All things Beaver Mill

[Mark GuyParticipant @markguy26995]

Hi Brian I’ve added another 5 photos of the lead screw if they are of any help

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

The MkII has a shear pin on one of the leadscrews. I can now see why!

[Jonathan DeenParticipant @jonathandeen39055]

Don't suppose anyone here could email me a pdf manual & parts diagrams? Recently picked up a mk2 vbrp that suffers from a seized quill. (Previous owner left the poor thing outside). Would be helpful when i strip the back gear gearbox as I suspect their may be some moisture lurking within

deenprecision@outlook.com

Cheers.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Posted by Jonathan Deen on 14/05/2021 23:14:42:

Don't suppose anyone here could email me a pdf manual & parts diagrams?

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=547FE296ECFD561F&id=547FE296ECFD561F%211426&parId=547FE296ECFD561F%21189&o=OneUp

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

You seem to already have a huge number of manuals. Do you get bored with machines quickly and have to change them often?

[Jonathan DeenParticipant @jonathandeen39055]

Posted by DC31k on 15/05/2021 10:39:17:

Posted by Jonathan Deen on 14/05/2021 23:14:42:

Don't suppose anyone here could email me a pdf manual & parts diagrams?

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=547FE296ECFD561F&id=547FE296ECFD561F%211426&parId=547FE296ECFD561F%21189&o=OneUp

Very much appreciated, will certainly help get the mill back to working order

[Mark Walker 7Participant @markwalker7]

Hi all. I have a beaver mill mk5. It is fully working as a manual machine but it has a Anilam 3000m cnc control fitted but I am having problems with it. The machine has an air operation quick change tool holder. What I am looking for is some of the mounting fittings for the top of the tooling. Dose anyone have any for sale or know where I can get some.
thanks

mark

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Posted by Mark Walker 7 on 04/09/2021 21:23:15:

What I am looking for is some of the mounting fittings for the top of the tooling.

They are called a 'pull stud'.

Put 'Beaver pull stud' into Google.

You will find:

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/beaver-nc5-pull-stud-dimensions-153752/

Mr Hood is on the mig welding forum if you need to ask him further questions.

https://spares.xyzmachinetools.com/Special-Pull-Studs-40-Beaver-V5Nc5/product/4829/79931-010/

https://www.madmodder.net/index.php?topic=12928.0

Reading the above, it seems there may be two types, for earlier and later machines, so check well before spending.

[Craig MarshallParticipant @craigmarshall51970]

Hi all – I am also new to the group. I have a beaver PAL mill which has no back gear, and the all-belt head. The rear layshaft in the head is pressed into the eccentric (for tightening the belt), the pulley set is then riding on two LS9 bearings on that shaft, according to the drawings. The pulley set can't come out through the top of the head casting, so I'm wondering how to disassemble this thing? Mine has got quite noisy, so I'd like to replace those bearings.

Also – I have a fair amount of wear on my splines I can see comparing the unworn area to the worn area that the lands are almost a millimetre narrower. Are there any other options than the one shown earlier in this thread? The wear is worst at the bottom (quill retracted), and lessens as you go up (quill projected). So any kind of backlash limiter is only going to work at one point.

Thanks,

Craig

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I've never seen a PAL head in real life, only the drawings in the assorted manuals that Tony's lathe site has got. I'm guessing that one has to get the centre pulley and motor out of the way, followed by the spindle pulley and its bits, then unbolt the rear pulley from its shaft, remove the shaft and eccentric out of the top and finally manoeuvre the rear pulley through the front part of the side door holes.

It will come out, since they got it in, but there is probably a way that works and many ways that don't. The Mk1 head has got a definite knack to assembling it as well, but after the first half dozen times it becomes intuitive!

As to the splines, is it the spindle splines that show the wear or the drive bush's internal splines? In either case one might need to make a new drive bush, but in the former case, one would need to either make a new spindle or use a surface grinder, shaper or mill to cut back the good parts of the spindle splines until they were thinner, but all the same width. Then send both bits off for heat treating.

A spring loaded backlash eliminator might work, but one would need to find space for it, possibly by making a spacer plate between the head and the pulley box.

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

Same problem with my MK2 VBRP Beaver mill. The splines rattle like a good 'un but I couldn't tell you which pair it is that have the worst play. I got all the bearings, etc to tilt the head over 90 deg, get the spindle out and start going through it to see if there is anything I can do about. it's now a couple of years later, I'm much closer to 70 and feeling less an less able to tackle it (

[Ian BowersParticipant @ianbowers85137]

Well after a bit of time effort and money my VBRP is about quiet, I replaced all of the spindle bearings and the two large bearings that support the back gear shaft, I think these were the noisy ones. I also managed to get a better spline mesh by facing off the drive side splines so it meshed deeper. I spaced the toothed pulley down by a similar amount to keep everything level.

