turning vertical mill head 90 degrees

[monarch1973]

Hey all. I have always used my vertical mill in the vertical position. I have a cast front tractor differential housing that the mounting ears are worn heavily. I plan to bore them out to 2 3/4" with an end mill, and press a bushing in to bring it back to original. Its pretty big and heavy, and I cannot figure out a good way to fixture it so I can mill it out vertically. If I was able to turn my head 90 degrees to be horizontal, I could just set the housing on my table and bore them out. Its a knock off Grizzly brand bridge port style.

 

[Gordon Heaton]

You can do that if you have enough table and travel remaining to mount the part and do the work. A right-angle adapter usually leaves more room to work and is more easily dialed in.

 

[GregSY]

In some cases you can make a horseshoe shaped setup jig that allows you to hang the part off the side of the table, then rotate and extend the head (still vertical) to the proper position. The horseshoe piece can be made of something like 1" steel plate, parallel ground for flatness.

 

[monarch1973]

In some cases you can make a horseshoe shaped setup jig that allows you to hang the part off the side of the table, then rotate and extend the head (still vertical) to the proper position. The horseshoe piece can be made of something like 1" steel plate, parallel ground for flatness.

I dont really have the time for this, but Id like to see a picture for possible future jobs? He brought this to me Friday afternoon and wants it Monday. Everything is an emergency with this business!

 

[monarch1973]

You can do that if you have enough table and travel remaining to mount the part and do the work. A right-angle adapter usually leaves more room to work and is more easily dialed in.

Ok, im going to give it a try. I was just checking to make sure accuracy doesn't fall way off, or its very hard on the machine before I got sideways with this job figuratively.

 

[Bill D]

Before I did this I would run it up to speed and make sure it has oil at all the points that need oil. Then turn the head and use it. I have no idea if some bearings etc are total loss for oil and if so how that works at 90 degrees.
Better safe then sorry.
Bill D.

 

[GregSY]

I don't have a pic handy, sorry.

The problem tipping the head 90 degrees is it becomes more time consuming (difficult) to indicate the spindle perpendicular to the bore of whatever you are going to oversize. You lose the benefit of having the spindle/table relationship that you had when it was vertical. Yes, you can get it all squared up but it's more cumbersome.

Without a pic of the housing you are working, it's hard to make any better suggestions.

 

[winger]

2 3/4" end mill on a Bridgeport????

Your going to need a boring head and enough parallels to get it to spindle height.

Hanging off the side and swiveling the turret over might be easier.

Dave

 

[monarch1973]

I got it bored out. I ended up turning the head. I tried to hang it off the side, but its just a really weird cast shape that I couldnt figure out how to hang onto it and be confident it didnt shift on me.

 

[MaxPrairie]

I dont really have the time for this, but Id like to see a picture for possible future jobs? He brought this to me Friday afternoon and wants it Monday. Everything is an emergency with this business!

Charge enough so you almost feel bad about it if it’s an inconvenience and see how big of an emergency it still is to him.

 

[Newman109]

When rotating the head, be sure to support it as it rotates so that there isn't too much strain on the gear track inside. Those heads are heavy!