Excello mill right angle attachment

BKahler · Nov 4, 2020

Hi all, it's been a long time since I posted. I started refurbishing my mill back in 2011 and finished it up after a year or so of work. Since I bought the mill I've been watching ebay for a right angle attachment. In all those years I never saw one listed on ebay until yesterday morning. One showed up and I bought it.

My quest now is to find the arbor support or at least a decent picture or two of the arbor support. There are at least two versions of the support. My early XLO does not have the dovetail ways on the ram like the later versions. The only picture I have of the early support helps but it would be nice if I had a few more views of what the support looks like.

I'm not afraid to try and make my own and in fact would likely make a wooden patterns of the two pieces and send them off to have castings made.

Any help in finding pictures (or even the support itself!) would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brad

Wngman · Nov 5, 2020

I bought,one for a bridgeport but had to recot tge dovetail angle to fit my mill ixwoikd post a pic but dont know how to on this forum

BKahler · Nov 6, 2020

Wngman said:
I bought,one for a bridgeport but had to recot tge dovetail angle to fit my mill ixwoikd post a pic but dont know how to on this forum

Unfortunately that won't work for me. My Excello is the earlier mill that doesn't have the vee ways on the ram, they are flat.

Here's the RA attachment mounted on the quill.

Brad

Eyerelief · Apr 10, 2024

BKahler said:
Unfortunately that won't work for me. My Excello is the earlier mill that doesn't have the vee ways on the ram, they are flat.

View attachment 303893

Here's the RA attachment mounted on the quill.

View attachment 303894

Brad

Hi Brad,
Sorry to dig up an old post. I have an excello right angle head that I have refurbished including new bearings throughout. I have yet to use it for a couple reasons.

I cant find any information on bearing preload

I don't understand what keeps it from leaking. The front bearing where the spanner cover nut is located has no seal of any type so I don't know why oil would stay in it.

Any insight you can share on either of the above would be greatly appreciated.
Stay Safe,
Richard

BKahler · Apr 10, 2024

Eyerelief said:
Hi Brad,
Sorry to dig up an old post. I have an excello right angle head that I have refurbished including new bearings throughout. I have yet to use it for a couple reasons.

I cant find any information on bearing preload

I don't understand what keeps it from leaking. The front bearing where the spanner cover nut is located has no seal of any type so I don't know why oil would stay in it.

Any insight you can share on either of the above would be greatly appreciated.
Stay Safe,
Richard

Unfortunately I don't have answers to any of your questions. The only comment I can make is the Excello 602 manual states that there is a sealed oil reservoir that the bearings run in. I've never turned my RA upside down to see if any oil would pour out. My only suggestion would be to possibly research RAs for Bridgeports, my guess is the Excello RA is probably very similar to a BP RA.

Sorry, that's all I've got.

Brad

John Allan · Apr 10, 2024

Here is a picture of what I think is a later Excello head and support. The support seems to be more rare than the right angle head.
John

ncjeeper · Apr 10, 2024

^^^
Yep that is the later version with the dove tail way. I have only seen one out in the wild. They do seem to be quite scarce.

Eyerelief · Apr 10, 2024

BKahler said:
Unfortunately I don't have answers to any of your questions. The only comment I can make is the Excello 602 manual states that there is a sealed oil reservoir that the bearings run in. I've never turned my RA upside down to see if any oil would pour out. My only suggestion would be to possibly research RAs for Bridgeports, my guess is the Excello RA is probably very similar to a BP RA.

Sorry, that's all I've got.

Brad

Thanks for the quick response. I assume no oil comes out of yours when running. I will do as you suggested.

Stay Safe,
Richard

4GSR · Apr 10, 2024

The bearings in the Bridgeport RA head are packed with grease. Not the ideal method it does work There are no seals on the Bridgeport RA head. I haven't had mine apart so I don't know what style of bearings it has.

Eyerelief · Apr 10, 2024

I was thinking grease might be a viable alternative. The anguish I have is that there is no seal in on the output side of the unit that I rebuilt. I don't know if there was one originally. when I purchased it a couple years ago it was clean and dry inside so someone had obviously had it apart. Just angular contact bearing then the plate with spanner holes that threaded onto the housing which also sets preload.

Andy FitzGibbon · Apr 10, 2024

BKahler said:
The only picture I have of the early support helps but it would be nice if I had a few more views of what the support looks like.

Thanks,

Brad

I'd like to see your picture of the early arbor support. I have an early mill with the square ways, and a later RA head with the dovetail way arbor support. My copy of the early manual doesn't show a support in the parts drawings for the RA head.

4GSR · Apr 11, 2024

I'm sure these RA heads among manufactures back then were a afterthought and probably were intended to be used for occasional light duty use. The RA heads are not designed to operate at high RPM's so either method of lubrication should be satisfactory IMO.

BKahler · Apr 11, 2024

Andy FitzGibbon said:
I'd like to see your picture of the early arbor support. I have an early mill with the square ways, and a later RA head with the dovetail way arbor support. My copy of the early manual doesn't show a support in the parts drawings for the RA head.

The manual doesn't show it and I'm not convinced the earlier XLOs RA had the support available. With that being said, I bought a generic right angle attachment support with the intention of modifying it to fit my XLO. I don't have a pressing need for it at the moment so it's still on the back burner. I don't think it will be to difficult to adapt to my mill.

BKahler · Apr 11, 2024

Eyerelief said:
I was thinking grease might be a viable alternative. The anguish I have is that there is no seal in on the output side of the unit that I rebuilt. I don't know if there was one originally. when I purchased it a couple years ago it was clean and dry inside so someone had obviously had it apart. Just angular contact bearing then the plate with spanner holes that threaded onto the housing which also sets preload.

Any chance you took some pictures while you had it apart?

BKahler · Apr 11, 2024

My current plan is to cut off the top portions of the dovetail, drill a hole in the center for a clamp bolt. I'll have to fabricate a nut plate that slips up inside the ram. I have no idea of it will work but I can't find any glaring reasons why it wouldn't.

Eyerelief · Apr 11, 2024

Here it is with all parts cleaned up

Eyerelief · Apr 11, 2024

BKahler said:
Any chance you took some pictures while you had it apart?

Yes, I posted a pic of all of the internal components

4GSR · Apr 11, 2024

Did you by chance write down the bearing numbers? If so, would you post them here for others to see?

Eyerelief · Apr 12, 2024

4GSR said:
Did you by chance write down the bearing numbers? If so, would you post them here for others to see?

The input bearing is a readily available 6207. The original was a shielded bearing. I replaced it with a 6207 sealed bearing.

The other two bearings, are in the photo. Q0L07 is installed on the drawbar side, and Q0L08 on the output or collet side.
I was fortunate enough to find new old stock New Departure bearings as that is what was originally installed.

ncjeeper · Apr 12, 2024

Since the supports are so scarce I figured I would never run across one for sale so I fabbed up one. Here is what I made. It works well, but I don't use it that much now that I have another mill that will do horizontal work.

Excello mill right angle attachment

Aluminum

Plastic

Aluminum

Plastic

Aluminum

Aluminum

Attachments

Cast Iron

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

Attachments

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Attachments

Cast Iron

Similar threads