Very Stupid question on vertical mill

Hi all, When changing a tool, how do you lock the spindle, is that what the slot in the spindle is for? Do you insert the piece of metal, that's a bit shaped like a knife in the slot? Will you not damage the spindle???...... I'm soo embarrassed for asking this, sorry!!!!!!!

Reply to
Jason Holler
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Reply to
Machineman

Hey Jason,

I think you want to look up "Drift Keys" or "Drill Drifts" (same things, different terminology). A quick Google search for "Drift key" shows :

and they call it a Drill Drift Key, so any wording should do it!! Available at any tool supply, like KBC or ??? They come to suit the size Morse taper that the quill uses, generally either a MT 2, or MT

3, but whole 4 piece "sets" to do all sizes are only 13 bucks Canadian at KBC.

I think that was your question, but I could see double meaning in that you may be asking how to keep the spindle (quill) in a fixed position while you remove the tooling. That you'll need to figure out totally dependent on the specific machine, but one thing to watch out for. If the spindle isn't "locked" from up-down travel when you remove the tool, it may scoot up when the tool weight is removed, and the handle on the feed lever can give you a "clunk" in the head. And be sure to either have hold of the tool, or place a block of wood or something to protect the tool and the table below when it drops out.

H>Hi all,

Reply to
Brian Lawson

Thanks Brian, So this drift key is to remove drills, etc from the spindle, by inserting it into the slot on the spindle? Do you knock it with a hammer to get the tool out? As for the locking of the spindle, any ideas on this, I must admit I did by inserting the drift key into the slot and then loosening the draw bar :-( Are there any plans etc available for making a locking tool or something similar? Thanks Jason

Reply to
Jason Holler

It depends on what kind of mill you have. What is the one in question?

Gunner

Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

Reply to
Gunner

Its one of the Chineese imports, RF45 and unknown brand

Reply to
Jason Holler

...

If your mill is like the one shown at these URLs (2nd=pdf of manual)

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there is a "fixing pin" that slides into a hole on right side of head. See item D on pages 4 and 6 of manual, and read Step 5 of "Installation of the Taper Shank Cutter". If you don't have the fixing pin use an 8mm rod, or perhaps the shank of a 5/16" drill bit.

-jiw

Reply to
James Waldby

In my opinion you don't need a locking spindle to tighten a drawbar. Just whack the wrench good when tightening and loosening, holding the spindle with your hand. Why does it have to be super tight?

If you do need a locking/unlocking tool, get a bar whose end will fit into the drift key slot, all the way through if possible--and long enough to brace against the mill's column. The validity of this idea depends on the amount of space available in the slot. If 1/2" or more, good. Grind the end of a tire lug wrench to fit, cut off the other end so it's not so cumbersome. Be sure not to take the temper out of the business end.

Ken Grunke

P.S. The stupidest question is the one not asked.

Reply to
Ken G.

In article , Ken G. wrote: :In my opinion you don't need a locking spindle to tighten a drawbar. :Just whack the wrench good when tightening and loosening, holding the :spindle with your hand. Why does it have to be super tight? : :If you do need a locking/unlocking tool, get a bar whose end will fit :into the drift key slot, all the way through if possible--and long :enough to brace against the mill's column. The validity of this idea :depends on the amount of space available in the slot. If 1/2" or more, :good. Grind the end of a tire lug wrench to fit, cut off the other end :so it's not so cumbersome. Be sure not to take the temper out of the :business end.

Making a bar pass all the way through the slot while a drawbar is in place would be a neat magic trick.

Reply to
Robert Nichols

Hey again Jason,

Well, I'm a little lost now too. You wouldn't normally have both an open slot through the quill AND a drawbar. Not impossible, but not usual. I do know that one of my mills, a Bridgeport Model "M" head that uses a drawbar for the MT 2 tooling, didn't come with a spindle brake. So I made one that just swings a piece of broken V-belt, on the end of a lever, jamming it into the main spindle pulley. Works a treat!

My drill press, which also uses MT 2, there is a slot, but no drawbar. Tools are held in strictly due to taper. It has the standard

3-handled down-feed, and a depth stop that is incorporated into the handle centre hub. I can "reverse set" that depth stop so that it hold the quill DOWN while I change tooling. But it neither has nor needs a spindle lock/brake, although it would be simple to do same as on the model M.

And "Yes" I think to someones question/suggestion that you hit the drift key with a hammer (or something heavy) to knock/release the tooling out. Just don't ding the spindle/quill, and you won't if the drift key is the correct size as it won't go "through" when the tool releases.

Take care.

Brian Laws>Thanks Brian,

Reply to
Brian Lawson

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 17:42:15 +0200, "Jason Holler" calmly ranted:

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this help? Griz didn't have an online manual and this one is a full 6 pages with parts diagrams but no MEAT.

-------------------------------------- PESSIMIST: An optimist with experience --------------------------------------------

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- Web Database Development

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Robert Nichols wrote: The validity of this idea

DOH!! I've loosened up my cap to allow some blood flow into the brain. What a stupid answer. *whacks side of head*

Ken Grunke

Reply to
Ken G.

My but thats a cute little toy.

Never seen one of those before.

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli

Reply to
Gunner

[ ... ]

Cute machine -- but bad practice to post a binary attachment (photo, Word ".doc" file, audio file, program code, or anything other than plain text to a discussion newsgroup such as this. Binaries are only acceptable in newsgroups which contain "binaries" as part of the newsgroup name.

And -- now there is a security hole which allows jpeg images to be used to insert a virus into Windows machines, to there is yet another reason to not post (or view with Windows machines) images to newsgroups.

The *acceptable* way to make the images available is (if you got it from a web site) to post the URL of that web site. It looks (based on the formatting) as though both your descriptive text and your photo both came from a vendor's website.

If you took the photo yourself, put it in the "dropbox". (To find out about that, visit:

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and click on the bar [ About the Dropbox ] to read how to send your images to it. Once the images are there, post the URL of the dropbox, and the name you have saved the file under, so people can go to the dropbox and see your image(s).

Note that many new servers now drop binaries from discussion newgroups, including one which is upstream from mine -- but they seem to miss the uuencoded ones (such as the severely trimmed fragment below), and only zap the base64 encoded one.

[ ... ]
Reply to
DoN. Nichols

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