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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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Nichoels 5H hand mill
I have a chance to pick up a Nicholas 5H hand mill for $300. It seems to be
in good condition, under 30 years of gunk. It has a pumantic (sp) feed, and a HUGE 3/4 motor. Does that seem like a reasonable price. I can't fit a full size mill in my shed, so this looks like the ticket. Any comments, Ideas, ect. Thank You gary |
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"Gary Owens" wrote in message ... I have a chance to pick up a Nicholas 5H hand mill for $300. It seems to be in good condition, under 30 years of gunk. It has a pumantic (sp) feed, and a HUGE 3/4 motor. Does that seem like a reasonable price. I can't fit a full size mill in my shed, so this looks like the ticket. Any comments, Ideas, ect. Thank You gary Don't know what the market in Florida is. They don't usually bring more than $200 in NY, and that's when they're in pretty clean shape. Does it have a functioning arbor? If not you will have to buy one with the right pilot end which turned into a PITA project for me. Later I picked up a better Nichols mill at an auction for less than I spent on an arbor for the first machine. I would make sure that everything's there and is functional before you purchase it. 3/4 HP may be an older model, one of mine is a 1HP and the other is a 1-1/2 HP. There is also a high speed spindle option with special bearings on some models. Don Nichols is the expert here, a Google search on his posts will yield quite a bit of info. |
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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 --- |
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Love mine, the 40 taper is a good strong point, I am able to run bigger and
mills than with my vertical mill "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 --- |
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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 --- |
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In article ,
Gary Owens wrote: 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. Sorry -- it was in a subdirectory, but there was no link to it from the main page. It should now be visible -- as the last link on the page. But you may have to hit "reload" if your browser still has the main page cached. Now I understand why I was told that the speed was changed by changing the pulleys around. So -- yours is an older one, too. 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. No -- you *don't* want to put on a DC motor, because the speed will be *way* too fast. That motor has a large gear reduction inside. The output speed will probably be something like 350 RPM, and most DC motors of reasonable horsepower won't have the right gearing. And -- it depends on the size of the motor, with a particular offset of the shaft from center, so you tighten or loosen the belt by loosening a clamp under the motor and twisting the motor one way or the other (to change belt speeds). A VFD is nice, but a rotary converter can cost very little, as long as you find a used motor for cheap to use as the idler. (Typically, the capacitors for starting and tuning will cost more than the used motor.) I think that a 1-1/2 HP motor will make an excellent idler for this machine. You can even get one with the output shaft chewed up, since you don't need the shaft at all. (Some people saw them off, some build a safety housing around them.) 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. That helps. I'll leave the URL quoted, just in case you've already deleted the original. http://www2.d-and-d.com/NICHOLS-mill/index.html 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 --- |
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You got all kinds of good stuff, but I'm in central Florida, and the
shipping would be a hell of a lot more that the price of the mill. The shipping on this one is a tank of gas for my kids P/U and some pushing and shoving. That said, if you have a vertical head or something like that we need to talk. gary "Gunner" wrote in message ... On 3 Jul 2005 17:58:12 -0400, (DoN. Nichols) wrote: In article , Gary Owens wrote: 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. Sorry -- it was in a subdirectory, but there was no link to it from the main page. It should now be visible -- as the last link on the page. But you may have to hit "reload" if your browser still has the main page cached. Now I understand why I was told that the speed was changed by changing the pulleys around. So -- yours is an older one, too. 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. No -- you *don't* want to put on a DC motor, because the speed will be *way* too fast. That motor has a large gear reduction inside. The output speed will probably be something like 350 RPM, and most DC motors of reasonable horsepower won't have the right gearing. And -- it depends on the size of the motor, with a particular offset of the shaft from center, so you tighten or loosen the belt by loosening a clamp under the motor and twisting the motor one way or the other (to change belt speeds). A VFD is nice, but a rotary converter can cost very little, as long as you find a used motor for cheap to use as the idler. (Typically, the capacitors for starting and tuning will cost more than the used motor.) I think that a 1-1/2 HP motor will make an excellent idler for this machine. You can even get one with the output shaft chewed up, since you don't need the shaft at all. (Some people saw them off, some build a safety housing around them.) 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. That helps. I'll leave the URL quoted, just in case you've already deleted the original. http://www2.d-and-d.com/NICHOLS-mill/index.html Enjoy, DoN. Btw, I have a VERY nice Nicholes miller for sale. So. Cal. Gunner "Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown |
