Help with Wells Index milling machine

Help with Wells Index milling machine 887: Head noise

I'm looking at a mill close by to me (that never happens) and it's got a couple small issues I'd like to run by you guys and see if anyone has some good information for me.

The mill is a Wells Index 887 with variable speed head.. Pretty rare bird as far as I can tell. The only difference I can figure from the 847 is that the table is bigger, at 12 x 50. As far as I know, the head is the same as a variable speed 747 or 847. The ways are in halfway decent shape, which is 99% of what I care about, but the head has two issues that I know I'll need to dive into. Anyone who has experience with these mills; I'd love your input!

#1. When you put the machine into high speed and run it, there's a pretty solid knocking sound coming from the upper part of the head between the drive pulley and the top of the spindle. If you push UP on the high/low shift lever, the sound almost totally goes away. From what I understand, when you shift the lever up (high speed) it disengages back gear and engages some sort of dogs for direct drive. To me, it sounds like those dogs are what's rattling. Does this sound possible? And if so, does anyone know if replacing worn drive dogs is a huge task?

#2. The quill power down feed lever on the front of the head won't engage. If you push it up, it seems like it's trying to make the quill move, but not much. It also doesn't STAY up, it just springs back down again. I know these heads have an adjustable clutch for the power quill feed, and to me, it seems like that clutch needs to be adjusted. But I don't know why it won't stay engaged, any thoughts?

Pics of the mill attached. 2nd pic shows the high-low shift lever, and 3rd pic shows the front of the head, where the power quill feed lever is.

Thank you!

Betting all you have to do for the power feed is clean everything up.

That is an unusual model.

I'd buy it despite those issues. I doubt they are major. I don't know what's causing them but like anything....take it apart and whatever the issue is will be apparent. As noted, it might need cleaning or tightening etc.

I've always wondered what the 887 was. Although I'm not sure it's the table. I have an 847 with a 12" x 46½" table - the larger table was available as an option.

I think I would get it if the seller has a reasonable price tag. Wells Index is in business and I understand they support everything they've ever built.

Wells-Index Milling Machines

I have one at home just like that the only difference is mine came with Servo feeds on all 3 axis.
We have a 747 at work and I think many years ago we had a feed problem not engaging but I don't remember what I did to fix it,don't remember buying any parts though,so may have been just gunked up.

My 887 also has a QC 30 spindle but I think that was an option on all models.

Seems to me we had a similer sound coming out of the head on our model 700 at work I think it was a worn thrust washer. I’m a little foggy on it but when I called wells index there guy knew what it was just describing it, good people there

ratbldr427 said:

I have one at home just like that the only difference is mine came with Servo feeds on all 3 axis.
We have a 747 at work and I think many years ago we had a feed problem not engaging but I don't remember what I did to fix it,don't remember buying any parts though,so may have been just gunked up.

My 887 also has a QC 30 spindle but I think that was an option on all models.

Click to expand...

Yep, my 847 has the QC-30 spindle also.

ratbldr427,
Great to hear of another one actually in existence! When I called Wells Index before going to see the machine, someone there told me that model doesn't exist, so I just assumed the seller had made a mistake on the model number. I'll call them again on Monday and push a bit harder now that I have photographic evidence of it
Do you know what makes the 887 different than any of their more common models? Something I thought was kind of interesting about the table was that the t-slots are on 2.25" centers instead of the more common 2.5". So that paired with a 12" table, meant that the outside t-slot to the edge of the table has an almost 3.5" stretch of solid cast iron. Have you found that to be a problem at all? The only thing I can think of is that my rotary table's handwheel has to stick off the edge of the table to clear, so hopefully that doesn't become a pain on this table.

Mike Hill,
That's great to hear, I would love if the problem is a cheap part to replace. I don't mind tearing things apart to find what's wrong and replace parts, I just would rather not spend an arm and a leg on parts if possible. I'll ask W-I on Monday, and see if they can diagnose it over the phone. I also have a video of the sound, which might help.

