Power feed question

[wally318]

As part of my Rockwell horz/vertical mill rebuild I'm entertaining
a power feed. What would be better, a geared type like the one found
in the pic below or a Servo 150?

[Steggy]

As part of my Rockwell horz/vertical mill rebuild I'm entertaining
a power feed. What would be better, a geared type like the one found
in the pic below or a Servo 150?

I'm old school. I'd go with geared. There's less to fail.

[spro]

If I could actually find the original power feed, I would snatch it. Then I would wonder why it was available. On a site specific to Rockwell Mills, they know all this. There was maybe a servo type which fit, including an extension for the lead screw which performs better. Cannot say at this point, if this was done because they couldn't Find an original.

[GEP]

As part of my Rockwell horz/vertical mill rebuild I'm entertaining
a power feed. What would be better, a geared type like the one found
in the pic below or a Servo 150?

Have you thought about building your own

[wally318]

Haven't thought about building from scratch. If I were to do one
It wouldn't look like a hay baler if it were to go on the mill that
I'm rebuilding. So it would take more time than I've got to spare.
Too many other projects right now.
What I was hoping for was a bit more feedback on how the Servo
150's perform. They're supposed to be more stable at low speeds
helping to make better finishing cuts.

[spro]

There was another, variable speed power table drive for the Rockwell mills. #21-820. Maybe you find that one.

[pete]

I've never used a real Servo power feed because mines an off shore copy. It's ok, maybe a bit noisy and I'm sure a real Servo built unit would be much better in everything about it except price. That's the first picture I've seen of a Rockwell unit and it looks very well built if you can find one. Any machine that can also do horizontal cutting can take far heavier cuts than the vertical head can so the real Rockwell power feed might have an advantage there. In a home shop maybe not quite as much. A lot more weight for the Rockwell hanging off the table though. Either would probably work quite well so it's just adding up the trade offs.

[wally318]

The picture is not of a Rockwell power feed.
It's actually a currently made unit from Taiwan.
Gear box drive with 8 speeds and 1/2 hp motor
Weighs about 32lbs.Cost about 700.00 USD though.
A rockwell is basically like a 3 rd generation
Bridgeport power feed with DC motor.
Pre dates servo technology.

[pete]

I can only add what I've read then. Original Bridgeport built power feeds can have issues keeping them operational since new electrical repair parts and motors don't seem to be available any more. An original Rockwell may or may not have the same issues. Since I have no experience with that mill researching if a different length X axis screw is needed might be a good idea. The Bridgeports did use a longer one with there feed units.

$700 isn't too bad if the internals are as good as the picture seems to indicate for the outside. A bit cheaper than a new Servo feed would be. If the motor is variable speed then other than a bit more weight and maybe the need for a different length screw would make the choice between a Servo feed and it about equal. Again I don't know if Rockwell used the same mounting bolt pattern as the Bridgeports and most of the clones do, but I'm sure Servo would know. When I bought my off shore copy it came with a new mount for the end of the table that also holds the bearing. It was a direct replacement for what the mill came with and no other changes were needed.