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On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 02:51:53 GMT, "Gary Owens"
wrote: You got all kinds of good stuff, but I'm in central Florida, and the shipping would be a hell of a lot more that the price of the mill. The shipping on this one is a tank of gas for my kids P/U and some pushing and shoving. That said, if you have a vertical head or something like that we need to talk. gary Aawp..no verticle heads..rare as hens teeth in thta size. Gunner "Gunner" wrote in message .. . On 3 Jul 2005 17:58:12 -0400, (DoN. Nichols) wrote: In article , Gary Owens wrote: 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. Sorry -- it was in a subdirectory, but there was no link to it from the main page. It should now be visible -- as the last link on the page. But you may have to hit "reload" if your browser still has the main page cached. Now I understand why I was told that the speed was changed by changing the pulleys around. So -- yours is an older one, too. 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. No -- you *don't* want to put on a DC motor, because the speed will be *way* too fast. That motor has a large gear reduction inside. The output speed will probably be something like 350 RPM, and most DC motors of reasonable horsepower won't have the right gearing. And -- it depends on the size of the motor, with a particular offset of the shaft from center, so you tighten or loosen the belt by loosening a clamp under the motor and twisting the motor one way or the other (to change belt speeds). A VFD is nice, but a rotary converter can cost very little, as long as you find a used motor for cheap to use as the idler. (Typically, the capacitors for starting and tuning will cost more than the used motor.) I think that a 1-1/2 HP motor will make an excellent idler for this machine. You can even get one with the output shaft chewed up, since you don't need the shaft at all. (Some people saw them off, some build a safety housing around them.) 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. That helps. I'll leave the URL quoted, just in case you've already deleted the original. http://www2.d-and-d.com/NICHOLS-mill/index.html Enjoy, DoN. Btw, I have a VERY nice Nicholes miller for sale. So. Cal. Gunner "Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown "Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown |
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In article ,
Gunner wrote: On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 02:51:53 GMT, "Gary Owens" wrote: You got all kinds of good stuff, but I'm in central Florida, and the shipping would be a hell of a lot more that the price of the mill. The shipping on this one is a tank of gas for my kids P/U and some pushing and shoving. That said, if you have a vertical head or something like that we need to talk. gary Aawp..no verticle heads..rare as hens teeth in thta size. Aside from the *right* vertical head being rather specific to the Nichols mill. (And, it needs the mount which has a circular T-slot around the spindle.) I had to make that for mine, because it was so old. If you find one in eBay (which is where I found mine), the important things which should be with it (in order of importance) a 1) The spline to 40-taper adaptor into which the shaft of the head plugs. 2) The four T-bolts with washers and nuts to hold it to the circular T-slot. 3) The neat reversible drawbar and nut. The only one which will be a real *pain* to make is the spline to 40-taper adaptor. The rest are fairly simple machining from scratch or modification of existing items. Someone here has cut the spline on his own -- but it was not me. :-) 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 --- |
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By the way, anyone here have a recommendation on what kind of oil to
put in the gearbox? A fair amount leaked out of my Nichols during the dicey move from work to my basement... Thanks, -Holly |
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In article .com,
wrote: By the way, anyone here have a recommendation on what kind of oil to put in the gearbox? A fair amount leaked out of my Nichols during the dicey move from work to my basement... The motor gearbox? It normally does not leak unless something is wrong. However, there is oil in the pneumatics/hydraulics for the table motion, and that might be where the oil came from. Did you go back to my web page and download the manual after I fixed the URL? If so, go to page 13, where there is information on how to check the level and fill the motor (it needs to be set level before you start), and a reproduction of the tag saying what to fill it with which *should* be on the motor. (The suggestion is 40 SAE motor oil -- with no mention of detergent or non-detergent, which to me suggests that it should be non-detergent.) They also suggest 20 SAE motor oil for temperatures between 10 F and 40 F. (The 40 SAE is for temperatures from 60 F to 110 F, so I don't know what for temperatures between 40 F and 60 F. :-) Good Luck, 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 --- |