So it’s about rattle free and not much other noise for once! I’ve replaced my of singe phase motor with a new 3 phase motor and new VFD along with a 3 phase feed motor and VFD.

so it’s ready for another 50 years!

[Ian BowersParticipant @ianbowers85137]

After a bit of use the feed gearbox is still noisy , but how do you take it off easily? The motor is off and I have removed the two screws on the front (on the right side) and the four screws on the back (left side). The back will come off a couple of mm until it hits the cross slide nut assembly, this is difficult to remove as it has dowels in it preventing it sliding along out of the way.

The main box will come out about 1mm then I think some gears are starting to catch on something, so is the answer to take off the table?
thanks Ian

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

With the Mk1 gearbox:-

 

You need to take the table off to remove a couple of other screws on the top of the gearbox that you can't get at with the table on:-

I can't remember if you also need to remove the left/right clutch fork shaft as well to get at one of the screws Probably not.

After that, the gearbox will come off complete and you can get the back off it.

Edited By Mark Rand on 20/01/2022 19:36:40

[Ian BowersParticipant @ianbowers85137]

Thanks Mark, it’s all apart now, I think I will get away with some new bushes, the one on the input shaft is nicely worn.

The worm and wheel look ok I’ll just remove a few sharp edges.

ian

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

Ian,

> facing off the drive side splines so it meshed deeper.

> I spaced the toothed pulley down by a similar amount

That sounds very interesting. Do you have any sketches or dimensions and references to the part diagrams please?. If there's a short cut to getting rid of some of the spline rattle I'm up for it, but I don't quite follow what you've done. Thanks.

[Ian BowersParticipant @ianbowers85137]

Hi Peter the way I reduced the play in the coupling was to get it to go together further so the tapered dogs were touching on the sides fully. I machined of the tops o the dogs so they were not bottoming out but were touching on the sides.

to ensure the toothed pulley was in the same place and to ensure the back gear would come up far enough the mesh properly I made a spacer to space the shaft back to where it was.

The photo below shows it half done.

[Ian BowersParticipant @ianbowers85137]

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

Ahhh.. tapered dogs. Now it makes sense. I assume the big gear is the back gear – I have that. Unfortunately the rest of it doesn't ring any bells. Maybe we are different versions. Mine is the VBRP MkII with the variable ratio taper belt drive up the top. My back gear drop int to engagement by manual lever. The gear is fitted on a hollow shaft with dogs, but they have more teeth than that. I did a section drawing in Qcad which is in one of my picture albums here. I will investigate further, as if the trimmed tape dogs ahs relevance here I can't wait to get it done!.

[Harold JollyParticipant @haroldjolly73409]

 the threads are no good I need help with the leadscrew on the table. Like to know if anyone can help. Here are a few pictures showing the nut.

What type of material would you think to use?

 

Edited By Harold Jolly on 29/01/2022 14:25:16

[Harold JollyParticipant @haroldjolly73409]

sorry about all the pic are turn . I do not know how to fix it.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Use cast iron, the same as the original. Then make sure that it is lubricated with oil, not grease.

It's far more easy to replace a pair of cast iron feed nuts than to replace the feedscrew after bronze nuts have worn it. It's a pity that Bridgeport never learned that lesson…

 

Here is one that I made earlier. I had to do it again because I made the outside diameter 0.003" too small.

Edited By Mark Rand on 29/01/2022 19:15:58

[Harold JollyParticipant @haroldjolly73409]

Thanks Mark for sharing >where did you buy the material?

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

It was some continuously cast bar that I'd had for a number of years. I'd bought it from a steel stockholder in Birmingham.

metals4u.co.uk stock it in small and large quantities (use the search feature, it isn't listed in the menus).
m-machine.co.uk have it in their catalogue by the inch
http://www.steelexpress.co.uk have it, but need to be phoned or emailed (very good for tool steels and specialist stuff)
College engineering seem to have gone off with the fairies after mum and dad retired
there are some sellers on ebay, they often claim it as being Meehanite, but Meehanite is a specific set of licensed processes.

There are probably plenty more, but those are ones I've dealt with.

[Harold JollyParticipant @haroldjolly73409]

Would it be possible to bye it from you ?

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