Hi everyone!
With the heavy heart, I made a realization that there is no way I can ever finish the project that I took on. I grossly underestimated the amount of work that a machinery restoration project requires. Having a family with 3 small children doesn't help :-)
Current status:
With the heavy heart, I made a realization that there is no way I can ever finish the project that I took on. I grossly underestimated the amount of work that a machinery restoration project requires. Having a family with 3 small children doesn't help :-)
Current status:
- The head is removed from the base and completely taken apart.
- The spindle is re-painted and rebuilt with new bearings and the seal carefully following all the manuals and procedures. I ordered the bearings directly from SKF after a lengthy consultation with Fredrik from Abene.
- All 3 motors are rebuilt with new bearings.
- The spindle gearbox is completely taken apart. Nothing is lost, but I have no idea how to put it back together
. - The feed gearbox is untouched in its original state (seems to be working well - nothing is binding).
- I have a set of new spindle belts.
- The belt cover is straightened and repainted.
- Electrical stuff is cleaned and tested. Everything seems to be working. May need to be cleaned again.
- The base of the machine with the table is largely untouched. I removed some of the cranks but that's it. Overall, the ways are in Ok shape. I was planning on re-scrapping everything, but it's not that bad as is. The oiling system needs to be rebuilt or at least fixed.
- All the small parts are labeled and put into plastic bins. There should be everything that's needed to put the mill back together.
- I used a Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy paint with an automotive primer and bondo for the paint job. Surprisingly, it's holding up really well. Again, only spindle, belt cover and main motor cover are repainted. The rest of the mill has at least 5 layers of paint that it accumulated throughout the years.
