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Identify this mill?

Big thanks to @Brent H for helping me move this mill into my in-laws garage while I sort out my space issue. It was an inch to high to push it into the truck but worked out thanks to Brent's ingenuity as always!

Brent had to run but the in-laws had a ordered food for us for his help.

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Now you should build a sturdy BASE to bring that table and spindle up to working height.
I see the power feed is there for the X Axis.
It will be good to see it in operating condition.
 
LenVW said:
Now you should build a sturdy BASE to bring that table and spindle up to working height.
I see the power feed is there for the X Axis.
It will be good to see it in operating condition.
Click to expand...

It was sitting on a metal base that wouldn't fit in the truck. My car is dead and don't think I can head back in time before it gets tossed :(
 
@Brent H remind me what you recommended to do to remove some of the surface and protect it while it sits in this garage for awhile? I'm sure it'll there will be a lot of open and closing the garage. You mentioned WD40 rust remover and not Evaporust? Asking you here again so other may partake in this knowledge.

How do people normally work with a rotary table that dang heavy? Either I have to get really, really strong or does it just live permanently on the mill?
 
That does appear to be the same design as my RF-30. Which means the machine is closer to 600 pounds than 500. I found one of the bolts connecting the round column to the top of the rectangular intermediate casting was completely stripped. Another stripped when I was reassembling the machine. Eventually, I drilled out a couple of the threaded holes and used nuts and bolts to fasten the connection. The gory details are in the thread linked to earlier. Something to keep an eye on when working on the machine.

Appears your machine was hard-wired? Is it 3-phase?

Craig
 
architect said:
@Brent H remind me what you recommended to do to remove some of the surface and protect it while it sits in this garage for awhile? I'm sure it'll there will be a lot of open and closing the garage. You mentioned WD40 rust remover and not Evaporust? Asking you here again so other may partake in this knowledge.

How do people normally work with a rotary table that dang heavy? Either I have to get really, really strong or does it just live permanently on the mill?
Click to expand...
How big is it? If you don’t really need something that big then I’d say clean it up and sell it for something smaller. A 6” is probably around the right size for that machine.
 
That rotary table has a fairly hearty casting of its own with a gear as large as the indexing table that you bolt your workpiece to. A worm gear meshes with the large gear to rotate the table.
We used to move them around the tool & die shop at Ex-Cell-O with a rolling trolley that had a scissor lift to adjust to the height of the various mills.

BTW - WD40 actually stands for Water Dispersant (Formula 40).
 
If you look closely, that rotary table looks to have been fastened to the column of a mill much bigger then the RF-40.
I think you grabbed a RT that came from a totally different arrangement.
 
@architect - scrub off the surface rust with some scotch bright soaked in some wd40 penetrating oil and then brush on some light grease and cover with some of that light cloth you have to keep the grease on the table and exposed metal. Check the grease condition every so often to make sure it’s all ok until you can service things.

As for the rotary table - that is for your Bridgeport - transport that one to your home shop and clean it up. The table is pretty much the only thing in need of a good scrub - brass brush, scotch bright, light oil - repeat. Probably does not need a soak in rust remover as it all ran fine.
 
architect said:
How do people normally work with a rotary table that dang heavy? Either I have to get really, really strong or does it just live permanently on the mill?
Click to expand...

About a year ago, MrPete made a small lifting device that is supposed to stay mounted on the end of a Bridgeport table:


Craig
 
architect said:
@Brent H remind me what you recommended to do to remove some of the surface and protect it while it sits in this garage for awhile? I'm sure it'll there will be a lot of open and closing the garage. You mentioned WD40 rust remover and not Evaporust? Asking you here again so other may partake in this knowledge.

How do people normally work with a rotary table that dang heavy? Either I have to get really, really strong or does it just live permanently on the mill?
Click to expand...

If you need to save yourself some work at some expense, buy a few cans of WD-40 Corrosion Specialist and spray it on everyplace that's needed. It won't be as good as cleaning it first as @Brent H suggests, but they claim it to be good for a year outdoors and two years indoors, so I'd guess it will be fine for you in a garage. I've had it on some parts I've left in a bad environment for a month now and it's working great.

It isn't cheap, but it is easy, and it does seem to work.
 
architect said:
How do people normally work with a rotary table that dang heavy? Either I have to get really, really strong or does it just live permanently on the mill?
Click to expand...

I'd be leery of leaving something that heavy on my mill permanently.

I've seen members make a storage/lift table that can be rolled over to the mill and then just slide the rotary table over to get it on or off. I think it might help to make a small clamp to hold the mill to the storage cart during the process.

Or sell it to a big ugly old guy who can lift it...... ;)
 
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