1940 Cincinnati No 2 High Speed Vertical Mill Partial Refurb and Repairs

[AlxJ64]

Wrestled with this thing a little bit more yesterday; I'm trying to take off one day a week in Dec. to just get caught up on life (holidays are NOT time off to me, since life is already pre-planned by other things).

Got the head back on and started to fight the spindle in place. I fed the drive pinion in for the head lifting rack to test mesh and fitment and it appears that the gear mesh is pretty close to where I wanted it so those last few though I fly cut off on Sunday night was the right measurement.

I did have to install the head twice though, because I was dumb and drove the upper double roller bearing race into place and then forgot to place the inner slinger and inner bearing on top of the crown gear housing before lifting the head on. Then, after realizing my stupidity, I also thought about how hard it will be to get the key and stuff in place while trying to reach through the bearing race. I decided I'll leave the upper bearing parts out all together until I get the lower assembled and seated and adjusted (I re-read the service manual and it vaguely describes this).

I was hoping that I could use the weight of the head to press the spindle into the lower bearing that was already installed in the head by a combination of lifting the knee and lowering the head. The bottom most bearing on the spindle is a press fit, and the other 3 cones use keys. No-go; The 265 lb head wasn't enough. I am working on one of the gib slides right now too, as it needs a new tang welded on for adjustment so I can't lock the head and force with lifting the knee right now either, and would prefer not to.

So I parted off a piece of 3.5" tubing scrap that I had laying around and one night this week will press the lower bearing on with either the big arbor press or the hydraulic shop press. I would like a spare set of hands to wrestle this thing though. Its got some mass to it and is awkward and I don't want to ding up any of the hard shoulders of the drive splines.

3.5" OD tube... nice size hardware in this thing.

I need to get my control rods built for the speed and feeds selector rod as well as for the rapid traverse control rod. Its obvious that someone chained it down at some point and didn't give a shit where they put the chains and kinked both the vertical linkage shafts. It was at least one paint job ago though so this thing was already brought back from scrap at least once in its life.

 

[Firstram]

Have you considered chilling the spindle and heating the bearing?

 

[AlxJ64]

Have you considered chilling the spindle and heating the bearing?

I had not, and I do like that idea. However, the shop press has plenty of room, its just a matter of wrestling the heavy spindle. with he bearing and press collar and getting these 1-1/2" arbor plates in position. I ended up having the girlfriend align the plates on the press while I wrestled the spindle.

Only had like 30 min to work on this thing yesterday evening so getting the bearing on and the spindle back through the drive splines. Using some blocks and the knee gets it close and then just a slight lift and spin will get it to spline into the drive gear.

The next step is to get the upper bearing of the inner set down the shank of the spindle. It doesn't want to just "fall" on currently so there may be some prying inside the access of the head to get it started enough that the lower spindle nut will then thread it down. I also have to be cognizant of the key seat location on the spindle too. I didn't get a picture of that last night, but will try to tonight before I get too greasy to pickup the camera again.

 

[AlxJ64]

Spindle is back in, and the keys fit. What a PITA. If the key wasn't lined up perfect with both the slot and the bearing, the cone had to be pulled back out again for the bottom one. I tried to get them into the bearing and keyway at the top and then drive it down but there is just no room for fingers, or pliers, and it would fall out each time anyways. I had to just keep after it until I got it right.

The top was easy though because I could take a drift and spin the cone around to line it all up. Put a slight leading taper on the key to help start it also. Now I need to get everything snugged correctly and see how it spins.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I would have ground a taper onto the key.

 

[AlxJ64]

I would have ground a taper onto the key.

I did, slightly.


So practice makes perfect and don't make assumptions.
When I got this thing, one of the gib wedges was broken off at the top, at what looked like where the adjustment head attached to it. They are cast something of sorts and one of the other 2 had also been repaired in the past.

I took my measurements for the hole distance, widths, etc. I milled bevels on the gib and the replacement block. Then used RN67 Monel filler to TIG braze the parts together. Nothing cracked. Smacked it on the table a few times. Milled the weld faces in the locations they needed clearance for the head ways. Dropped it in and it nearly bottomed out.

I didn't realized it had broken off flush with the top of the head and not at the 90 degree turn. I made the assumption that it failed at the normal stress riser and not the shear plane on the top of the machine. Ooops.

Least my process works.

Its obvious now in the photo when comparing the taper starting point.

Mine on the left and the older brazed repair from who knows when.

And above is just self weight of the gib, and not even snug with the head; it would give me no adjustment really before bottoming out. Back to the Bridgeport to make the leg longer and weld it on again.

 

[AlxJ64]

Fixed my oops with the making of the gib tang too short; added an extension section, then milled it all back for clearance. I also made the adjustment bolt for it. Included a picture of what the original stuff looks like on the other side of the head.

I'm waiting on some round stock to mill keyways into for fixing the front shift handles and the rapids controls. After that I have to make a Cam lever to engage the rapids, and also need to make some sort of flange to hold the crown gear for the shifter rods. Pics later to better explain.
Getting close to getting this thing back in service. Depending on how much tolerance it holds and if its not totally worn out, I am going to look into putting a DRO on it too.

 

[AlxJ64]

Once again, another rainy weekend has me working on this machine while I wait on materials for other projects.

Before I can put the feed box back on, I wanted to fix the table rapid feed control linkage. Similar to the speeds and feeds selector on the left side of the machine, on the right side is the rapid table feed control. Lever is under the front of the apron and runs to a 90 degree feed rod that drives a cam. The cam disengages the drive feed and then engages the clutch for the rapids.

You can see the empty hole next to the oak block and straight above it is an access next to the head feed drive shaft.

Looking down in, the cover and linkage have been missing for a long time.

So this is what I came up with. I used a piece of 1" DOM and reamed out the ID to be dead on 3/4". Took a piece of 3/4" solid stock and TIG'd it to a flat bar, clamped it in the mill, and used an annular cutter to lopp off a piece of it with the 1" cope.

TIG'd the slug to the DOM and then broached it for a 3/16" keyway. I made sure to cut the key in the thick section where the cam lobe is helping hold the wall from splitting.

Threw it back in the little Bridgeport and flattened one side of the cam lobe, and then hit it with a radius cutter.

And this is what it looks like to drive the cam lever. I have to cut the keyway in the control rod at both ends, and the top end will end up with a retainer screw and a cap to cover this opening again, like it should have.

 

[AlxJ64]

Drilled and tapped the top of the drive rod and then made a big dumb machine screw to take up the space inside the opening so that when the cap plate is installed, it will keep the rod in place. It also uses the cam section as the vertical retainer from dropping out.

Then milled the 16" long keyway in for the table to slide up and down. The 3/4" rod was just a touch too snug without throwing it on the lathe and turning a few thou off for it to slide.

But yea, all good and appears to work. Need to draw up and cut the cover plate and then I can get back to installing the feed box on the side of the machine. So close now!

 

[PAToyota]

It's a good feeling when you can take a broken or damaged part, reproduce it, and make things work.
It's a great feeling when you can take a missing part, reproduce it, and make things work!