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BP Series II Special - 2J head - Fine down feed.

thefeve

Plastic
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Hey all,

Still working through this series 2 special mill. Got it running but have a few last things to sort out.

When i got the mill, the fine down feed wheel wasn't included. From what i've seen from other pictures online, it seems like the clutch and shaft of the fine down feed, should have a hole in the face, that the wheel would engage with to allow you to use the fine down feed wheel. My mill doesn't seem to have that and due to my lack of experience of what it SHOULD look like, I'm assuming I'm missing some parts...

so - can anyone point me to what i need to get this feed running? The little piece that threads into the shaft i found in a box of parts, but the threads are snapped off. So i'll need to get a new one of those as well. I've included a picture for reference of the machine.

Fine Down feed.jpg

Any help is much appreciated.

Additionally - the quill stop micrometer seems to jam about 3.5 inches down. Wondering if there are any tips for getting that cleaned up and fixed? (attached pic again)

quill stop.jpg

Thanks,

Matt
 
Matt,

Do you have a manual? If not, there is a recent thread with a link to download it from Hardinge. This will be helpful in seeing what parts OUGHT to be there. Don't worry if the manual is for the Series I - since you have the Series II Special, you are working with the same J head as is used on a few million Series I's. The parts you are looking at are, as best I can tell, essentially identical whether you are dealing with a J, 2J, or 2J2 head. Of course, there are also hundreds of YouTube videos on various aspects of rebuilding/servicing a J head.

Highly, highly recommended resource is H&W Machine Repair (H&W Machine Repair & Rebuilding - Parts and Service for the Metalworking Industry) - they not only have parts and very helpful videos, but they have knowledgeable folks who are willing, even eager, to help.

With these resources, you should have no problem finding out how to disassemble the parts. For the quill stop, I wonder if the threads are buggered; removing and restoring the threads will be needed. I have not needed to undertake this particular repair, so no first hand experience, but I'm thinking the rod comes out from the bottom, so should that should help - you can unthread the micrometer nut off the top.

For the fine downfeed / power downfeed clutch, the thing I'd be most concerned about is the rod that pulls out/pushes in, which selects between feed up, neutral, and feed down - I'm guessing that is the part that you say is in the box, with threads broken off. Yes, there should be a hole in the face of the hub on the BP where your arrow points; is it perhaps there, but filled in with a broken off pin? If not, the only thing I can imagine is that someone, sometime, made a replacement part of their own and left that feature out. (A lot of folks never use the fine downfeed wheel.) One way or another, I'm guessing you'll need to remove this part and either press out the broken pin, or drill your own hole.

For the downfeed handwheel, here's what I did. I bought a generic $4 handwheel from eBay - mostly plastic, but pretty nicely made, with a molded-in metal hub (3.9" Diameter Hand Wheel w Revolving Handle). I removed the handle, put the wheel in the lathe, and bored out the hub to a diameter larger than the included keyway. Then I turned an adapter with a through hole to match the shaft coming out of the downfeed assembly, about a 1/4" larger OD to match the diameter of the driven part on the BP, and a 3/4" or so long smaller OD sized to press in to the bored-out hub on the handwheel. I carefully measured and drilled the larger diameter to accept a 1/8" spring pin (roll pin) to engage the hole in the driven hub on the BP. Then I pressed the adapter into the bored out hub. (In retrospect, I should have made this a slip fit and secured with loctite; I made the press fit a bit too tight, and the hub expanded enough to slightly crack the plastic. Not enough to affect the function, so I just left it as is ... if I ever need to, it will be cheap enough to replace the handwheel - $4!) If pictures would help, I'll be happy to supply when I get home.
 
Thanks for the response! That looks like a great resource for parts, I'll see if I can give them a call to get what I need.

Regarding the quill stop - I did find a manual to sort out what needs to come off... and so far it looks like my machine looks a little off - so likely a phone call may be needed. This machine was out of a production shop, where it had been used as a huge drill press and not maintained well, so it's likely missing some parts and/or had some quick fixes applied along the way...

Also, I found the hand wheel for mine, someone had installed another keyed shaft on it for some other use, but after pulling that off, The pin is there and all. But for some reason the clutch plate on the machine is missing the indent. I think the first thing I'm going to try is pulling that plate off to see if someone flipped it around...

Any suggestions on how to test the power feed function? I'm really new to this machine (coming off a tiny grizzly bench top machine) so feel a bit gun-shy. This is a home shop setup so any tips are welcomed.

Thanks again!

Matt
 
Home shop describes me as well. :)

Do you have power to the head? If so, or if you can turn the spindle by hand, you could go ahead and engage the power down feed and see if it works. First pull the handle to move the quill about half-way between the upper and lower stops. (Note that the feed will not engage if the quill is all the way against a stop.) With the power off (spindle not turning), set the knob on the right to engage the gear to the spindle; you may have to wiggle the spindle a bit to get it to slip into gear. Turn on the power and then push the trip lever (below the fine feed area) to the right to engage the feed.

If you see the quill start moving up or down, you know at least something is working. You can set different ratios for how fast the quill moves relative to the spindle rpm with the knob on the left - again, don't try to change this while the spindle is turning!

If you DON'T see the quill start moving, it may be that the power feed is in neutral - this is where you need the pin that pushes in / pulls out to engage the forward, neutral, and reverse.
 
awesome. thanks! - any idea what thread that the feed selector is? luckily the piece isn't broken off in the machine and i think i can just turn a new part on the lathe...
 








 
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