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Kearney & Trecker Milwaukee 2K Universal Mill

BrandonMag

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Location
East of The Dalles, OR
I've been looking to buy a mill and came across this: Public Surplus: Auction #2349706

I'm a newbie to machining, but after a fair amount of careful reading and multiple YouTube video viewings, I think this machine may be worth placing a bid on. It's only about a four-hour drive away, which is well worth the time if it has the features I want in a universal mill. Before I place a bid, however, I have a couple of questions regarding the specific features it has:

1. Approximately when was it manufactured? The serial number is 41-3316.

2. Does this mill have the vertical rapid traverse feature for the knee? You can see the clutch handle on the right side of the knee, so I am fairly certain it has the x- and y-axis rapid traverse. What I'm unsure about is if this particular machine has the vertical (z-axis) rapid traverse feature found on the later mills K&T manufactured.

3. Are there any other features this particular machine has that are worth noting? (I've watched Keith Fenner on YouTube explain the features his K&T 2HL universal mill has; I'm assuming the two mills have similar design elements.)
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. :)

Since I'm a newbie, there was a bit of a delay between my submitting this thread to be posted and it actually posting. I managed to find the manufacturers' listed weight on the Model K, which matches what you posted, John. It is certainly not a lightweight! :eek:

I put a bid in on it; I am currently the high bidder. There's still a couple of days left, but if I win it, I'll post a picture-filled thread documenting picking it up in Tacoma and bringing it home... that will be an interesting trip.


Sorry, I'm a little slow: are you saying it was the 41st out of 60 mills built and it was built in '41?
 
Sorry, I'm a little slow: are you saying it was the 41st out of 60 mills built and it was built in '41?

Indeed - multiple occurrences per year I expect. All you need is sufficiently sized lots

There were OVER 300 LOTS JUST IN 1941 (I got tired of counting)
 
There'd be a lot of demand also with Lend Lease in full swing by then I suppose.


Regards Tyrone.

I once asked my mother how in the world they did all that stuff during ww2.. She said "It is amazing what you can do when your back is against the wall."

Probably lend lease machines in all parts of the world still doing what they were designed to do all those years ago.. I know I have three "war babies" that still work.. Ramsay 1:)
 
Not just the number of lots but the size of the lots is telling. In the early 1930's lots were at most 15 machines each. By 1938 and 1939 we see lots twice as big and continuing to grow toward 50 at a time. In January 1942 we start to see lot sizes jump to 100 machines at time.
 
I own a Model 2K universal with the high speed vertical head attachment. The model K was K&T's heaviest duty mill of the time. It has more feeds and speeds than the model H, and also has SIDE CONTROLS. Side controls, in my opinion, make this mill truly awesome to run, because you don't have to keep running around the side to see behind the work to check your work. You can operate the mill from the front or the side. Mine has a 10 hp motor, and is stronger than bears breath. Heavy cutting capabilities. I believe I've used my mill to about 10% of it's capabilities.

Here's mine without the vertical head, which I found after this photo.

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I own a Model 2K universal with the high speed vertical head attachment. The model K was K&T's heaviest duty mill of the time. It has more feeds and speeds than the model H, and also has SIDE CONTROLS. Side controls, in my opinion, make this mill truly awesome to run, because you don't have to keep running around the side to see behind the work to check your work. You can operate the mill from the front or the side. Mine has a 10 hp motor, and is stronger than bears breath. Heavy cutting capabilities. I believe I've used my mill to about 10% of it's capabilities.

Thank you for sharing your first-hand experience. From what I've read and watched on YouTube, there really isn't a downside to owning and operating a K&T mill. (However, moving one is a different story.) Your comment about it's strength makes me think I probably won't have to worry about outgrowing it's capabilities anytime soon.
 
I won the auction for the mill! :)

Now the real work begins. I'm glad I have two weeks to get a drop deck trailer and heavy duty pallet jack reserved, along with the other stuff I will need to pull this 3-ton mammoth home. The logistics of this endeavor are going to be interesting. :scratchchin:
 
Congratulations! Looking forward to the photos.

Not to be nosy, but do you have experience rigging something like this? If moving it is your responsibility, find someone to take along with experience in the matter if this is foreign to you. Gravity is an unforgiving bitch.

In Ramsay's scanned manual above the first page of text talks about the basic hoisting requirements. While better to hang it, if you use forks under the overarms, make sure it's not steel-to-steel. Like a locomotive on rails, there is little friction without heavy rubber in between. Newton's First Law of Motion rules the day here. I keep a set of old horse stall mats sawn to width to lay on my forklift forks. This goes for any metal-to-metal contact. Same with the trailer -- if it's not a wood deck you need heavy rubber between the machine and deck or it needs to be lagged to wood skids. Stay safe and move slow.
 
