Van Norman 26 comes home

Hi everyone,
I took delivery of my new mill today, a nicely kept Van Norman 26

I put power to it tonight, and the spindle fired up without any drama. All the spindle speeds appear to work. I'm not sure about the power feeds, though - they don't seem to want to engage in any axis. On the feed selector handle, turning the handle clockwise (low gear) goes into gear ok, but moving the directional feed levers (with spindle running) doesn't start anything turning. The X axis dial did turn briefly for a few revolutions, but only once. The rapids lever does move the table, but it seems a fair bit slower than my K&T.

Also maybe important: when I turn the feed selector counterclockwise (high gear), the rapids lever bobs up and down quickly until I turn the handle back toward neutral.

I'm wondering if the rapids mechanism isn't fully disengaging, preventing the standard feeds from working properly? The previous owner said everything was in working order, so I'm hopeful this is just an adjustment needed or my unfamiliarity with the machine (it was bought via online auction, so I didn't get to inspect beforehand).

Also: is there a table lock for the x-axis on this machine? I don't see one anywhere, but the x-axis feels quite tough to turn the handwheel.

Thanks in advance for any help offered,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Nice machine. Looks like you have more grinders than milling machines there. The mills will loose.

Yup. Space is tight in my wee garage, so it is what it is. The mill will be covered when the grinders are in use

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

I figured out the power feeds - the feed motor rotation was backwards. Switched the leads around and the feeds work properly now.

The rapid traverse is definitely slower than it should be, though - it's about the same as the fastest (non-rapid) feed, 35ipm on the x-axis. Would that be a potential clutch adjustment issue?

Also still haven't found an x-axis table lock handle - is one supposed to be present on this machine?

Thanks everyone,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

If my #28A has a table binder, I've never found it. Manual references knee and saddle binders, but not a table binder. On the other hand, it did take me a couple of years before I found where the missing cross-feed stop trip was supposed to attach to the bottom of the saddle.

Brochure for #26/#36 says rapids should be 100 IPM table, 75 IPM saddle, 50 IPM knee, while fastest non-rapid table feed is 32 IPM.

Hi Sfriedberg,

Thanks for the info!

Interesting that there's no table binder - are they considered unnecessary on the bigger heavier tables? They're pretty much ubiquitous on smaller mills....

The table feed ranges you mentioned look about the same as mine - I may have misread 32 as 35ipm, will check again this evening. Any thoughts on why the rapids might not be very rapid? Someone on the Yahoo group suggested the shear pin, but I would have thought a broken shear pin would prevent all movement rather than slowing things down....

Thanks again!

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

congratulations on a really nice mill!

leeko said:

Interesting that there's no table binder - are they considered unnecessary on the bigger heavier tables

Click to expand...

The #28/#38 has adjustable anti-backlash table feed nuts. That's good enough for fairly heavy climb milling, so presumably that was considered sufficient. The feed screw passes through two nuts, one fixed and one movable, spring-loaded and lockable. On the #28/#38, there's a plate on the left front of the saddle just above the knee cross way. Without going out to the shop to look, I can't recall if it's a cover plate or is the actual lock with a screwdriver drive slot. Anyway, loosen the anti-backlash nut lock, let the spring take out the slack between the movable nut and the feed screw, then lock it back up again.

One of the things I did when I had my #28 table off was clean all that up so the spring would reliably take up the slack when the movable nut was unlocked.

Your #26 is probably the same, although I have not dived into the manual to double check.

Oh, and as to the slow rapids, I have no useful experience to offer. Sorry.

That's good to know, thanks
The 26 manual says that to adjust the anti-backlash nut, I need to slide the table off. But it's there!

Thanks

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Does anyone know where the shear pin is located on a model 26? My manual doesn't mention one, and I don't see any likely candidates in the parts diagrams.

Thanks

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Found out there is no shear pin on the 26. The gears are protected by clutches

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk