A few different topics here:



Kent (and those of you with manual feed quills) .... Here's the first step to making highly precise power up and down, on your mill quill. Bore and tap the center of the handwheel shaft. For 1/4-28 ... I used .218" to drill. Consult your charts. Now thread a nut on the threads first ... screw in about an 1 1/2" hex bolt ... and lock the nut against the shaft.



There you go, you are now done with mill modifications. Thread out the three big ole hand wheel bars with knobs. You won't need them anymore. Adjust the friction knob on that wheel, to be snugly tight.



Now ... you place a 7/16" hex drive in a cordless drill, and you have a fine variable speed, power up and down mill!



Today, I removed six packed buckets of lathe shavings.



Stomped down tight buckets. THAT is a lot of mill shavings from a lot of parts.

Thought I'd take a break, and shoot a few pellets into the clay. Lined up on a quickly marked location .... Bang.



Only to find .... ... that Jerry had been there first!

One of his slugs buried inside MY clay. hahah.



So, I twisted off a chunk of clay, and rolled it to the size of a golf ball. Made a quick mouse head ....



Line up ... BANG



Only to find out ....



Jim had been there first! One of the round ball from his Scout 45!!!

Can't a guy shoot a hollow point into some clay, in his own shop!!! hahahaha.



I'd thought the visible lead, must be my rolled up hollow point ... skewed off. But - it had been Jim's round ball in the clay. haha. So, my hollow point had blasted a channel, and gone into the backer clay. There is it.



I spent a long day cleaning the shop. It's been overdue.



Makes you feel all new and sparkly ...



Still tight, but tidy.

Gary

The shop that clean....it's kinda scary!

I know. I probably won't be able to find anything. hahaha.

I had to remove the shavings, as I'd run out of buckets back there behind the lathe.

Dude ... you're young ... you should have been there. This morning .... ... hahahah.

OK ... onward and upward!

Gary

Looks kind of spooky to me too!

Kind of like when someone walks onto a job site in some new carhartts and everyone asks who the new guy is.

A machining shop should be clean,,,, safer...also good for mental well being.....db.

I like your power feed setup Gary, but now I need a better cordless drill and one of those dial "thingies" . OOPS, I think I just found your pocket watch, Its stuck to your mill.

Kent

Hi Kent,

The dial thingies are cheap. But, of course ... you already have digital. No use to clutter up your state of the art with analog. haha.

The drill/quill really is handy. You'd be amazed how much work it is to drill one 1" hole. 5/16" pilot, opened to 1/2" ... opened to 5/8" ... to 3/4" ... to 7/8" to 15/16th .... to 1". How many times did the quill go up and down to change out bits? Some might think ya just toss in a 1" bit and drill a 1" hole. If you do ... you can get a nice egg shaped 1 to 1 1/8" hole, a burnt drill bit, and more chatter than enough throughout the machine.

The cordless drill attachment, really helps to wind the bit up for change, and to bring it back to engagement. On some things, you can even down feed with it.

Gary

We're going to see a bunch of handy shop tips here. The mystery is disappearing!

That's the problem Jerry ....

Before long ... everybody will be making these things!

Hide all the ENCO catalogs!


hahaha.

Gary

LOL. GB, that is one funny post...lol

Man, you are very ARTSY...lol. Could not think of another word at the moment. But man, your hand molded animal from the duct seal just crack me up. I'm really pathetic cause my 11 pound pack of duct seal is a simply damn BALL! And your making animals with yours

Thanks Cedric,

We'll have to have a "Clay 101" class. hahah.

Pinch here, pull there. "Release the animal" from the clay. hahah.

Gary