New K & T 2k universal is now home safe and sound

[imported_eric_h]

Been looking for a K & T for a while. After getting kicked around and disappointed by searching on those interweb selling sites I finally ran into a friend of mine who happened to be selling his 1946 K&T 2k universal mill. It has the parking attachment, vertical head that is has been completely gone through, A and B arbor supports and several cutters and other various NMTB 40 and 50 tool holders. That's the good news...bad news or 'challenging' news was it sat 800 miles away from my house AND at a portly 6500 lbs it was by far the heaviest thing i have ever moved. After a month of prep making phone calls to get truck and trailer coordinated I was off to the great north. Loaded the mill in the trailer, strapped it all down and after 2 days and 2 rain storms she was safely in my garage. Super grateful to my friend who extended his extensive knowledge in strapping down the heavy stuff to our effort...800 miles is a long way and a lot of bad things can happen if things aren't done right. Now it is waiting for a good wipe down and cleaning of swarf before arriving in its final resting place in the basement. I CAN NOT wait to get this thing hooked up and running.

 

[m-lud]

Been looking for a K & T for a while. After getting kicked around and disappointed by searching on those interweb selling sites I finally ran into a friend of mine who happened to be selling his 1946 K&T 2k universal mill. It has the parking attachment, vertical head that is has been completely gone through, A and B arbor supports and several cutters and other various NMTB 40 and 50 tool holders. That's the good news...bad news or 'challenging' news was it sat 800 miles away from my house AND at a portly 6500 lbs it was by far the heaviest thing i have ever moved. After a month of prep making phone calls to get truck and trailer coordinated I was off to the great north. Loaded the mill in the trailer, strapped it all down and after 2 days and 2 rain storms she was safely in my garage. Super grateful to my friend who extended his extensive knowledge in strapping down the heavy stuff to our effort...800 miles is a long way and a lot of bad things can happen if things aren't done right. Now it is waiting for a good wipe down and cleaning of swarf before arriving in its final resting place in the basement. I CAN NOT wait to get this thing hooked up and running.

Nice.
It's always great to know the seller. Helpful friend!

 

[johnoder]

Been looking for a K & T for a while. After getting kicked around and disappointed by searching on those interweb selling sites I finally ran into a friend of mine who happened to be selling his 1946 K&T 2k universal mill. It has the parking attachment, vertical head that is has been completely gone through, A and B arbor supports and several cutters and other various NMTB 40 and 50 tool holders. That's the good news...bad news or 'challenging' news was it sat 800 miles away from my house AND at a portly 6500 lbs it was by far the heaviest thing i have ever moved. After a month of prep making phone calls to get truck and trailer coordinated I was off to the great north. Loaded the mill in the trailer, strapped it all down and after 2 days and 2 rain storms she was safely in my garage. Super grateful to my friend who extended his extensive knowledge in strapping down the heavy stuff to our effort...800 miles is a long way and a lot of bad things can happen if things aren't done right. Now it is waiting for a good wipe down and cleaning of swarf before arriving in its final resting place in the basement. I CAN NOT wait to get this thing hooked up and running.

Some scans from the full line catalog about 1940

 

[imported_eric_h]

So true...u help a friend out AND u get a great mill in the process...can't beat that.

 

[imported_eric_h]

@johnoder thank u sir for posting.....I have several pieces of documentation for this mill and will add that to it.

 

[m-lud]

You did a good kob of wrapping it up for the trip home. I suspect you unwrapped the tarp and strech wrap when you unloaded it in your garage.
You talked about wiping it down.

There always seems to be a place that water gets between the overlaps of the strech wrap. You had it capped with the tarp which was good.
Any water at all thats under the plastic wrap will cause condensation all over the mill.

You must have a walk out basement shop. Hopefully no steps

Until you get the K&T in the basement you could wipe the bare metal surfaces with a product like Fluid Film.
It prevents rust from Condensation.

You probanly already know how a machine will sweat on a humid day with just a temperature change from a warm weather front coming in.
You are in Georgia. High humidity

Enjoy making some nice chips.

