New Gorton 9J mill

jpitz31 · Nov 25, 2019

Just picked up a Gorton 9J, Have a question, not sure if I should place question in Kearney Trecker, group or not, my mill is older than when Kearney Trecker purchased Gorton.

Anyway, I am trying to remove the front pulley, have removed all above pulley hardware, notched nut, bolts, Draw bar etc. Cannot remove the pulley. I have the on-line docs and they are not much help.

Has anyone removed this before? Next step is to try to lower the spindle and attempt to follow the procedures to remove the spindle.

I do not want to force anything, Parts are long gone.

Thanks

Joe

Some images:

4GSR · Nov 25, 2019

You going to have to rig up a puller to pull that sheave. What ever you do, don't grab the edges where the vee belt groove is. You will break it! That sheave is cast iron!! Probably have to drill and tap at least two holes towards the inside where the splined shaft coming from the spindle is. But before doing this, remove the spindle quill from the housing. There may be some kind of nut or socket head cap screws that need to be removed from inside the housing to get the sheave off. In all the years my family had 9-J Gortons in the shop, I don't recall ever removing the sheaves. The spindle quill, I have had it out. Watch out for the big spring in the housing and the one on the quill return on the quill handle.
You got a nice mill there if it hasn't been molested. Ken

jpitz31 · Nov 25, 2019

Thanks Ken, I really just want to clean and remove the rust. Not sure if I want to take that much of a risk of breaking anything. I will have to ponder this a bit.

4GSR · Nov 26, 2019

If the bearings feel smooth and not bumpy, I would leave it alone. Believe me, if you take it apart, it'll never be the same again on Gorton Mills. They were a nice high precision mill for its time. As far as I'm concerned, still are. Ken

jpitz31 · Nov 26, 2019

4GSR said:
If the bearings feel smooth and not bumpy, I would leave it alone. Believe me, if you take it apart, it'll never be the same again on Gorton Mills. They were a nice high precision mill for its time. As far as I'm concerned, still are. Ken

Thanks Ken, no play in the spindle and smooth as a babies, you know what! ;-).

Joe

Derek Smalls · Nov 26, 2019

4GSR said:
They were a nice high precision mill for its time. As far as I'm concerned, still are. Ken

I second that. I've only ever run one that was similar to the OP's, and I don't even see many of them around, although I see lots of older style Gorton mills and pantographs. I don't know why they weren't more popular, price maybe???
To me, they have all the "feel" and sensitivity of a Bridgeport with the rigidity of a real milling machine. I hope to own one someday.

Great find, and best of luck with your repairs.

jpitz31 · Nov 28, 2019

Thanks Derek

The cleaning and de-rusting has begun. I will post pics of the progress

Joe

jpitz31 · Dec 5, 2019

add images

Some more pics

jpitz31 · Dec 5, 2019

More Images

Also started YouTube Series of restore

YouTube

Doozer · Dec 5, 2019

I have a Gorton 9-J.
If you need any help,
let me know.

-Doozer

jpitz31 · Dec 5, 2019

Thanks Doozer, Have you found any schematics for the Cutler-Hammer electrics? I spoke with Richard Gorton and he has never seen any.

Doozer · Dec 5, 2019

I do not have schematics, but my 2 speed motor and
control box is intact. What I see from what I have,
is the motor has 2 split and separate sets of windings.
Treat them like 2 separate individual motors.
If you do not want to run a VFD and keep contactors,
I would buy a set of interlocking reversing contactors
and wire them to power one or the other windings.
You can get the contactors as a pair, mechanically
interlocked, so as if one coil is energized, the other
is physically prevented from pulling in, this saving
the thing blowing itself up from having both coils
mistakenly energized at once.
You might just as well buy 2 sets of interlocking
reversing contactors, and actually use one set for
actually reversing the motor, as it never had (at least
mine never had) actual reversing capability. Might be
nice for power tapping.

--Doozer

4GSR · Dec 7, 2019

Two of the Gorton 9-J's we had, had a triple pole three-position toggle switch that you used to reverse the motor with. You switched it when the motor was not running. I cannot remember where in line this switch was placed. We pretty much made our own schematic by tracing back all of the wiring to each interlock and contactor and such. At one time, we had a blueprint schematic from Gorton on the 9-J. Don't remember where we found it, have no idea where it went to. The six-wire two speed motor were easy to wire up like you said by using a for-rev relay with an interlock. One of the 9-J's had a five wire hookup, where one of the wires shared T1 line with both speeds. That made it a little difficult to hook up to a for-rev relay. The last mill we had the two speed contactors went out on it. Replaced it with a for-rev contactor and just wired it up to the high speed and taped off the low speed wires and ran it like that for the rest of it's life. I guess wherever it is, it's still wired up like that. Ken

jpitz31 · Dec 16, 2019

Thanks Doozer, I just purchased a VFD, the mill has a junction box and the person I purchased the mill from had a VFD as well. He wired the VFD directly to the junction box. I have not traced the wires as of yet. Is there anything special I have to do if running a VFD? The guy I purchased the mill from indicated the High speed motor use to work, but now when he attempts to select high speed, the mill shuts down. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

jpitz31 · Dec 16, 2019

Thanks 4GSR, my mill has 6 wires as well. The owner told me that the High speed use to work, but now, when selecting, the mill shuts down. He was running a VFD. I just purchased a VFD and will do some wire tracing before I wire it up. As with Doozer, any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

jpitz31 · Dec 16, 2019

More Progress pics

Here are some more progress pics, up to my ears in paint stripping and paint prepping:

jpitz31 · Dec 17, 2019

Here is the latest YouTube video of my progress:

YouTube

4GSR · Dec 18, 2019

I made a comment on your youtube channel about the burnt orange paint you're stripping off. More than likely it is lead based paint.
Noticed the arbor in the spindle for holding the special Gorton collets. That does come out and leaves you with a No. 10 B & S taper in the spindle, if you are not already aware of it.
Looking nice, Ken

jpitz31 · Dec 19, 2019

Yes, Ken, I saw that, thanks. I was not aware of the spindle, that is really good info, I was worried that the special Gorton arbor would be too small for larger
end mills, Do you know how to remove that spindle arbor?

Thanks

Joe

jpitz31 · Dec 28, 2019

Here is Part 3 of Mill Restoration

New Gorton 9J mill

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Stainless

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Titanium

Plastic

Titanium

Diamond

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Plastic

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