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RF30 Basement Install

You might also want to verify the downfeed by giving some turns against an inverted dial indicator. Some of the offshore mills were notorious for not being accurate especially the ones with metric gears and inch 'conversion' wheels. But that was earlier vintage. Hopefully that's been resolved by now on your newer mill & looks like you have conventional inch dial graduations which is encouraging.
 
PeterT said:
I dont see the set screw you are talking about. My RF-45 had a very obvious thumbscrew sticking out of the dial ring. Loosen thumbscrew, rotate dial o zero or whatever, reset thumbscrew.

By chance is the knurled ring threaded so you loosen up, move the dial & tighten? That's kind of the other common way but its machine specific.
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You don't see the set screw because it's facing the head. The dial with knurled ring is one piece. Maybe you're not supposed to lock the set screw down and it floats???

The X and Y axis dials have the thumbscrew you describe.

I still need to tram this thing and check all the dials with a DI.
 
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YYCHobbyMachinist said:
Ouch..... I just released the quill lock and got it in chops with a rapid feed lever LOL. This thing has a pretty substantial quill retraction spring.
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That return spring tension is easily set by hand.

remove the plastic headed bolt from the spring housing, the spring housing should remain in place but just in case keep holding it against the head casting with your hand until you are ready to adjust. Now, while holding firmly to the outside housing, wiggle it free from the setting dowel ( this dowel is firmly set into the head casting) that is in one of the notches cut in the housing. Now just allow the spring housing to rotate in your fingers for 1/2 a turn or so and then re-hook to the dowel, re-install holding bolt.

You might not get it to your preference the first time, I had to re-adjust mine a couple times after I had the quill out for servicing last month.
 
CalgaryPT said:
Good for you. Had an older family member when I was young who had a real green thumb. He owned the most beautiful evergreen trees, junipers and even cedars in Calgary. He was the envy of the neighbourhood. He'd toss his fine swarf in the base of the trees all the time. The bigger stuff he left in a can that had holes punched in the bottom. Whenever he would water, he'd put the can next to the evergreen and water through the rusting swarf. Turns out evergreen trees love iron.

Happy milling.
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You can turn a green spruce into a blue spruce by sprinkling all the cuttings from a drill press at the base of the tree. We have done this on the farm for years. rain water will leach the iron oxides down to the roots. I don't know why it happens but we have had 5 yr old trees that are green as grass turn bluish in two years and vivid blue in 5 yrs.
 
Sweet!!!!

FIRSTCUT.JPG


I was able to take 0.2 wide by 0.03 deep passes and it wasn't working hard at all. 1/2" two flt at 1000 RPM. I might even get 0.05 deep passes out of her. The dials took her to target dimension no problem. Looks like my holes are off a bit :mad:
 
YYCHobbyMachinist said:
Sweet!!!!

View attachment 9730

I was able to take 0.2 wide by 0.03 deep passes and it wasn't working hard at all. 1/2" two flt at 1000 RPM. I might even get 0.05 deep passes out of her. The dials took her to target dimension no problem. Looks like my holes are off a bit :mad:
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Oops on the holes!
These machines will do serious work. I get that it's not a 2,000 lb kneemill but I get kinda bugged when people dismiss them.
 
David_R8 said:
Oops on the holes!
These machines will do serious work. I get that it's not a 2,000 lb kneemill but I get kinda bugged when people dismiss them.
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What do you figure, should I belt her for 770 RPM and see how it goes? 1040 seemed a little fast to me, especially drilling.
 
This is the factory speed chart for my mill. So from the factory down to 220 rpm. With my VFD conversion it will go down to 18 rpm at 5 Hz. There's no torque at that speed (I hand stop the spindle by hand) however so practically speaking 25-30 Hz will give me ~90 -110 rpm with plenty of torque for tapping.
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Well, I can get 0.2 wide by 0.05 deep passes out of her but you can tell that it starting to work harder. Had to slow the feed rate down significantly.
 
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Mine is a Long Chang LC-30. 1980 vintage from Taiwan.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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