Now that I'm more or less caught up on home fix-its since retirement, I've been re-assembling a Hardinge TM mill. I bought this thing from Dick Triemstra 5 years ago or so. It was partially disassembled when I got it. Upon further disassembly for cleaning, it became apparent that it had led a very neglected life. Everywhere there should have been oil, there appeared to be a paste made mostly of dirt, with some grease. Wear on the ways was significant.
Anyway, I cleaned the parts up, stripping the repaint job, which appeared to be grey house paint applied with an old, much used warehouse broom right over the old dirt, grease, and spooge. I found I don't much care for painting, and there it sat until recently. Now I've finished painting it with grey epoxy (to nowhere near Hardinge standards) and started the reassembly. So far, the knee, saddle, and table are back on, with other minor bits. Once cleaned up and oiled, it's apparent Hardinge built to a high standard. There is very little lash in the Y and Z axes once I adjusted the nuts. Wear on those two screws isn't that bad, although the ways are another story.
So now to the x-axis lead screw. It's about 31" long overall, with
16" of 5/8" x 10 tpi acme thread, about a foot of 5/8" shaft through the handle end, and a short 1/2" dia. section at the end opposite the handle. In addition, there's about 14" of keyway through the threaded section for the original power feed. I'm thinking I'll order some precision screw and round nuts from McMaster along with some shafting, then assemble the sections with bores, spigots, and silver solder. I can use the mill with the old screw to cut the keyway, although it's doubtful I can do it in one setup.McMaster has 1018 and 4140 materials available. I'm thinking 1018 for ease of machining for my limited hobby use. Does this sound like the best choice, and does anyone have other input for me? Thanks.
Pete Keillor