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Newby question, don't hate on me - Cincinnati 2MI Color code and Serial number ID

triple_nickel

Plastic
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Hello neighbors

Long-story-short... had a major surgery in March this year (Pi day). Bed ridden and could not (COULD NOT!) watch another daytime network TV show. Found YouTube much better. There I found ABOM, Diresta, found This Old Tony and what's the guy that starts off all of his shows with the Pledge of Allegiance? Anyway, got thoroughly obsessed with machining. Totally new to me.

Wanted a lathe but found a mill instead. A Cincinnati 2MI, Serial #2J2u1L-9. Help me with info. Got her running this weekend, she does not have the original 440/550V motor but rather a newer replacement 1PH 230V. But amazingly everything seems to work. Are those old motors available for refurb? I have access to phase converters and transformers and love getting things back to original. She is missing the Milling Bushing Arbor support (I think). I got a service manual from Ozark and am working through the pages. Are there parts forums, for sale forums?

What color was she originally? I have sanded and scraped through battleship gray, dental mint green and inside the motor cover is cinnamon red.

Posting here because I chased a couple of gothic vintage color links and they are no longer available on 'PM'.

Thanks and please forgive a newby if these questions are already answered in a FAQ. I swear I have been looking.

Thanks again!
 
There is a sub forum in the link below that you could post parts wanted. One other place to find parts like that is E-bay. You could try to find your motor local on Craig's List to save shipping cost. You may look for a local machinery dealer. Don't tell them your a newbie. They will see more of your money. Do your homework and tell them what you need.

There are also Home shop oriented forums on the web that may give help.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/tooling-parts-and-accessories-for-sale-or-wanted/
 
Brilliant! Links are amazing. You guys have been most helpful.

Any ideas as to the original color? I have gray, green and red in various places. It is currently a psychedelic purple LOL. Haven't sanded yet; perhaps my answer lies there.

Thanks so much for the help!
 

Not saying that you're wrong, but the publication you reference lists the Cincinnati No's 3,4,5 & 6; mine is a 2mi... AND I've got red on the inside of the motor cover. The guy (or gal) that takes the time to repaint the inside of the motor cover is a rare bird indeed. If I had to bet, I would bet on gray as you suggest because it was 1942 and who would spend money on red? Gray was everywhere. But! and this is a big butt :), it is red on the inside of the motor cover :) Thanks for your interest.
 
If you sand before painting its best to not sand the filler off the mill. Castings were a rough texture so they applied a layer of filler to smooth the casting. like bondo. It will never look the same if you remove that filler.
T
There is a service manual in that long list in link #2 of my previous post.

Here it is thanks to Jim Scheffler for publishing it.
Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. - Publication Reprints - Nos. 2ML, 2MI and 3MI, Model LL, Milling Machines, Service and P | VintageMachinery.org
 
Brilliant! Links are amazing. You guys have been most helpful.

Any ideas as to the original color? I have gray, green and red in various places. It is currently a psychedelic purple LOL. Haven't sanded yet; perhaps my answer lies there.

Thanks so much for the help!

"Red" on or in a motor or electrical cabinet - or even a lube-filled gearcase innards or a cutting fluid sump may be red "Glyptal", a durable insulating acrylic that also seals castings well and is resistant to most degrading influences in general. Except it ain't all that CHEAP, of course!

Otherwise, any colour you WANT it to be.

I'll put in a plug for Benjamin-Moore "Superspec" industrial paints 'coz they can be custom colourized, go on easy with any of roller, brush, or spray, and are durable single-component goods with a compatible primer they can even get by wthout. IOW - no need of all the special prep, witchcraft and black magic of usually-toxic two-part stuff.

Painting budget it tight? Rust-Oleum, especially in the "hammer" finishes, silvery-grey and several other basic colours are dead-easy to use, need near-zero preparation or priming, look better and last longer than they have any RIGHT to do.

Seconding no point in trying to strip clear to bare Iron and re-do fillers and stuff anywhere or on anything you do not HAVE to do as to "pretty".

It's a machine tool. Not a vintage Alvis "Speed 20" or Bugatti motorcar, after all, so I'm not one to spend weeks with bondo and filler, either.

Cheap "Goop" abrasiveless hand cleaner, wooden carpenter shims, plastic "putty" knives, and bristle brushing then paper or fabric toweling-off can remove lots of the gunk and varnish without destroying sound paint or labeling, won't fill the workspace with volatile solvents fumes or get water and caustics into the works to aid hidden corrosion.

PS: No use in trying to dodge the bullet. Consider yerself "hated on".

Payback for getting your hands on a nicer mill than many others have and failing to invite us to an Argentine-style goat roast with free Malbec red wine to celebrate.

So there!

Buy decent lubricants for the mill and post photos instead, but please.. no "triple-nickel-forty" across my driveway, and yer off to a good start, after all!

