"Harold & Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...

"Charles A. Sherwood" wrote in message
...

There is no spring on the quill of my rockwell vertical mill.
I find this so annoying because the quill has dropped a few time
which usually breaks a tip off an endmill or puts a dent in the
workpiece.

The mill has a lever on the right side with a collar that is 1.75
inchs in diameter that looks like a perfect place for a flat spring.

Has anyone added a quill return spring to a rockwell vertical mill??
If so, I would really like to hear about it! Otherwise I will invent
something cause I hate trashing expensive endmills!

chuck

What, it didn't have one originally? I have a hard time believing that,
though I guess it's possible. A quill without a return spring is
totally
useless. I rely on the feel of the quill for sensitive drilling, which
would be only one reason to have a return spring. With that in mind, if
you end up clooging up something, remember you still want to retain the
feel.

As Chuck mentioned the old Clausing 8520 knee mill (2/3 BP size) also lacks
a quill return spring I've managed to screw up a couple of parts in mine
when the quill dropped unexpectedly. Another 8520 owner uses a coiled
compression spring over the drawbar between the spindle pulley and the draw
bar nut and sent me one to try out. Seems to work OK but reduces quill
travel from 3" to about 2" so I don't use it much. The spindle pulley uses
spring-loaded plastic disks through a couple cross drilled, tapped holes
that are perpendicular to the splined spindle shaft and these are apparently
intended to bear against the splined shaft and impart some drag to resist
gravity in its desire to drop the spindle.

A true return spring would be a lot better, methinks.

Mike