K&T 2H opinions

I think I have a good idea what most of you think about these mills, but I have a few questions.

I'm looking at a '41 K&T 2H horizontal mill. I ran it today and it appears to be in decent shape considering the age. The y axis has a half turn worth of play, the z axis auto feed in the up direction doesn't work, the fast direction has a noise that I can only describe as a straight cut gear sound. The unit comes with a variety of cutting tools and collets.

This machine is so amazing looking that I kind of fell in love with it, but I want to avoid a major project. I've run a variety of vertical mills and have never run a horizontal mill.

I was a motorcycle mechanic for years and worked as an industrial maintenance mechanic and a PLC programmer and troubleshooter too.

I'm looking for a mill to play with at home that I can use to learn some more skills on. I have a heated 40x60 shop to house it. I'm not afraid of tearing something apart, but I'm not skilled at making my own parts to repair something this old with no available parts.

Is there somewhere I can get gears, clutch linkages, clutch dogs, etc for this machine? The shop owner is going to scrap this machine Monday and I feel like I could fix it given I can acquire parts. I feel the price is very negotiable. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hate to see history destroyed.

Milwaukee Model H milling machine

Please advise.

Erik

I have a 1941 K&T 2H and they are very neat machines.

I needed to get some new z axis screw parts for mine as the previous owner broke the nut and cast iron pedestal that holds the nut. I purchased my parts from LL Richards Machinery. They have a bunch of machines that they are or were parting out.

Parts for these machines are not cheap and not interchangeable. I originally bought just the nut and pedestal, but when I tried assembling my original screw with the nut they would not fit together. I ended up calling LL Richards back and buying the screw off the machine that the nut came off. Total cost of z axis nut, screw, and pedestal was about $1500 back in 2005.

Depending on the overall condition of the machine and accessories that come with it you may want to pass and find one that is not broken. In my area it is difficult to find old horizontals because most were scrapped long ago. If I lived in Ohio or Michigan, I could probably have found a nicer one.

i have an old k&t horizontal that needs repair every once i a while. i've used Cincinnati Mill Parts l Kearney & Trecker Parts l Machine Replacement Parts for replacements.

O.K. your probably going to take so heat when describing a 1941 K&T mill with X,Y,and Z.
The factory referred to them as Longitudinal, Cross and Vertical feed.
Not uncommon to have a little bit of play in the Cross, generally a quarter turn is about normal for a 76 year old machine.
This can be repaired however most of the old timers just remembered to take the end play out when using the graduated dials.
There is a safety slip clutch that is factory set and sounds like a clicking noise when it is slipping or more of a grind when it is dead, could be the reason your vertical up is not working, if it powers down but not up, It takes a bunch more torque to raise then lower. If all other feeds work o.k. it could be the clutch or it could be something else ,there's a lot of parts in there..
In regards to the Rapid transverse the friction clutch may be out of adjustment.
It is very easy to adjust and is located on the right side of the knee. Although it should not make a lot of noise.
Could be its safety over ride clutch as well, that makes lots of noise.
That said these are great machines but VERY expensive to repair if parts are needed.