 

[imported_eric_h]

@m-lud yes i sure did unwrap it completely in my garage as soon as i got home...and it has good ventilation to keep it dry. i wiped down all the ways when i got home with oil and ran all the feeds to their extreme to make sure i had max exposure and could get that oil in there. For the outside cleaning of the mill i was gonna use just wd40 on a rag to avoid creating any flash rust with something like Simple Green...ive noticed it creates flash rust quickly if u don't hit the area with oil or wd40 quickly after u apply it.

yes basement is side entry and has a threshold that is about 5 inches high...i have been working a plan to get the mill up onto 'rails' like a train track, then lift the mill(on 4x4 skids) up onto pipes that will roll along the top of the rails over the threshold and into basement. I have done a few tests and i believe this will be the easiest and best way to keep the machine low to the ground, stable and to clean the threshold with out putting any of the machine's weight on the threshold.

When its landed in its final resting place i will post back here with the final results...fingers x'd.

 

[M.B. Naegle]

I'm not as familiar with the 'K' series mills, but I like that it has the remote handles behind the table! That would have been handy on the 2H we used to have. Makes it like a mini Boring Mill.

From my experience seeing these things bought and sold, 90% of the value is in the accessories and attachments with them, especially if they are original to that specific machine. The other 10% is the condition of everything. The mill itself is free.

 

[ncjeeper]

Congrats on your new to you machine. Nice that it is complete.

 

[imported_eric_h]

True..attachments and tooling are truly the jewels in the crown from what ive seen as well. For K and T's that drive gear for a vertical head is ALWAYS mia and trying to source one is hard to do. Which is why hell or high water i needed to get this one bcse it was cleaned up, everything fixed(a few handles missing) or checked out, the head had all new bearings(which apparently are pretty pricey) and was gone through completely by the po.

Did get a little sticker shock when i sourced the 'oil gun' u need to lubricate that head but when i spread the cost over the next 30 years it didnt seem that unreasonable...lol. Thats an attachment i haven't seen with a mill to date.

 

[ramsay1]

True..attachments and tooling are truly the jewels in the crown from what ive seen as well. For K and T's that drive gear for a vertical head is ALWAYS mia and trying to source one is hard to do. Which is why hell or high water i needed to get this one bcse it was cleaned up, everything fixed(a few handles missing) or checked out, the head had all new bearings(which apparently are pretty pricey) and was gone through completely by the po.

Did get a little sticker shock when i sourced the 'oil gun' u need to lubricate that head but when i spread the cost over the next 30 years it didnt seem that unreasonable...lol. Thats an attachment i haven't seen with a mill to date.

I can relate to the drive gears being MIA... Usually they get discarded because those in charge have no clue as to what fits what... I have two heads that had missing gears and had to cut both... One of the heads had a non standard set of gears for some reason so that was another PIA.... They are really great machines though, even the slotting head is nice when you need one... Cheers from hot Louisiana..Ramsay 1

 

[imported_eric_h]

@ramsa yes sir...ive seen your comments about machining your own drive gear which is AWESOME!!!! i would imagine u have to have a dividing head and all the goodies to get that done. In your opinion how difficult was it to do? Not that im signing up to do it but...just curious. Hmmm 'slotting head' attachment sounds like something to put on the list of accessories although i bet they are harder than hen's teeth to locate. I am now perusing around for a rotary table.

@M.B. Naegle btw the rear controls are a very nice touch...surprised they didn't put that on all the mills but im sure it was a selling point to buy a bigger mill. Also ive been told the 2k is basically the 3 H but with more speeds.

 

[ramsay1]

@ramsa yes sir...ive seen your comments about machining your own drive gear which is AWESOME!!!! i would imagine u have to have a dividing head and all the goodies to get that done. In your opinion how difficult was it to do? Not that im signing up to do it but...just curious. Hmmm 'slotting head' attachment sounds like something to put on the list of accessories although i bet they are harder than hen's teeth to locate. I am now perusing around for a rotary table.

@M.B. Naegle btw the rear controls are a very nice touch...surprised they didn't put that on all the mills but im sure it was a selling point to buy a bigger mill. Also ive been told the 2k is basically the 3 H but with more speeds.

