According to William Noble :
top posted --

Don - this is an Abene VHF-3 mill (made in 1970) , info on it is here if you
are curious http://www.lathes.co.uk/abene/page4.html - mine does not have
the quill downfeed lever, so any vertical motion is via the table - it is
very different from a bridgeport.

Agreed -- very different. They can switch between being a
vertical and a horizontal mill -- and do a proper job of each. While
I've never seen one in person, a distant friend has one, and I've
admired it in photos.

so, today I spent some time and set the head properly vertical - it was off
by a couple of degrees - I've set it pretty close - if I sweep out a 4 inch
circle, there is two thousandths total difference between the back and
front - to do this, I tilted the head, removed the stop, set the head
vertical (and dialed it in), moved the stop back to the head, lossened and
rotated the head so I could tightendown the stop (can't reach the bolt with
head in vertical position), and then rotated head back to stop - if I want
it better than the .002, I can disengage the stop and dial it in more
carefully.

O.K. And this machine has *only* the "nodding" adjustment, not
from side to side as far as I know.

so, now I have the mill in alignment, and I've tested that the Co-Ax
indicator is not defective - that leaves me with two problems:

Good!

2. my 3/8 end mill holder needs to be replaced - the entry into the holder
is oversized by about a thousandth, though it does neck down to close to
proper tolerance about 1/2 inch into the holder. the only solution I see is
to replace it, which I will do in due time

Agreed -- that was probably abused at sometime in the past.

3. the drill chuck wobble problem is under investigation - the chuck is
mounted on a Kennametal arbor (40 taper to JT33 taper) - I measured the
runout of the JT taper - top, and bottom - I measured .001 at each place,
but the high spot was at opposite sites of the taper - this could throw the
chuck off a little - but I'm more suspicious of the chuck body itself - this
remains a homework assignment.

While the body *may* also have problems, 0.001" opposed from top
to bottom would make a significant runout at the end of the chuck.
Remember that those two points are not that far apart, and by the time
you reach the drill's flutes you are up to significant runout. I
suspect that that arbor has been crashed sometime -- with that, or
another chuck in place, so I think that it should be replaced, too.

I actually use 40 taper tooling too -- in my Nichols horizontal
mill -- with a vertical adaptor as part of the set. Also, *my* Series-1
Bridgeport (A CNC -- BOSS-3 one) uses 30-taper tooling in a quick-change
spindle. That tooling also fits the Nichols with a 30-taper to 40-taper
adaptor.

Meanwhile, the next issue with this mill is tightening of the traverse drive
belt - I'll start a new thread on that subject since it is probably of more
general interest.....

O.K.

Good Luck,
DoN.

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