Conventional placement of table feed on small mill

Imagine you are standing in front of and to the right of the mill, and the wheel is on the right hand side. Clockwise rotation moves the table away from you.

-- Peter F

You want clockwise to wind the saddle towards the column and the table from right to left if the handwheel is on the right hand end.But,normal convention is to have the table handwheel on the left and to turn it anti-clockwise to bring the table towards you.

I've run several small company model shops that were open to the engineers, who didn't use them enough to remember the controls. So I marked diagonal arrows next to the handles to relate crank to table motion.

jsw

eh?

I just googled "milling machine" images; about half the manual machines had table handwheels on both ends, but every single one which had only one table handwheel had it on the right.

Unless my computer is back-to-front somehow ... or my left and right are confused ... by "right" I mean if I face the mill the handle is nearest to my right hand.

-- Peter Fairbrother

Thanks for confirming -- that is what I would have considered as reasonable behaviour.

Alan

In article , Peter Fairbrother writes

Peter,

Mine (Emco FB2) certainly has its single handwheel on the right (feed motor on right) and works the normal way, i.e. clockwise moves it away from the handwheel.

David

Every single milling machine I have ever worked,if it has only one handwheel,has it on the left end of the table when you face the machine.The right hand end is usually clear as that is where the gearing for a rotary table or dividing head is placed. I am not talking toy turret mills or mill drills here but machines like Cincinnati,Parkson,Brown & Sharp.

Peter,

My Centec 2A had the X handwheel on the left - the power drive gearbox and motor hang off the right end :-)

Jim.

Jim, looks like our little 2As are 'proper' milling machines, then! :)

Roy

My Mikron mill has the handwheel on the left and the power feed gearing on the right. David