The Home Machinist!

Rex,

I like to hear if you find any more information on the mill. I tried a few emails and phone calls with no luck. If you figure anything out on the badges, I'd be interested in that as well.

Your mill is looking good.

spro,

Thanks!

Mike

It should not be that hard to get those labels duplicated, if I can find the time to research it.
I'll probably do 10 sets when I do.

It's great to see your work in progress. I have contacted Tony about my mill too and it will feature on his site when I finally get it moved to my new place. It's nice to know your work is enjoyed by the whole world on his site isn't it?

He's a gentleman and his site is solid gold for anyone looking for info relating to their machines.

Paul.

_________________
Speak with the circus owner instead of arguing with the monkeys.

Hi Rex - I've been reading your posts with interest. I came across a Rockwell 21-100 (the direct descendant of your Centex) a little over a month ago. I've been cleaning it up bit by bit and preparing for reassembly.

If as you note the original Harwell-designed Centex didn't have vertical fine-feed and ram rotator mechanisms, then that is probably something Rockwell added after buying the design. And I hate to say it, but it looks like they skimped on these parts, or were in a hurry, because in mine and several others I have heard of, in both mechanisms the worm gear wheels are machined out of aluminum. The worms in both the feed and the rotator are steel, but those aluminum gear wheels are going to be bad news on any machine that's had hard use. I was lucky, my mill seems to have had very little use; nevertheless, the aluminum gears show more wear than any other part, so much so that I am looking at having to rotate the rotator gear(!) 180 degrees to find an unworn series of teeth.

Nice job, anyway, and these are a nice little mill for sure. I'm considering painting mine quite a dark gray, BTW. Rockwell later went with a two-tone color scheme (mid-gray alternating w/ puke off-white), and it's got to go.

BTW, mine has a casting date inside the lower column, which you will only see if it's all apart.

cheers
Dave

dave, thanks for the input. I've looked all over the inside of my column (and base), no characters cast in anywhere.
I'm assuming they are raised letters, not recessed letters.

The gray on mine was way lighter than I wanted. I expect I'll strip and repaint before long.

Rex - Mine is a pretty late-vintage Rockwell, about 1969-70; maybe numbering changed.

BTW, your spindle head seems to have the same flange which later was used to mount the cast aluminum motor mount shell. You could conceivably bolt a plate to that flange, with spacers joining it to an upper motor-mounting plate - then you would have essentially the same swiveling mount as the Rockwell has. But I suppose you have enough on your plate(!)

Dave

WOW
What a SWEET job.

Finally finished the mill, mostly I think it turned out pretty nice. I was dubious about the light color, but it's growing on me.
Still need to restore or replace the gooseneck light, and the vise. And I need to figure out how to wind up the clockspring to retract the quill.
otherwise it's working fine.

Hi There,

Only one word describes this mill.

Beautiful!

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Thanks Webb. Just don't look to closely at the paint job

Very nice job Rex! 8>)

Shaggy

BTW, when I was about halfway through the cleaning process, I bought one of those $40 6" buffers from HF. Wish I'd done that years ago!

You think all is good one you get all the rust off and hit it with a fairly fine wire wheel.
This buffer takes that matte finish and takes it to an almost-chrome look in a very short time.
Look at the before and after pics on the aluminum belt shroud. Aluminum is easy.
The steel parts were most impressive to me.
I'll shoot some close-ups on the controls tomorrow night.