The Home Machinist!

Here are some pic s of the index mill , i degreased it and power washed it a few times still more to do but its comeing along very nicely, im still not sure if i want to change it to an r8 size , i talked to wells and they do have B&S tooling, im going to get a needle scaler to chip away at the old paint , looks like it very thick on the base of the machine , anyways like i posted before its very tight and dont need much except for the paint and tooling. All comments and advice are welcome its been years since doing any work on a mill like this so i can use any help i can get and thanks for looking . Russ (rooster)

Congrats on the Index mill. I see in your pic that u have the universal Z collet holder. If you have the collets for it, you won't need to buy the b&s collets. I'm assuming that after blasting the machine with a pressure washer you are planning on tearing it down and cleaning and drying it out. If it hasn't been serviced in a long time you should clean the old grease out of the quill feed box. I went completely through a model 645 a while back. The grease in the quill feed was dry and hard. When you get into the paint removal you'll probably find a lot of body filler. When the machine was made they covered the whole casting with a layer of filler to even it out. I stripped mine down to the bare casting and just primed and painted it without bondo. It still looked good but the castings are really rough. When you get it done it'll be a great machine.

Hi Chuck , i got the mill as you see it with nothing just the vise , i dont know anything about the universal z collet holders , what is it your talking about if you could explain it farther ? I had planned to get the B&s tooling, im lost here . The man i got it from said he had been useing it but didnt need it because he had two so he sold this one to make room in his shop also . Russ

Russ, In the pic it shows a drill chuck mounted in a collet chuck which is mounted in the spindle. To remove the drill chuck you have to engage the spindle lock on the front of the head just below the belt guard and loosen the lock nut just above the drill chuck using a spanner wrench. To remove the collet chuck you need to loosen the drawbar. You want to continue turning the drawbar counter clockwise until it tops out and puts pressure on the collet chuck to break the taper loose. If it has been mounted in the spindle for years.....you may have a problem breaking it loose. The collet chucks are nice because you don't have to reach up on top of the mill to loosen the drawbar when you want to change a tool. I think they have a max cap. or 3/4". Here's an ebay link showing your collet chuck and some universal z collets:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid= ... t&_sacat=0

Good luck with the machine
Chuck

Hi,
I also own an Index mill (model 55) with a similar collet chuck. The collet chuck is good for smaller end mills, especially when you need to get into tight places or with a long reach. But if you are running larger end mills like 1/2" or 3/4" and need to do some serious metal removal, you're better off using B&S #9 collets in the mill spindle, (or a Weldon-type holder) to reduce the overhang of the tool. I would also suggest putting the drill chuck in the B&S collet rather than in the collet chuck, because it will grip better.
What I have done to avoid needing so many sizes in the B&S collets is to standardize on 3/4 and 1/2. Anything smaller goes in the Z collet chuck. I also generally have my fly-cutters, drill chucks, boring heads, etc. with 3/4" or 1/2" straight shanks. That makes it easy to switch tooling back and forth and minimizes the number of B&S-shank items required.
The Index mills are very good quality and underrated. You can buy a nicer Index mill for less money than a similar sized Bridgeport, because of the difference in "cachet" between the brands.

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Dan Watson
Building IC mikado in 1.5" scale

finally got the mill in the shop right at the door , kaboto tracktor did a good job of lifting it , 2100 pounds, im happy now i can finish cleaning it up and some paint and a phase convertor and start getting some tooling . thank all you gentlemen for offering advice and being helpful, as for right now im looking for some universal z type collets to use along with the chuck thats on the mill right now then go for some B&S #9 tooling rather than getting it ground to #8 , ill change it over later on , anyway thanks for the help . Russ

The B&S# 9 , 10 are similar to Morse in that they rely upon the locking taper angle. If they have been spun they don't grip as well, even though there is drawbar tightening. There are reamers to correct the inside burrs. Yet a collet has less overhang than a head for ZZ collets.

In cse you don't already know this eBay auction can give you an idea of cost and availability of the B&S #9 collets. Not actually made by B&S but much less than the B&S labeled collets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/No-9-B-S-Taper- ... 35bcc521a7

I'm sure you will be happy with your Index mill, a good machine.

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A guy never has to come down out of the clouds if he keeps filling the valleys with peaks. S.Stube