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Barker PM Mill, Make/Buy an Acme Thread Micrometer Feed, Advice?

D_C

Plastic
Joined
Aug 17, 2015
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I have a tiny Barker PM Horizontal Mill that I got along with some other machinery in 1989.

It was used as a slitting saw and had a pneumatic cylinder for the longitudinal bed axis (missing when I received the mill). The vertical head and cross feed are both micrometer feedscrew.

Barker wants several hundred dollars for the feedscrew, nuts, etc.

The Factory Standard Feed for all three axis’ were lever actuated, so this was an optioned, deluxe model.

Is there a more affordable solution to adding an Acme Thread Feed Screw, Feed nuts, handle, collar, etc?

I have seen Acme Thread Screw and Feed nuts on Amazon.

I don’t need extreme precision, but a milling vice with feeds would complicate this tiny mill and I can’t see spending $400 to add a Factory Barker Feed assembly.

Thanks.
 
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You can buy Acme threaded rod and nuts (plastic, bronze, etc) in many diameters, pitches and materials from Roton.

While it's not hardware-store pricing, what I needed for my Nichols mill was not prohibitively expensive, either.

You would have to do any machining of feedscrew ends, journals, mount the "raw" nuts, make any collars, etc.
 
Thank You for the reply and link.

Yes, I had been looking in to buying Acme Thread and nuts, etc. Also wondered if anyone sells something more like a Kit that had not only the feed screw, but dial/handle, etc.

Maybe even something used, off some other equipment, that could be modified/adapted to fit. Thought about taking a Mill vice with micrometer feeds apart.

Considered cutting up a large C-Clamp and adapting that as a feed, but likely that’s just too crude.

A micrometer feed might be nice, but non essential. The original unites used a manual feed lever, rack and gear.

I figured on needing to do some fabrication to make it all work; perhaps someone else has done a similar project? I have reviewed lathe cross feed restoration project write-ups.

DC
 
If you decide to buy new from ebay or amazon, do yourself a favor and ask seller country of origin. Many of the chinese sellers have changed their location to USA, but as soon as you purchase you will get notification from paypal in chinese script that you cannot read, and the item ships from China.

Friend ordered 25,000 Texas Bluebonnet seeds from amazon, they showed up today, from china:angry:
 








 
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