I do not have any experience moving a heavy piece of machinery like this. I have moved several heavy diesel engines over long distances (one of which weighed about 1500 lbs with a transmission attached), so I'm not completely inexperienced at moving heavy things. I understand this is a much larger animal, and I realize there isn't a replacement for having someone with experience to assist with this move. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody with the requisite experience that can take a Friday off work to assist.

The school I'll be picking the mill up from has a forklift; the metal shop teacher told me he would load the mill into my trailer. Here's my plan: I will lag bolt the mill to a pair of 4×6s and load the mill into the trailer with the forklift. I will wrap the mill in a large tarp and secure it to the trailer with a few heavy-duty ratchet straps. (That part should be fairly straight-forward.) Once I get back to the house, I will loosen the ratchet straps, remove the tarp and sling the mill with a 5/8" chain. I will then secure an appropriately-rated electric winch to the front of the trailer and connect it to the chain wrapped around the mill. Once the mill is secured, I will carefully lift it up with a heavy-duty (11K lb. rated) pallet jack (which will have a strip of thin plywood between the forks and the bottom of the mill). I will then slowly lower the trailer down to the concrete floor of the shop. Once the deck is on the ground, and only after triple-checking everything, my wife will slowly lower the mill down the now-inclined trailer deck with the electric winch while I guide it with the pallet jack. (I'm fairly certain this step will be the most dangerous.) Once the mill is on the shop floor, it should be a matter of simply rolling the Model K into position.

I am very aware that moving a piece of equipment this heavy isn't a job to be taken lightly. I plan on taking my time and doing it correctly, because a mistake could cost me a finger, an arm or my life (all of which I prefer to keep). That being said, helpful pointers welcome!
 
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I must say, the pallet jack part scares me and if something goes wrong, winches can trip into neutral. Things can get away from you awful fast and with this much weight there will be no stopping it. That's a big part of why the preferred way of rigging is to hang it because if you're a couple of inches off the floor and something fails it will usually just drop and land flat. Picking up from underneath presents the opportunity for something to topple, especially because you have something under it which can cause it to tip.

Hiring a rollback might not be terribly uneconomical. You can slide it down the deck on your skids and once on the ground you can get some solid round stock under it to roll it into place, or get it to your place on the trailer and hire someone to lift it off. No matter what, if anything starts to go, just let it go and don't do anything to put yourself in the path of it.

Edit to add: Take along some chunks of 6" x 6" or some such, run the knee down, and park it on that. It lowers the center of gravity and takes the load off the knee screw and nut so it's not beating it to death as you go down the road.
 
This is easiest done with a hydraulic power tilt trailer but I've done it with plain Sunbelt Rentals gravity pan tilt with a rolling floor jack. You don't need to pick up the mill very far, just enough to get it to roll. If you need to stop you can simply squeeze the handle and drop the load since it will only be 1/4 inch or so. Just make sure its secured to the skid or 4x4s very well. Once you get to the bottom of the trailer you will have to pick it up a good distance but at that point its much less dangerous. I've used a pair of floor jacks to get me a bit of incline to help get the load back far enough so it will tilt. At that point the back jack can be lowered allowing the trailer to complete the tilt operation. These days I have a PJ hydraulic tilt with a winch on the nose. Its a poor mans roll back.

Edit: You will have to play with the pallet jack a bit to make sure you get the weight even side to side...
 
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You might inquire of this person as to knowledge of weight

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Amen to that. When getting all my ducks in a row to decide whether or not to purchase the 2D I made just such a call to the auction company because it wasn't going to be doable if I had to bring in my own lifting equipment or else I'd have to pay much less to justify it. It was actually a local township selling the 2D and (by their own admission) they knew nothing about machines they were offering to load and I told her to tell them it weighs about 5,200 lbs. and to ask them if their forklift is rated to lift it. Her answer was, "I don't think they would say their forklift is capable of lifting it if it wasn't." to which I replied, "They would if they think it weighs 2,500 lbs." She called back and said the township stated their forklift would do it. When I got there all they had was this little 4,000 lb. Towmotor. With a big step in the floor I had them clear a different path that was smooth and all we had was their strap (mine was too short), which was borderline a rubber band. In the end we got there, but it wasn't ideal. Always go with too much stuff and hope you don't need it. With the 2D, I didn't use 70 percent of what I packed but I didn't want for anything.... except a longer strap and maybe a 6,000 lb. forklift!
 








 
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