Hard to parallel park it.

[Ironman]

I was buggering around on Utube recently on the HW Machine site, and came onto this idea.
I have found the one armed bandit lever to be a pain in the ass when drilling or spotting holes, and this seemed like a good idea.
So I ordered one from amazon, and then I had to delete some trinkets from it. I did not need the horn button or wheel spinner, so I carefully zip cut the stuff off and trashed it.
Next was a supposedly simple machining job, to make a shaft extension and wheel shaft. Then I found out that the centre hole on the wheel was a taper. Not much, nor visible to the eye, but the caliper doesn't lie. I was able to get a half decent taper by eyeball and file, maybe enough that I won't need to cut a key into it.
Then I had to cut an internal keyway in a blind hole. This started out innocently enough. I drilled a relief hole from the side as a place to end the cutter, and set out to grind a key cutter on a boring bar, and planned to stroke it back and forth in the toolpost of the lathe. As I'm dealing with a 17mm hole, roughly a shade over .625, and the small boring bar was .620, this was not going to end well. So I decided to find my cape chisel and try that. This was going well, until the end 1/2" snapped off.
I finally altered the small end of a 3/16" broach and got it in a ways. Then of course, the bottom inch of the broach snapped. This allowed me to broach it but left a horrible rough keyway that didn't measure right. I spent the afternoon filing with my small file set, until it finally had the right numbers from the bottom of the key to the opposite side of the shaft.

So I cleaned up the outside and fit it to the machine. I now need a 3.25" metric bolt to pull it all together. I'll go hit the JD dealer on Monday for that.

[Ironman]

If I did this again, I would put the wheel in the mill and bore the hole to remove the taper. And I might make the extension column in a stepped 2 piece so I could broach it normally. I took to opportunity to adjust the clockspring so the quill does not slowly drop on it's own with the brake off.

Next milling job, I'll see how the steering wheel feels.

[threepiece]

Gosh, I hope the longer lever and higher bending stress doesn’t cause a problem later on the bigger, deeper holes. It looks like there is space to flip the wheel around, this will help lower the stress.

Flipping the wheel will provide room for those oddly shaped work pieces too. You no longer have the option of clocking the quill handle out of the way.

[toprecycler]

Looks good. My current mill has a wheel on it from factory. But it does have a handle too that allows me to quickly lower and raise it. No spring though to return it to the top.

Question, did you check the price of the wheel from the rebuild shop? Would be typical that their set up one be really reasonable priced, except for maybe the shipping to Canada.

Then again, since they mentioned call for pricing, it probably is a couple hundred dollars.


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[Ironman]

Originally Posted by threepiece

Gosh, I hope the longer lever and higher bending stress doesn’t cause a problem later on the bigger, deeper holes. It looks like there is space to flip the wheel around, this will help lower the stress.

Flipping the wheel will provide room for those oddly shaped work pieces too. You no longer have the option of clocking the quill handle out of the way.

I have 6" stroke on the quill to deal with oddities, and removing one bolt allows the original to be pushed onto it again. The leverage is 1.5" less than I had before as the wheel is 13" and the lever I have is 8". If I had to put any strain on it I'd change the end mill or the bit right away. Also for those long nasty holes (I just did a 7" x 1.25") I would probably use my gear head drill press.

Originally Posted by toprecycler

Looks good. My current mill has a wheel on it from factory. But it does have a handle too that allows me to quickly lower and raise it. No spring though to return it to the top.

Question, did you check the price of the wheel from the rebuild shop? Would be typical that their set up one be really reasonable priced, except for maybe the shipping to Canada.

Then again, since they mentioned call for pricing, it probably is a couple hundred dollars.
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Brian, I didn't know if there is a rebuild shop for boat steering wheels. That wheel that H.W. sells looks like they stole it off a go-cart. Plastic and oil never play well which is why I wanted metal. Your mill probably does have a clockspring. They are not meant to return it to the top, and are supposed to be set so the weight of the quill and tool does not allow the quill to descend.
My quill would drop on it's own, and really descend with the Narex boring head on it. I had to rotate the base plate one turn, and now the quill stays where it is left with the brake off.

[LKeithR]

My mill came with one of those handles that is spring loaded so you can position it in a series of detentes as needed--push it in till you get it where you want it and when you let go it pops into the nearest detente and locks. Works pretty good (certainly a lot better than the factory handle), especially when you need to use a longer stroke for a job.

The quill return spring on my mill was broken when I got it about ten years ago and you know what, I've been too lazy to try and fix it. One day. Now that I'm semi-retired maybe I'll have a little more time . Not holding my breath.

I've simply gotten into the habit of tweaking the little handle that locks the quill in place--it's pretty much second nature now.

And, while we're on the subject, how is the mill working out? I stumbled across the pictures I took when you picked it up. I've already forgotten when that was but it was more than 5 years ago--long enough for you to work out the bugs...

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by LKeithR

My mill came with one of those handles that is spring loaded so you can position it in a series of detentes as needed--push it in till you get it where you want it and when you let go it pops into the nearest detente and locks. Works pretty good (certainly a lot better than the factory handle), especially when you need to use a longer stroke for a job.

The quill return spring on my mill was broken when I got it about ten years ago and you know what, I've been too lazy to try and fix it. One day. Now that I'm semi-retired maybe I'll have a little more time . Not holding my breath.

I've simply gotten into the habit of tweaking the little handle that locks the quill in place--it's pretty much second nature now.

And, while we're on the subject, how is the mill working out? I stumbled across the pictures I took when you picked it up. I've already forgotten when that was but it was more than 5 years ago--long enough for you to work out the bugs...

The mill is great, Keith. Thanks for your help finding it.
It is very solid, I guess something weighing a little less than 2 tons should be. After I swapped out the electric motor it ran quiet and smooth. I have put a cheap scale on the knee, which is very handy. And a quick adjust nut on the quill. The clockspring is an easy thing to fix or replace, it is right behind the downfeed handle on the BP clones and my Lagun.
I've got about most of the tweaks I wanted to do on the mill, I'm thinking of a quill scale but not sure yet. Getting rid of that thermal overload breaker was a joy, I can now use the power of the thing without any problem.

Next project will be level and zero my lathe, I have not done that for about 10 years, it is time.

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by Ironman

I have 6" stroke on the quill to deal with oddities, and removing one bolt allows the original to be pushed onto it again. The leverage is 1.5" less than I had before as the wheel is 13" and the lever I have is 8". If I had to put any strain on it I'd change the end mill or the bit right away. Also for those long nasty holes (I just did a 7" x 1.25") I would probably use my gear head drill press.
.

I think you misunderstood what I mean. I was referring to the axial bending stress not radial.

I’m not sure how far out from the machine the original handle extended. I’m guessing your hand will now be farther away (to the right) from the machine than it was before. Flipping the wheel over will bring your hand closer to the machine reducing bending stress in the shaft and provide more clearance for work.

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by threepiece

I think you misunderstood what I mean. I was referring to the axial bending stress not radial.

I’m not sure how far out from the machine the original handle extended. I’m guessing your hand will now be farther away (to the right) from the machine than it was before. Flipping the wheel over will bring your hand closer to the machine reducing bending stress in the shaft and provide more clearance for work.

You are right, didn't get what you meant.
Here is a link to a picture of the mill when I was moving it. Left of the lifting eye you can see the old lever and it sticks out at about a 25 degree angle.
You don't want it too close to the hi/Lo speed handle at the top edge of the wheel or you may rap knuckles.