That's interesting about the QC-30 spindles, I do not believe that's what this one has. It has a threaded section on the outside of the spindle nose, but looking at the parts drawings, the MM-30 spindles had some kind of nut that went along with them for holding something into the spindle. I've never seen that on a 30 taper machine, and this one also takes a draw bar, so I'm not sure what the threaded nut thing was for. Did anyone ever make 30 taper collets that were similar to the Cincinnati superflex collets? Maybe another question for W-I

I'm glad to hear most people's response to the issues with the head are to just buy it and fix it, because that's been my feeling from the start. My Bridgeport had issues with both the back gear and power quill feed when I bought it and I fixed those over time once it was in my shop. I just need this mill to be functional fairly quickly because it will be replacing a functional mill, and I don't have room for both of them.

ratbldr427 said:

I have one at home just like that the only difference is mine came with Servo feeds on all 3 axis.
We have a 747 at work and I think many years ago we had a feed problem not engaging but I don't remember what I did to fix it,don't remember buying any parts though,so may have been just gunked up.

My 887 also has a QC 30 spindle but I think that was an option on all models.

Click to expand...

eKretz said:

I've always wondered what the 887 was. Although I'm not sure it's the table. I have an 847 with a 12" x 46½" table - the larger table was available as an option.

Click to expand...

Are your Y axis ways on the knee the same length as the 9" table model, or are they longer to accommodate the wider table and keep the same travel? I'm vaguely remembering a difference mentioned in the sales literature.

Mud said:

Are your Y axis ways on the knee the same length as the 9" table model, or are they longer to accommodate the wider table and keep the same travel? I'm vaguely remembering a difference mentioned in the sales literature.

Click to expand...

They are longer so that the Y-axis travel is still the full 12" in length. Here is a photo of what my table looks like. Also a few shots of the original brochure if anyone doesn't already have a copy. The 12" x 46" table is listed in the options on the middle page near the bottom. The wider table has 4 T-slots rather than 3.

Interesting, that's not at all what the table I looked at is like. There are still only 3 t-slots, but there's a lot of extra iron on the outside of the table, along with some coolant channels.



I was really impressed with how much iron was in this table. Looking at the underside, the lead screw runs in just a little channel cut out of what appears to be a mostly solid block of cast iron. On my Bridgeport, there's tons of room around the lead screw, it's somewhat hollow under there.

Here's the spindle. No nut was in the vicinity, but I assume I'd use the drawbar (which it needs as well) for most everything. This isn't any quick switch variety is it?



EDIT: after doing some research, it looks like this is probably the QC-30 people are referring to. Well what do you know. I don't know anything about this system, but I'm guessing I would use this mill with the drawbar most of the time. Open to any resources about this system.

That is probably just an earlier iteration of the table. I'm sure they added the extra t-slots later, much more of a pain in the ass to make a new casting pattern with extra t-slots.

You probably do have the QC-30 spindle. NMTB-30 tooling will work in it also if you use the drawbar. I have a power drawbar for mine, that way I can use both types interchangeably. The QC-30 stuff will work just fine with the drawbar. If you want to you can modify most NMTB-30 tooling to work with a QC-30 nut pretty easily also. Not sure how easy it will be to find a nut without costing an arm and a leg - might be better to just go straight to the drawbar.

When I got my mill it was missing the nut and the PO was just using the draw bar.I lucked out and found a couple of new nuts on E-Bay cheap.Yours is definatly a QC30,the R8's look just like any other R8 no threads or driving lugs. I think the QS200 has male lugs on the tools , not sure.
I have all the paperwork and BOS that came with mine at work , 73 model.

My 747 has always had a little rattle in the head since I bought it. If I remove the drawbar, it stops, so I don't worry about it.

Concerning your rotary table, you could always make a base for it and raise it up an inch or so. Something I need to do on mine as well.