down. When I first saw the pictures of it online I thought the table might have some rust. I haven't found any. Everything just has that dark gray patina that old iron gets.

When I first looked at it everything moved smoothly, though a little stiff. The dovetails were dry, it hadn't been oiled in a while. My first task was just to take WD-40 and a brush and just do a quick clean up of all the bearing surfaces and get some oil on them. A more thorough clean up and adjustments are coming, I just don't have time right now. After oiling, everything was incredibly smooth and easy. A huge improvement in the feel of the machine.

 

[kennyd]

Kennyd,
I assume that's John Deere Green ;D

Of Course!

Your mill looks likes it's in great shape-I am hoping to find one like that myself.

 

[CrewCab]

Looks like a good result Kev,

Looking forward to (frequent) progress reports .................. ;D

That vice probably weighs about the same as my X2 ............ anyway you now have the right tool for "truing" it up 8)

CC

 

[wareagle]

Looking good! I think you will be pleased with the FM50. THat's the unit I have on my mill, and to this point it has been a work horse.

Your vise may or may not be as acurate as you want. You really won't know until you put an indicator on it and see what you have. Odds are it is fine, but.... For the jaws, you can always make yourself a set of soft jaws. I have done that for my vise (though I haven't used them yet) and it is a simple task. The nice thing about them is you can easily true them up for a task, and when they are beat up you can cut them down or replace them.

One of the first things I bought fo rmy mill was a Teco t-slot clamp set. I was skeptacle about that purchase, but it sure has seen a lot of use! The other thing I use a lot is the drill chuck. It is nice having that to drill holes and tap without ever distubing the set up.

Looks like you have a great piece of machinery there! I am sure you will be happy with it for many years to come!

 

[ksouers]

Kenny,
I don't know about great, but it is in pretty good shape considering it's about 35 years old or so.

CC,
I haven't taken the vise off yet, but I will shortly. I'm sure it's plenty heavy. I need to see if there are any bodies hidden underneath

The X2 could easily fit on the table under the quill! I could probably fit the base of the X2 sideways in that vise!

Thanks W/E. I'm sure the FM50 will work out just fine. I haven't checked out the vise yet, though I did square it up then locked a machinist square and ran a DTI along the blade on the Y axis. It was dead nuts both directions. So I'm quite pleased so far. Still need to check along the bottom of the throat, that'll be difficult since there are several craters in it where it's been drilled into. May just lay a parallel across it and run along the top to check that out.

Well, I'm off to do some more cleaning.
Thanks everyone.

 

[ksouers]

FIRST CHIPS!!

Well, first ones I made on the machine anyway. It's certainly no virgin, so I guess that means it's well experience in what it's supposed to do, right?

I started out just taking the vise off to clean up under it. I wanted to remove the rotating base anyway. So I got sidetracked and started looking at the electrical boxes and such. Then I picked up the FM50. Then I picked up a screwdriver. OOPS! Next thing I knew the FM50 was wired up and plugged in. The motor turned! Backwards. Damn, knew that was gonna happen. Swapped two wires and off she went. Ran the frequency up to 60, the motor was running just fine. I put the vise back on the table.

OK, time for a piece of brass in the vise. Nothing was square or true so I just touched off and took a pass. Next was 5 thou. Cut through it like butter. Another 5. Same thing. I'm going to have to adjust the belts for speed, but it's running fine.

Next I got a piece of 1/2 inch square 1018 steel. Did the same thing, touch off and 5 thou. Next cut was 10 thou. Then 20, she started humming. The old girl was just strolling. Next cut was 30. Not even starting to sweat. Next cut was 40, the old girl was just hitting her stride. This is nice!

My X2 would have been complaining at 20! 30 would have been a lot of complaining and at 40 would have filed a grievance!

I hadn't intended to have it under power yet, much less start abusing some metal. It just worked out that way.

CC, you were close. The vise weighs about half an X2!

 

[wareagle]

Very cool! We have a runner!! So much for getting things in shape. You'll be making parts shortly unless you have already started!

Once again, Congrats!!