DoN;
Thank You for the response. Yes spelling is not my strong point. I went
to your site, and it was a help answering a lot of the questions I have, but
I didn't find the manual. Now I understand why I was told that the speed
was changed by changing the pulleys around.
I've got 220 1ph in my shop, (that was a spring project, to run the air
cond), but I'm not sure if I want to go with a VFD or put on a DC motor, as
3/4 hp is small enough to make it affordable.
I can see this is going to be a summer long project, but the size and cost
of the unit make it something that will be acceptable to me and also
acceptable to my wife.
gary
http://www.westcanalcrafts.com/
"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Gary Owens wrote:
I have a chance to pick up a Nicholas 5H hand mill for $300.
Do you mean a "Nichols" mill? You've used two different
spellings, neither of which match what I know about.
If so, you can visit my web page and pick up a copy of the
manual which covers all of the machines which they made. (The page also
documents some things which I went through with my really antique
version to bring it up to a bit closer to modern.):
http://www2.d-and-d.com/NICHOLS-mill/index.html
Note that the manual has been scanned from a paper copy, and is in PDF
format. The first page (the cover) was scanned in grayscale, while all
of the others are scanned in pure B&W, so that first page is really
*slow* to display. I would suggest printing the whole thing, if you
have a laser printer ready to hand.
It seems to
be
in good condition, under 30 years of gunk. It has a pumantic (sp) feed,
and
Hmm ... that pneumatic feed will be a pain for detail work. The
ones fitted with that don't normally have either the lever feed or the
leadscrew. (Mine has both as options.) The pneumatic feed is great for
production work -- when you have a lot of the same thing to make.
a HUGE 3/4 motor.
That motor also includes a gearbox so the output speed is a lot
lower than you would otherwise have. Note that it requires three phase
power. Do you have that? If not, you can use either a home-built
rotary converter, or even nicer, a VFD. (I'm using a VFD to drive
mine.)
Does that seem like a reasonable price.
The price seems quite reasonable to me. It would be nicer for
home shop use if it had leadscrews or levers for the X axis, but you can
probably work out how to use it as is for most things. You'll want
an air compressor as well, to work the feed.
Mine cost only $200.00 on eBay -- but the shipping cost was
greater than the cost of the machine.
I can't fit a
full
size mill in my shed, so this looks like the ticket.
It is a very solid horizontal spindle machine. Mine was around
1100 pounds. The pneumatic feed may add a bit more weight. Be *very*
careful when moving it. And if it starts to topple, *let* it. $300.00
is cheap compared to a stay in the hospital, or a loss of life.
There is a vertical head available for it (also documented in my
web site), and you should be able to fit it more easily than I did, as
my machine was from before the vertical head was a part of the game.
Any comments, Ideas, ect.
If it is truly a Nichols mill, it will be a good mill. You
would be amazed at how much metal a horizontal spindle machine can move
with a slab milling cutter.
Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---