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VN 28 attachment questions

spock

Stainless
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Location
Central Ky
New thread, now that I have the motors switched over to 240/480 (much thanks to those of you who helped me!) Machine sounds great, like it is ready to do some serious work.

I got this machine at auction, it came with 2 pallets of "stuff" that I am still trying to figure out. See photos.

1) there were two styles of 50 taper holders. It looks like one style needs some drive keys attached to the face of the head. But, the style with the extra wide drive dogs, looks like it needs a "drive spacer" that is missing. Seems easy enough to make one, if I am on the right track. I have looked around for a picture with no luck, and the manual that I bought off Amazon is great but does not show this.

2) took a bit but I figured out that it came with a slotter head. Turns nice and free, and there is an internal spline that drives the mechanism, but there is no splined shaft among the tooling that I got. Is this as simple as a 50 taper tool with the correct spline? Looks like the head mounts right to the spindle face. Any chance of getting one? I dont mind to make one, as long as I am on the right track.

3) there is another head that came with it, strange toolholder with a bit of taper at the head (looks like a beefed up R8). Anyone know what that is? That head also looks to be spline driven, and is bigger than the one on the slotter head. This head also has male threads sticking out, like it was made for collets that also use the same taper?

Any help on the particulars is much appreciated!
 

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Nice score! Most machines don't come with those accessories which are probably worth another $1000 by themselves.

#3 is the universal sub-head, which gives you another free rotational dimension to play with. Lets you cut helixes without a universal table, for instance. While VN has been known to do different tapers, the universal sub-head for their larger mills takes VN "2" collets, which may be better known as 50V by Hardinge, or even more obscurely known as "112" by VN. They are push-in collets, secured by a cap at the front the spindle.

The tooling you show in the photo is not a collet, but a short arbor with a "2" taper. This would be secured by a drawbar from the back of the spindle.

VN "2" collets were originally available in sizes 1/16" through 7/6" by 1/32" and from 2 to 23mm. You only need the sizes for common tool shanks, not a complete set (which would be unobtainium). The other proprietary VN collet style is "C" which is smaller, for the 6/12/16 mills and their accessories. You don't want "C" collets for that sub-head.

Added in edit: You are on the right track with the splined drivers. Take a spare 50 taper toolholder and secure a male spline in it. The odds of finding the correct orphaned driver are vanishingly small. But it's easy to make a splined driver, where it would be a $$$$ job if VN used helical gear drivers.
 
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thanks for the feedback and the collet info! I bought this mill to use for squaring big blocks, everything else is a bonus. Figuring out all the stuff that came with it has been fun. I picked up a 6" face mill that I am sure will live on it most of the time, but now that we are getting a good idea of what this thing can do, we are pretty excited about having it all in working order.

Question on the spline driver: do I need to incorporate a shear pin or "clutch"? In case you hang something up, seems like you would want it to break away before it can damage anything inside the machine. Or maybe you just slip the belts? I would rather be on the safe side, since they are not making these any more.
 
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I got this machine at auction, it came with 2 pallets of "stuff" that I am still trying to figure out. See photos.

1) there were two styles of 50 taper holders. It looks like one style needs some drive keys attached to the face of the head. But, the style with the extra wide drive dogs, looks like it needs a "drive spacer" that is missing. Seems easy enough to make one, if I am on the right track. I have looked around for a picture with no luck, and the manual that I bought off Amazon is great but does not show this.
239861d1539295179-vn-28-attachment-questions-img_4951.jpg
The holder on the left (bottom, since the photo rotated itself) looks like a Van Norman 50-taper arbor or tool-holder of some sort. The other holder is probably from some other 50-taper machine.

Here's a link to the Van Norman Attachments, Arbors and Accessories Catalog. The 50-taper tooling starts on page 18.

3) there is another head that came with it, strange toolholder with a bit of taper at the head (looks like a beefed up R8). Anyone know what that is? That head also looks to be spline driven, and is bigger than the one on the slotter head. This head also has male threads sticking out, like it was made for collets that also use the same taper?
239859d1539295179-vn-28-attachment-questions-img_4949.jpg

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The "Universal Subhead" is shown on page 5 of the manual. As mentioned, it uses Van Norman No. 2 taper tooling. No. 2 collets are about the size of a 5C collet and can be secured with either a drawbar or the special cap on the front of the spindle. Some of the larger Van Norman dividing heads also have a No. 2 spindle. The arbor looks like some sort of shop-make shell-mill arbor.

Cal
 
Nice Score! Looks like you also have a slotter attachment. Look forward to more pics of what all you have there.
 
The spline drive would look something like this picture below. Of course yours would use an NMTB 50 mount as opposed to the VN 'C' shown. Looking forward to seeing your mill & your exploits with it!
 

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I have a Cincinnati 50 taper spline drive. It only has 3 drive splines on it about an 1/8” wide if I had to guess. Pm me if you think it might work for you and I can take some measurements of it and get a picture too.
 








 
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