Red'n'Black
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 521
- Location
- Malvern, Worcs
Rescued this on its way to the skip. Only a few years old and hasn't had much use, but hasn't particularly been cared for either...
A couple of things that obviously need sorting:
- It came with the original set of Clarke HSS cutters and collets, but the 20mm collet is missing.
- The vertical fine control mechanism was jammed.
The head moves on a rack and pinion, the coarse control (3 spoke lever) worked OK but there is a worm drive for 'fine' control, this would bind after half a turn.
After pulling everything to bits and re-aligning the worm drive as best I could (it doesn't seem to have any dowels or other positive location) it still jammed.
The drive from the knob is through two universal joints to take up any misalignment, but it looked like somebody had forced it and bent the shaft at some point. I cut off both universal joints and welded in a flexible section taken from an old socket screwdriver set:
A bit of a bodge, and the movement is a bit 'springy' but it got it moving smoothly again. There was a lot of slop in the two universal joints so I don't think I've made it any worse.
It came with a Record 4" vice. Some bodger has fitted this to the table with countersunk bolts, replacing these is on the to-do list.
The quality of Record vices has clearly gone downhill over the years... I have an old 3" one on the pillar drill which has hardly any slop in the moving jaw. This one had over half a mm. The clearance is set with a single bolt and spacer, I turned a bit off the spacer and re-assembled it, much better.
The vice isn't quite level. A test piece I made (supported with a packing piece on the bottom of the vice) measured 0.2mm low end-to-end. I take it a shim under the vice foot at the 'low' end is the answer here?
Any pointers where I can get some more collets? The missing 20mm one needs replacing, and there are some odd size carbide cutters in the box-o-bits it came with, which I'd like to use. I've no idea what type they are, searching for 'CMD300 collets' just takes me to the Machine Mart page for the mill. They don't seem to sell them individually.
I'm picking up this stuff again after a 30-year gap since metalwork classes at school, so sorry if some of this stuff seems obvious!
I appreciate this machine is never going to give high precision but I don't have the space or money for a Bridgeport etc. The few small jobs I've used it for so far, it's managed OK. Can't complain about the price!
A couple of things that obviously need sorting:
- It came with the original set of Clarke HSS cutters and collets, but the 20mm collet is missing.
- The vertical fine control mechanism was jammed.
The head moves on a rack and pinion, the coarse control (3 spoke lever) worked OK but there is a worm drive for 'fine' control, this would bind after half a turn.
After pulling everything to bits and re-aligning the worm drive as best I could (it doesn't seem to have any dowels or other positive location) it still jammed.
The drive from the knob is through two universal joints to take up any misalignment, but it looked like somebody had forced it and bent the shaft at some point. I cut off both universal joints and welded in a flexible section taken from an old socket screwdriver set:
A bit of a bodge, and the movement is a bit 'springy' but it got it moving smoothly again. There was a lot of slop in the two universal joints so I don't think I've made it any worse.
It came with a Record 4" vice. Some bodger has fitted this to the table with countersunk bolts, replacing these is on the to-do list.
The quality of Record vices has clearly gone downhill over the years... I have an old 3" one on the pillar drill which has hardly any slop in the moving jaw. This one had over half a mm. The clearance is set with a single bolt and spacer, I turned a bit off the spacer and re-assembled it, much better.
The vice isn't quite level. A test piece I made (supported with a packing piece on the bottom of the vice) measured 0.2mm low end-to-end. I take it a shim under the vice foot at the 'low' end is the answer here?
Any pointers where I can get some more collets? The missing 20mm one needs replacing, and there are some odd size carbide cutters in the box-o-bits it came with, which I'd like to use. I've no idea what type they are, searching for 'CMD300 collets' just takes me to the Machine Mart page for the mill. They don't seem to sell them individually.
I'm picking up this stuff again after a 30-year gap since metalwork classes at school, so sorry if some of this stuff seems obvious!
I appreciate this machine is never going to give high precision but I don't have the space or money for a Bridgeport etc. The few small jobs I've used it for so far, it's managed OK. Can't complain about the price!