:D
 
You guys are amazing! mllud22, I missed that manual because I sorted the list by date and that pub date was unknown. That pub shows my model exactly. It may answer my next question, which was what is the best way to flush the coolant circuit. It is a hot mess as you might imagine. If its in the manual let me find it, if its not let me know your thoughts.

Thermite, the red IS on the inside covers. And I got it... no basecoat-clearcoat processes with wet-sanding iterations. I'll stick to the basics. But I am prizing it as though it were a Speed 20. I love this machine (if that can be a thing:smoking:). It is giant majestic puzzle(at the moment) that runs as smooth as silk. I am ALL into it. 'Decent lube' recommendations ( and coolant for that matter)?

And next time you guys are in South Carolina, I'll scare up a goat roast with all the finest Agentinian Malbecs you can drink. Thanks!
 
You guys are amazing! mllud22, I missed that manual because I sorted the list by date and that pub date was unknown. That pub shows my model exactly. It may answer my next question, which was what is the best way to flush the coolant circuit. It is a hot mess as you might imagine. If its in the manual let me find it, if its not let me know your thoughts.

Thermite, the red IS on the inside covers. And I got it... no basecoat-clearcoat processes with wet-sanding iterations. I'll stick to the basics. But I am prizing it as though it were a Speed 20. I love this machine (if that can be a thing:smoking:). It is giant majestic puzzle(at the moment) that runs as smooth as silk. I am ALL into it. 'Decent lube' recommendations ( and coolant for that matter)?

And next time you guys are in South Carolina, I'll scare up a goat roast with all the finest Agentinian Malbecs you can drink. Thanks!

Off the shop floor before "OSHA Green" went common, so the only machine from "the mill" I ever personally saw as was NOT grey was a pale yellow one ... in a factory in PRC.

Five-axis early-NC or CNC monster about the size of a one-car garage. It had pride of place, centre stage in his machine-hall, even a red-violet velvet-covered rope-chain around it.

Wasn't actually in USE, given the founder and owner - who had run one in the Yew Ass-Aye before SMUGGLING the massive bitch into Communist China - was the only person under-roof as even knew HOW to start, let alone RUN the beast!

Seems Numbah One Son, more into getting his mind dirty than his hands dirty, was into the usual for his generation. The "three M's".

Money. Mistress. Mercedes.

Paint it grey and go make chips.

BTW.. a Cinncy that is smooth as silk QUIET? Something may be dreadfully wrong!

Check for powdered cork or oatmeal in the lube?

:D

PS: Malbec is a wine that works for its living, makes few enemies. Decently priced, most supermarts in Virginia.

The goat roast trick relies on a simple wood fire and basic Iron rods, but "scales down" to skewers, and all sorts of meats, needs no complicated tow-behind pulled-pork roasters as resemble steam locomotive boilers.

Here's the "real deal":

YouTube
 
IMG-2238.jpgIMG-2239.jpgIMG-2240.jpg

The 'new' motor that someone put on by-passed the safety switch that ensured the motor/belt/pulley compartment was closed before starting the mill. I soon found out why; the pulley on the new motor prevented the door from closing. So after correcting the wiring, modifying the motor bracket and buying shorter belts, she runs (sans 2 belts). Trying to attach pics but they are turned sideways??? They also converted it to a vertical mill which I will remove.

When looking for a the Arbor Support and cutting bits, what are keywords I should be searching for? All that I have to go on is the description in the parts diagram... 'Type A Arbor Support (Unit 2JC)'

IMG-2237.jpg
 
They also converted it to a vertical mill which I will remove.
Good on yah. Ugly conversion.

When looking for a the Arbor Support and cutting bits, what are keywords I should be searching for? All that I have to go on is the description in the parts diagram... 'Type A Arbor Support (Unit 2JC)'

"Wheel" shaped milling cutters are a drug on the market, used, in HSS. Some are in need of sharpening grind, others are even already re-sharpened, still in the wax. Mind the arbor diameter, chase additional arbors and their spacers as well. A horizontal CAN run endmills, even drills, too, but it isn't exactly fun.

An arbor support? There may be one laying around, but realistically, low probability of it, if only 'coz it ain't a legendary K&T with its own monks as dedicated followers!

:)

Fortunately, neither is a workalike exactly rocket insemination to DIY fab.

You may have one in-hand typically two or more YEARS sooner that way.
 




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Slowly piece-ing her together. I have a Cincinnati 2" Shell Mill Arbor NMTB50 Taper in the mail and on the way.

What is the doo-hicky thing called that locks it into place; screws in from the back side of the mill?

Thanks!
 
What is the doo-hicky thing called that locks it into place; screws in from the back side of the mill?

DRAW BAR is the item - generally has both 1"-8 and 5/8" - 11 theads on the NMTB 50 versions

Overall, similar to this B&S item - which shows but one thread on the biz end

Scan from 1942 Scully Jones catalog 500

ON EDIT......

Add scan of 40 and 50 taper vesions
 

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