[modeleng] Re: milling chuck

  • From: JEM HARRISON <jemharrison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:56:59 +0000 (GMT)

Good morning Ron, Peter and Shep,
 
I do have a Myford closing ring and a couple of collets, although what size 
they are I cannot now recall, and yes, I could use this system on the D-W.
 
This may make you laugh, and apologies if I have related this tale before.  
Recently, while working on the Gauge 1 Jersey Lilly type cylinder castings, I 
decided to drill pilot holes for the steam ports, prior to milling.  The 
Jacobs chuck was shoved up the spindle of the D-W and work 
progressed.....although regressed would be a more appropriate word.  A drill 
snapped, a small piece well and truly locked into the hole.  The holes in one 
casting were out of sync with the holes in the other casting, as my edge 
finding technique did not find the edge!  To cap it all, I could not get the 
Jacobs chuck out of the D-W spindle.
 
I tried hammering the draw-bar with wooden mallet, with an 8-ounce hammer and a 
block of wood to cushion the blow, without theblock of wood, with a club 
hammer....brute force was not working.  I tried heating the chuck area with my 
Bosch electric paint stripper, and hammering the draw-bar again, but with no 
luck.
 
I telephoned Model Engineering Services, the people who used to make the D-W 
kits.  The gentleman at the other end was very helpful, telling me that I 
would have to strip the machine down and apply heat.  "Start at the top and 
work down, its quite easy."  Naturally, I did not have a large enough spanner 
for the nuts at the top of the quill, but I managed to get one from Cromwell 
Tools, but for the quarter-inch thick flat near the bottom of the spindle they 
did not have anything to fit.  I popped into Auto-care on the way home where I 
found just the right spanner, one apparently for viscous fan couplings.  Armed 
with the correct size spanners, the stripping down was easy, so that I was left 
with just the spindle with the chuck and its arbor still stuck firmly inside.  
I tried putting the spindle in the freezer for an hour or so.  That did not 
help to free the chuck, but, trying again with my Bosch electric paint 
stripper, it was soon freed.
 
Re-assembly took two attempts as I think that I tightened the bearings too much 
during the first attempt.  I also put a little grease in the bearings, 
although they looked OK.
 
After this comedy of errors, I shortened the draw-bar, twice, so that now 
arbors can be released with a tap.  I suspect there was too much spring in it 
before.
 
Further episodes of my comedy of errors will follow. 
 
I must record my thanks to the man at MES....I suspect it was Ivan Laws.  When 
I telephoned him to tell him that I managed, at last, to free the chuck, he 
said that he had half-expected to see me turn up in his yard with the D-W and 
the chuck still stuck in the spindle!
 
Time to put the kettle on again....then to wrestle with the D-W.
 
Tally Ho
 
Jem Harrison
Basildon UK
--- On Mon, 29/12/08, Ron Head <ron.head@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Ron Head <ron.head@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [modeleng] Re: milling chuck
To: modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, 29 December, 2008, 7:53 PM

Hi Jem
The beauty of Myford collets is that they don't need a chuck.  If your D-W
machine has been built 'to spec' it will have a Myford nose, in which
case all you need is a Myford closing ring (easy enough to pick up secondhand).

Myford have recently started making the collets again.  They had them on their
stand at Ascot, but they're pretty pricey - around GBP22 each, I seem to
recall.  The last time I bought some secondhand ones they cost me around GBP15
each.  They don't appear very often on the secondhand market, and the
dealers know it.

Regards
Ron
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JEM HARRISON 
  To: modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 11:17 AM
  Subject: [modeleng] Re: milling chuck


  Ron,
  Â 
  I have no complaints about the quality of the Vertex chuck. My problems are
due to my inexperience/lack of knowledge about how to do things. My main
reservation about the Vertex chuck is that I reckon that it is too big for the
D-W. Another problem is the difficulty in fitting the cutters in the chuck,
(a) so that they are screwed in sufficiently to engage with the nipple, and (b)
without cutting my fingers to shreds! (I use gloves).
  Â 
  Myford MT2 collets I have not tried in the D-W. I have a couple that I have
used on my ML10, but when I wanted a half-inch one, Myfords had exhausted their
stock and were looking around for a manufacturer. The trouble they were having
was that manufacturing prices in Blighty were so high that the retail price
would be more than people would be willing to pay.
  Â 
  I eventually purchased a set of ER25 collets for the ML10, but getting these
to run true is a bit of a lottery. Apart from my inexperience, variables are
due to:
  1. How accurate is the engagement between the ER25 chuck and the Myford
spindle.
  2. The engagement between the ER25 collet and its chuck nose.
  3. Ditto between collet and chuck taper.
  4. Diametric difference between workpiece and collet bore.
  5. Opportunities for fluff, grit etc to get into any part of the
inter-faces.
  Â 
  Time to put the kettle on.
  Â 
  Best wishes,
  Â 
  Jem Harrison
  Basildon UK
  --- On Sun, 28/12/08, Ron Head <ron.head@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


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