My new power feed

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RSG
Posts: 1541
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:59 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

My new power feed

Post by RSG »

Hi all!

I just received my power feed in the mail today. While it looks solid the instructions and big bag of parts is somewhat of a joke! The instructions are typical, written in chinglish and are of no help. It's a good thing I'm confident in my abilities to mount it. I assume these units are manufactured to fit a multitude of machines (mine being one) since I bought it from the same company I got the mill from. I think I will have to machine a few parts to make this work but before I start modifying things I wanted to ask a few questions.

This is the unit I received.
Image

It came with this adapter plate but doesn't match anything on my machine and it looks like I don't need it anyway.
Image

Does anyone know what this collar is for? It's threaded and looks like it should snug up against something, must be for another machine because it doesn't relate to anything on my machine.
Image

If I am correct the when the handle is reassembled it holds the brass gear in position with the lead screw providing a slight amount of pressure? If so then I will have to machine a bit off the right end to achieve the proper distance for the handle to go back on.

If there is anything anyone would like to add I'm all ears and appreciate the input before making any alterations.

RG
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
John Evans
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Location: Phoenix ,AZ

Re: My new power feed

Post by John Evans »

Second picture yes you do use that ! You remove the original bearing holder and install that . The power feed mounts using 2 of the 4 holes in the recessed area. Third picture that sleeve nut replaces the original to hold the feed dial. There are a bunch of shims to set the backlash on the brass gear and space the dial so it clears. I'm assuming your mill is a Bridgeport or clone of same? If not the feed may need major work to make it work. Post a picture of your mill and the right end of the table. I probably have installed a dozen or so of those feeds on BPs and every flavor of Chinese clone.
John
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pete
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Re: My new power feed

Post by pete »

Mine bolted right up to my BP clone mill. Just a guess and I'm using your mills base as that guess that it's a RF-45 type mill? One way or another your going to need to come up with an adapter plate that fits your mills table end bolt pattern and the bearing position for the feed screw, fit's the plain unthreaded portion of your mills feed screw, and will adapt the power feed to all that. Gear fit is real critical as well so that's why they provided all those shims. The last thing you want is to get the fit too tight between the power feed gearing and that bronze gear. A sloppy fit isn't ideal at all, but better that than too tight. Servo had or still has a good set of mounting instructions for there power feed units on there website that will be more than helpful since I'm sure these cloned units were copied from the Servo design. Since it looks like your mill isn't a BP type your still going to be doing a lot of redesign to fit it. Even using Servo's instructions and multiple attempts at getting the correct gear lash and fit I'm still less than impressed with the grinding noises these off shore copies produce. From what I understand that's normal though. Some Dychem on the bronze gear and putting it all back togeather and running the power feed a couple of revolutions then checking the tooth contact pattern is the only method I found that worked for setting the shim stack depth. That does take a lot of time and patience. Usualy the power feeds drive gear is a plastic material so if you get the gear contact too tight you'll quickly wear that out. I'm guessing you'll have to build a whole new adapter plate so it's also critical to get that feed screw bearing located really accurately as well.
RSG
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Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:59 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: My new power feed

Post by RSG »

Thanks for the replies,
pete wrote:Gear fit is real critical as well so that's why they provided all those shims. The last thing you want is to get the fit too tight between the power feed gearing and that bronze gear.
This is good advice that I almost forgot about. I remember ruining a motor on my very first lathe that required a change in gears on the back, I had the two gears meshed too tight.

This is the mill I own, it's a Grizzly G0731 http://www.grizzly.com/products/8-x-30- ... rizzly.com

It appears as though the adapter plate won't mate up to the mill due to a section that protrudes. See pic below. While the holes do line up it puts the unit too far out on the spindle which doesn't allow the inner bearing sleeve ride on the spindle properly.

Image

The pic below illustrates the unit mounted without the adapter plate and with the hand wheel and it's dial in position. This requires a sleeve that I will have to machine to fit. For nothing more than a cover I guess.
Image

The brass gear has no method of fixing to the spindle. If it is held there with pressure from the handle wheel this would put undo pressure on the inner race of the sleeve bearing on the power feed. I assume this is not good and think I should add a set screw to lock it in place. Does this sound like a good idea?
Image
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: My new power feed

Post by SteveHGraham »

Same feed here. When I had an issue with mine, the importer actually talked to me on the phone about it, and I had a part shipped. My jury-rigged superglue repair has never failed, so I haven't installed the part, but anyway, calling the importer may be a good idea.

Mine bolts up to my Chaiwan mill without fitment problems, but you do have to bang it around and adjust it. Right now, my right-hand dial is not very useful for hand feeding, because I have it shimmed incorrectly.