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DoN;
I'm really not to worried about the vertical head yet. I won't pick up the machine until Sat (weather permitting). I stopped and paid for it last nite and tried to decide how to move it. They will load it in the P/U for me, but when I get it home, it has to come apart after a good washing. The manual really helps, showing what is where in the part breakdown. But, I did find a vertical head on the web, from a guy in VT, who also has arbors. Next Year.... Do you know what color it should be? I think this is going to be a summer project. gary "DoN. Nichols" wrote in message ... In article , SNIP Aawp..no verticle heads..rare as hens teeth in thta size. Aside from the *right* vertical head being rather specific to the Nichols mill. (And, it needs the mount which has a circular T-slot around the spindle.) I had to make that for mine, because it was so old. If you find one in eBay (which is where I found mine), the important things which should be with it (in order of importance) a 1) The spline to 40-taper adaptor into which the shaft of the head plugs. 2) The four T-bolts with washers and nuts to hold it to the circular T-slot. 3) The neat reversible drawbar and nut. The only one which will be a real *pain* to make is the spline to 40-taper adaptor. The rest are fairly simple machining from scratch or modification of existing items. Someone here has cut the spline on his own -- but it was not me. :-) 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 --- |
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In article ,
Gary Owens wrote: DoN; I'm really not to worried about the vertical head yet. I won't pick up the machine until Sat (weather permitting). O.K. I stopped and paid for it last nite and tried to decide how to move it. They will load it in the P/U for me, but when I get it home, it has to come apart after a good washing. The manual really helps, showing what is where in the part breakdown. Getting it out of a pickup truck is a fun game. I did that. If it is put on a standard pallet, it will crush the boards on either side of the center piece. That happened with mine when it was shipped to me, and the trucking company put an extra pallet below it. It was offloaded to my 3/4 ton pickup by a forklift, and I spent some time stabilizing it with lots of tiedowns. The first rule is that if it starts to topple, *don't* try to stop it. Machines are a *lot* cheaper to replace than people. Ideally, plan things so an individual can control toppling without having to get close or handle the whole weight of the unit. If you have never moved anything this heavy before, you will want to get an assistant who has, so you have some experience to help. What I did once I got it home was: 1) Drive in a couple of 4x4s in the lower pallet to support the edges of the base casting. 2) Disassemble the upper pallet, piece by piece, eventually tilting it to work out the center piece. 3) Lash it firmly to the bottom pallet, with line going to the top to reduce the chance of it tilting. 4) Tilt the edge of the pallet towards the tailgate up, and work a ramp (which I had built some time before for handling my lathe when it arrived about a year before) under the edge. The ramp consisted of five 10' 2x4s mounted edge up, and lag screwed to three leftover deck boards to maintain the spacing. 5) A come-along was used to pull it fully up onto the ramp, and towards the (dropped) tailgate. Before it got there, I ran a length of mountain-climbing rope through carabiners at the corners of the pickup bed (the free end was several turns around that carabiner), and through a sling which was placed around the upper part of the mill to stabilize it for when the ramp was tilted down to ground level. 6) A floor jack was added to support the center of the ramp span, since the mill weighs over 1100 pounds. 7) The mill and pallet were slid down the ramp, encouraged by the come-along, and controlled by the turns on the carabiner on the pickup truck's bed. The turns allowed a relatively minor drag to slow or stop the mill at need, and allowed the person controlling it to be well out of the way. 8) Once the pallet touched the surface of the garage floor, the straps holding the mill to the pallet were loosened, and the edge of the mill's base was caught by a 4x4. 9) The 4x4 and mill were slid along the floor by the come-along until the rear edge dropped onto a stack of two 2x4s, and the ramp and pallet were removed. 10) With levers, the edge on the two 2x4s was raised, and one of the 2x4s was removed. 12) Then that 2x4 was taken to the other edge, and substituted for the 4x4 on that side. With each drop to the next height, you could feel the house shake. 13) Again with levers, the two 2x4s were removed, one at a time. 14) We then slid it on the concrete floor to its final spot (not far, by design). This was all done by two people. Three would probably have been a better choice, but two were all that was available. Removing it from the pallet *could* have been done by one of the 1000/4500 pound engine hoists, but the problem may be that the legs are too close together to allow you to then lower it without some cribbing (the 4x4s and 2x4s described above). But, I did find a vertical head on the web, from a guy in VT, who also has arbors. Next Year.... If the guy on the web *has* one next year. (Of course, there is at least one who used to put them on eBay regularly at prices well above what the mill cost me, so I was patient. (And, I lucked out in that the one I got was complete -- drawbar & nut, spline, and T-bolts and washers. All I had to do was make the mounting ring for it. And -- finding the *right* arbors is a trick. They should be fairly short, and have a 9/16" pilot which goes into a roller bearing cage in the support arm. (Though I have seen at least one which had a bronze bushing in it instead.) Do you know what color it should be? I think this is going to be a summer project. It depends on the age, I think. I have a flyer showing them in a nice shiny white enamel. But mine has so many layers of gray paint that I have never bothered to attempt to remove that. I wanted it to *use*, not to look at -- in spite of the name connection. :-) Mine is old enough so the name on the base casting is "The Whitney", and "Nichols" only appears on a riveted on brass plate. The name similarity is why I already had a manual (from eBay) before I ever bid on the machine. :-) 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 --- |
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(DoN. Nichols) wrote in -and-
d.com: It depends on the age, I think. I have a flyer showing them in a nice shiny white enamel. But mine has so many layers of gray paint that I have never bothered to attempt to remove that. I wanted it to *use*, not to look at -- in spite of the name connection. :-) Mine is old enough so the name on the base casting is "The Whitney", and "Nichols" only appears on a riveted on brass plate. The name similarity is why I already had a manual (from eBay) before I ever bid on the machine. :-) Here is a little more Nichols mill trivia for you: http://www.robertemorris.com/pages/content/profile.html -- Dan |
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In article ,
D Murphy wrote: (DoN. Nichols) wrote in -and- d.com: It depends on the age, I think. I have a flyer showing them in a nice shiny white enamel. But mine has so many layers of gray paint that I have never bothered to attempt to remove that. I wanted it to *use*, not to look at -- in spite of the name connection. :-) Mine is old enough so the name on the base casting is "The Whitney", and "Nichols" only appears on a riveted on brass plate. The name similarity is why I already had a manual (from eBay) before I ever bid on the machine. :-) Here is a little more Nichols mill trivia for you: http://www.robertemorris.com/pages/content/profile.html Thanks. I didn't know about them at all. 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 --- |
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On 7 Jul 2005 02:40:54 GMT, D Murphy wrote:
When I started working on screw machines, pretty much every screw machine shop had Nichols mills. So I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Even if most of them were old and worn out. oddly enough...my Nichols came from a swiss shop G But its rather nice and not worn out. I wish someone would buy it. Gunner "Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules. Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner |
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Nice informative post, Thanks Don. "DoN. Nichols" wrote: 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 |
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DoN. Nichols wrote:
(snip good stuff) A VFD is nice, but a rotary converter can cost very little, as long as you find a used motor for cheap to use as the idler. (Typically, the capacitors for starting and tuning will cost more than the used motor.) I think that a 1-1/2 HP motor will make an excellent idler for this machine. You can even get one with the output shaft chewed up, since you don't need the shaft at all. (Some people saw them off, some build a safety housing around them.) Cheapest phase convertor I ever built was to bolt the baseplate of the three-phase motor to the baseplate of a washing machine motor and wrap a belt around the pulleys (same size pulleys, 3600 rpm motors). Started it with the single phase motor, turned the convertor on when it was up to speed then cut off the little motor. Just let it lay on the floor in the corner. It was about all the washing machine motor could get started but it managed it. Worked ok, now that I think of it I don't know why I didn't do that with my last one.. John |
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Gunner wrote in
: On 7 Jul 2005 02:40:54 GMT, D Murphy wrote: When I started working on screw machines, pretty much every screw machine shop had Nichols mills. So I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Even if most of them were old and worn out. oddly enough...my Nichols came from a swiss shop G But its rather nice and not worn out. Probably because it never took a heavy cut it's whole life and was run with cutting oil. I wish someone would buy it. That's a tough one. Most companies are trying to eliminate secondary ops. -- Dan |
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In article ,
Gunner wrote: On 7 Jul 2005 02:40:54 GMT, D Murphy wrote: When I started working on screw machines, pretty much every screw machine shop had Nichols mills. So I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Even if most of them were old and worn out. oddly enough...my Nichols came from a swiss shop G But its rather nice and not worn out. I wish someone would buy it. 1) It is too far away -- shipping would cost me more than I paid for my current one. 2) I don't really have *room* for two of these machines. 3) You didn't have it for sale when I got mine. :-) 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 --- |
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