Boxford VMC milling machine mod

[Kevin NormanParticipant @kevinnorman48306]

I have a Boxford VMC milling machine with a 550 x 150 table , the problem is that it only has 2 tee slots so I was wondering if it would be possible to cut a central tee slot for fitting of dividing heads / rotary tables etc or is there another way to get around this problem.

 

Kevin

[Kevin NormanParticipant @kevinnorman48306]

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

Not a good idea to cut a Tee slot.

A rotary table should be ok if you have one bolt in the front slot and one in the back.

Best bet is a sub table, a piece of steel or aluminium mounted in the table with bolt holes drilled and tapped down the centre.

regards David

 

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Rather than muck up what is not a very large mill bed, I think that I’d be more inclined to make an adaptor plate for the rotary table that enabled you to mount it using the two slots you already have. I made one for a 6″ Vertex a while back, but that was for a slightly different reason having everything to do with the handle… but if you use a bit of gauge plate, it’s not too difficult to extend the footprint out to the slots you already have. I used counterbored bolts with slightly reduced-height heads to mount the rotary table to the plate (so that it remains flat on the bed), and everything else is self-explanatory, I think.

 

(David posted whilst I was writing this, but essentially we’ve suggested the same thing)

Edited By Steve Garnett on 18/08/2010 15:28:36

[Kevin NormanParticipant @kevinnorman48306]

Thanks alot Steve & Dave , most helpful

 

Kevin

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

There’s one thing I should have mentioned, based entirely on experience with this – and that is that you should remember to make a suitably large hole in the middle of the adaptor plate, immediately under the centre of the table. If you don’t, you have to take the plate off every time anything drops down the centre – which it invariably does! Since none of the required support is in the centre on any table I’ve ever seen, this won’t affect stability in the slightest, and also makes the whole assembly slightly lighter; also not a bad thing.

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