Sounds like John knows more about these things than the rest of us.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
John Evans
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Re: My new power feed

Post by John Evans »

Dang !! just hit a wrong key and erased a long reply. Short reply wrong power feed for your mill. Look at the end of the table in the link you posted ,it has a normal BP style end bracket!!!. Google a Rong Fu RF feed and I think you will find the style you need,at least photos of same. I'm going to say you would need to make a lead screw extension with a key way and possibly a 1/2 thick mounting adapter plate + odd spacers etc. Brass gear drives the lead screw via a key. Dollars to doughnuts I bet I could make it work but it WOULD be interesting to do!!
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Inspector
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Re: My new power feed

Post by Inspector »

RG did you order the power feed from the parts list or one of the others in the catalogue? The one from the parts list might match up better.

Pete
RSG
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: My new power feed

Post by RSG »

Inspector wrote:RG did you order the power feed from the parts list or one of the others in the catalogue? The one from the parts list might match up better.

Pete
I ordered it from the same supplier I bought the mill from here in Canada. They say it's supposed to fit with little intervention, they said the same thing about a few other items I bought too which required major retrofitting...LOL


I have been tinkering a bit on it today and think I have it pretty much figured out thanks to the corresponsdance here. I must say, this forum is the most helpful I have ever found. The gang here are very willing to offer assistance, even to call them such as John has offered. You can't buy that kind of generosity!

I'm off to Labrador right now to do some fly fishing for a few weeks so once home I will finish it up and post my success.

John, if you get a call from me you'll know the mill won....LOL
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: My new power feed

Post by pete »

RSG,
Likely you've since picked up the paper trick for setting the gear lash on a lathes change gears. But just in case, the easiest method is to use a strip of common printer paper or even from an old phone book. It's best to use the same type of paper each time since the gears can wear a bit to fit the lash that's been pre set. Just squeeze the two gears togeather with the paper between them and tighten the nut or screw that holds the gear in position and then rotate the gears until the paper comes free. That sets the gear teeth so there not bottoming out and for a light duty application like for lathe change gears works well enough. Personally I think for a power feed application that dychem on the bronze gear teeth and checking the contact pattern is the better but far more time consumeing method. I set mine so the contact pattern was about midway down each tooth flank.

John's of course right, there should be a keyway in that bronze gear. Since Grizzly shows a Servo type power feed on your mill then there has to be the correct adapter plate to hook it up to your mill. Yours with the 4 mounting holes is exactly the same as mine and I'd assume is an industry standard copied from the Bridgeport mills. While it could be done by machining your own adapter plate it really would be a great deal of work. You'd need to start out with very accurate measurements of the table end, feedscrew dimensions, any keyway your screw now has, and the dimensions of the stepped lengths on the end of that screw. Plus allow enough room to reinstall the OEM handle.Rough guess, but everything would need to be within a thou for accuracy on most dimensions. Certainly so for the feedscrews bearing location in Z and Y. If Grizzly's willing to swap for the correct one for your mill I'd certainly go that way first. With some luck they'll have at least one in stock. When I installed mine on my mill it was the first time I'd used any mill with a power feed. I'd not ever want to use one without one now. There one of the best additions on any mill. The first time you use it you'll start looking at the Y axis and thinking....................:-)
John Evans
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Location: Phoenix ,AZ

Re: My new power feed

Post by John Evans »

Pete: Note the difference on the table end in RSG's picture and the table end in the picture in the link. Very different,link picture is BP style OP's picture is a smaller 2 bolt style. It can be done I think but the devil is going to be in the details.After mounting the unit there is going to be some engineering in the lead screw area to make it work. From what some quick research tells me his style table used a Rong Fu type PF mounted on the left end.
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RSG
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: My new power feed

Post by RSG »

Thanks for the in depth reply Pete. As John mentions it is similar to the Grizzly model but was purchased from Busy Bee here in Canada so the end cap is different.
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
pete
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Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: My new power feed

Post by pete »

Hmmf, I should have expected the faults lie with Busy Bee. Do they sell a direct fitting Servo style power feed for your mill? If so and that's what you specified then they sent the wrong one which makes it almost SOP for them. Usually the customer knows more about what there selling than any of the staff do unless your talking with a tech in there repair department.

Yep I'd spotted the large differences between his table end and the standard BP type John, I just didn't word my post well enough to show that. Since I've never owned or run a mill like RSG has then it's all best guess's on my part what will directly bolt up to what he has. Feed screw diameter on the plain end and any keyway might well be different than what his power feed comes with and needs. The money exchange between the American buck and our Loonie sucks right now. Then add the "free trade" GST, shipping, UPS or Fedex wallet rape etc, etc. But I think if BB doesn't have a direct fitting power feed I'd see about returning what you bought and order the direct fitting one from Grizzly. I'm no real fan of the RF type flat style power feed unit since when it's mounted they seem to stick up past the tables surface. Just one more thing to have to work around at some point.
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