Horizontal Milling Attachment

[cfellows]

Here's some more pictures of today's work. I cut the 3" square tubing body to length, then mounted it in my 4 jaw chuck in the lathe and squared up the top end.  I also turned down a 1/8" long shoulder on the end to fit inside the clamping ring to which it will be welded.  This will make sure the square tubing is centered and square in clamping ring.





And here's the ring fitted over the top of the square tubing body.  I haven't welded in place yet.





And clamped to the spindle nose of the mill / drill...



And here's a video of a test run...

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQlybFXMUWE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQlybFXMUWE</a>

Bear in mind, I haven't yet welded the square body to the clamping ring nor have I completed the outboard end of the horizontal spindle.  That's all coming up next.

Chuck

[cfellows]

Well, it's finished...







And ready to go to work...







The welding is a little gnarly, but it's functional.  Its first project will be a 10 degree helical gear for the sideshaft on my Bessemer conversion to 4 stroke.

Chuck

Chuck

[sco]

Chuck,

That looks business-like!  Are you sure that clamping ring will have enough grip to cope with the  cutting loads without slipping?

Simon.

[Brian Rupnow]

Very nice work Chuck. Your gnarly welding looks a lot like mine. As I get older and older, and my glasses get stronger and stronger, I can see the weld puddle less and less.----Brian

[Don1966]

Looks good from here Chuck, just don't forget to take a video of it in action.

Don

[steamer]

Hey Chuck,

Do yourself a favor and put a couple of drip oilers in, or conversely, a vertical feed pipe with a bit of felt wicking.  Either way will feed a little oil all the time to the bearings, and they will last a lot longer and run a lot cooler with a little oil all the time.   

Looks good man...Can't wait to see it in action.

Dave

[Arbalest]

Looks good. Is there a reason for the extra hole(s) in the box tube Chuck?

[cfellows]

Chuck,

That looks business-like!  Are you sure that clamping ring will have enough grip to cope with the  cutting loads without slipping?

Simon.

Yeah, that clamping ring is solid.  I think the gears would strip before that clamping ring lets go.   One thing I did notice is that the unit puts a lot of torque on the spindle housing when it's working.  I have to make sure to tighten the downfeed clamp when using it.

Looks good from here Chuck, just don't forget to take a video of it in action.

Don

Thanks, Don.  I've got the unit all set up to cut a 10 degree helical gear tomorrow.  I'll take a video and post it.

Hey Chuck,

Do yourself a favor and put a couple of drip oilers in, or conversely, a vertical feed pipe with a bit of felt wicking.  Either way will feed a little oil all the time to the bearings, and they will last a lot longer and run a lot cooler with a little oil all the time.   

Looks good man...Can't wait to see it in action.

Dave

Thanks, Dave.  I've drilled holes from the top of both bearings to the spindle that I can top up with gear oil.

Looks good. Is there a reason for the extra hole(s) in the box tube Chuck?

Thanks... the extra holes in the side are so I can squirt some oil on the gears regularly.  Also helps with making sure the gears are properly engaged when I set it up.

Chuck

[cfellows]

Here's the video.  I'm using my newly finished, right angle milling attachment to cut a 10 degree, 12 tooth helical gear.  The gear blank is mounted on the 4th axis which controls the indexing and also the rotational movement needed in concert with the X-axis movement to accomplish the cutting.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L18a_wfaRBE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L18a_wfaRBE</a>

The initial centering of the cutter on the gear blank, and the angle of the involute cutter are pretty critical.  If you get them off even slightly, the valleys between the teeth will be too thick and the gear tooth too thin.

Here are some pictures of the gear I just cut (the small one) and an 80 degree, 6 tooth gear I had made earlier using my manual helical gear cutter attachment on my lathe.  The large gear will be mounted on the crankshaft and the smaller gear on the side shaft for my conversion of the Bessemer to 4 stroke operation.  I know it seems counter intuitive that the larger gear will spin twice as fast as the smaller gear, but that's how helical gears work.











I'm quite please with the right angle attachment.  I think it will see a fair amount of use.

Chuck

[NickG]

Awesome stuff there Chuck, really clever.

[zeeprogrammer]

Very cool Chuck.
You seem very pleased as you should be.

What kind of cutter is that? I'd like to look it up.

[cfellows]

Very cool Chuck.
You seem very pleased as you should be.

What kind of cutter is that? I'd like to look it up.

Thanks, Zee.  It's a #8, 32 pitch involute gear cutter.  You have to use a special graph to determine which numbered cutter to use when cutting helical gears.

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Another great job Chuck. It's men like you that can take a common sense approach to engineering and yield a practical result, that made this country great one upon a time. 

Whiskey

[Don1966]

Awesome job Chuck, you are the man bud. Thanks for taking us along. I like................

Don

[steamer]

Well done Chuck!

Dave