Hello: Yes it is a PITA to machine the drive gears especially the gear for the 2h std adjustable head because the drive lugs have to be machined on the gear itself....You need a dividing head, a lead attachment, and, of course, the proper cutter...In the book of leads there are over 42,000 leads for the low lead attachment and when the math is done, the lead will fall between two in the book so it is not possible to get the perfect lead in the way but you do have a a gear that you can use..

The slotting heads are scarce as you say, one old time K&T employee who worked there for 30 years says they are really scarce....As with the drive gears, the drive for the slotting head is usually missing as well...

I have both the 12 and 16 inch K&T rotab, both with power drive and they are really nice... I can drive the 12 inch from my low lead attachment on my 2hl horizontal and both the 12 and 16 inch from the drive bracket on my 2d rotary head mill... I am retired so I just do this stuff for fun but I love to tinker even at age 70... Cheers from hot Louisiana; Ramsay 1.

 

[imported_eric_h]

@ramsay1 man thats AWESOME! Keep it going brother. I didn't even realize a slotting head had its own drive gear..was thinking once u had it u were good to go...guess not. BTW 2d's look like an amzing machine.

 

[ramsay1]

@ramsay1 man thats AWESOME! Keep it going brother. I didn't even realize a slotting head had its own drive gear..was thinking once u had it u were good to go...guess not. BTW 2d's look like an amzing machine.

Hello: The drive for the early slotting heads is not actually a gear but a disc with a crank pin... They seem to walk away with the vertical head drive gears... I had to make one before I found an original..... This driver fits my 2hl...Cheers from HOT Louisiana; Ramsay 1

 

[m-lud]

Rare parts can be pricey.
The drive hub gives it a crankshaft action ,receprocating movement. Thats the first time I've seen one. That helps when on the lookout for parts the seller's can't identify.
I bought some bargin K&T 2D metric collets on ebay like that.

Here are a couple of expensive slotting attachments. If a guy had a good repeat part order it could pay for the attachment. Not practical for the average hobby machinist to buy one.
They give the overarm dimension.

KEARNEY & TRECKER RIGHT ANGLE SLOTTING HEAD: STOCK #9686

themetadescription

www.yodermachinery.com

KEARNEY & TRECKER VERTICAL SLOTTING HEAD: YODER #57010 | eBay

YODER MACHINERY SALES. CENTER DISTANCE BETWEEN OVER ARMS. 6.25". We load for free. HOLLAND, OHIO 43528.

www.ebay.com

 

[imported_eric_h]

YIKES....yeah very interesting drive mechanism and VERY interesting price for the heads...thanks for the post gents im now a smarter bear.

 

[ramsay1]

Rare parts can be pricey.
The drive hub gives it a crankshaft action ,receprocating movement. Thats the first time I've seen one. That helps when on the lookout for parts the seller's can't identify.
I bought some bargin K&T 2D metric collets on ebay like that.

Here are a couple of expensive slotting attachments. If a guy had a good repeat part order it could pay for the attachment. Not practical for the average hobby machinist to buy one.
They give the overarm dimension.

KEARNEY & TRECKER RIGHT ANGLE SLOTTING HEAD: STOCK #9686

themetadescription

www.yodermachinery.com

KEARNEY & TRECKER VERTICAL SLOTTING HEAD: YODER #57010 | eBay

YODER MACHINERY SALES. CENTER DISTANCE BETWEEN OVER ARMS. 6.25". We load for free. HOLLAND, OHIO 43528.

www.ebay.com

Crankpin engages with a sliding block in the rear of the unit.. it acts much the same as a crank shaper.... If the direction of rotation is correct, the return stroke is faster than the cutting stroke... Cheers...

 

[Andy FitzGibbon]

Yoder is well known for new paint jobs and wildly inflated pricing.

 

[imported_eric_h]

Quick close to the chapter here on moving the 2k. Lots of hours invested in modeling, researching and bribing friends to come and get this old girl into her nice dry and climate controled resting place. All that's left is run power to her, change oil and install the motor.