Aligning a round column mill between tooling changes

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Well the learning is progressing well and I am merrily milling and lathing (?)

 

One problem I am finding is when changing between the drill chuck, collet holder or boring head in the mill, because they are all different lengths, once the head is unlocked from the column, when winding the height adjust handle I lose alignment

 

My mill is a Chester Champion

 

Is there any way of retaining the relative position of the head during these changes or is my only way to mark the head and column with reference lines?

 

Thanks for any help

 

John

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

[wheeltapperParticipant @wheeltapper]

Hi

one way I’ve seen in a mag is to get a cheap laser pointer and fix it to the mill head pointing toward a wall, line the head up and mark a line on the wall where the pointer is . then when you change heights, reline the mark.

 

there are other ways but they involve modding the mill somehow.

 

just a thought.

 

Roy

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

I used to own the Warco equivalent of this mill, to maintain alignment, I made a bracket that attached to the head which was a close sliding fit with a stationary vertical 20mm bar, attached to the column by another bracket.

 

I recall there was an article in MEW along these lines but so far I cannot find it.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Aha, found it, issue 108 of MEW has the details of the principal I implemented, an article entitled ‘Round with Dovetail Advantages’

 

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Aha, found it, issue 108 of MEW has the details of the principal I implemented, an article entitled ‘Round with Dovetail Advantages’

 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Coalburner – unfortunately I only started my subscription at 160 

 

But a bracket at either end to which I could attach a solid bar sounds workable

 

And thanks wheeltapper for the laser level suggestion 

[dcostaParticipant @dcosta]

Hello John Coates.

 

 

It had ocurred to me that an  rotary encoder may, eventually, give You sufficiently accurate information for the purpose of the alignment of Your mulling column.

And it is a very clean solution.

 

Please look at the following URL

Best regards

Dias Costa

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

The subscription to the digital mag archives is well worth it, then you get access to any MEW from issue 1 to current, I don’t regret taking up the subscription, saved me a fortune in buying magazines from ebay etc

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

The pound shops often sell laser levels at, you guessed it, a pound. One of these mounted on your mill  will project a line to a far wall, and more than adequate alignment precision can be achieved.

chriStephens 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Thanks guys

 

I think I’ll go for CoalBurner’s solution as I plan to move the mill and the end position might not be too favourable for access to walls

 

I tend to keep the mill head in the same position when doing indexing (is that the right word for what I’m doing – moving the workpiece between positions to carry out sequential operations?)

 

So having a rigid bar to control the alignment will not cause me problems and another member has messaged me about how such a device can be constructed

 

John

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