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

"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.

Good luck!

Harold

What, it didn't have one originally?

My rockwell does not have a quill return spring and looks like it never did. My friend owns a clausing 8520 and it does not have a quill return spring either
so I figured this was common practice on small machines.

I rely on the feel of the quill for sensitive drilling,

Yea, and there is litte feel with the full weight of the spindle on
a small drill bit. It forces you to hold the weight back instead of
pushing the quill down.

Then when you are drilling a larger hole you have the weight of the
spindle to help you push and it makes the drill jump through the bottom
of the hole.

Still my major grip is the damage to workpieces and cutters when
I slipup and the quill drops. This has only happened a couple times
but it is so damn annoying that it is time to do something about it.

I looked in MMC and they sell constant force flat springs. I think
I need a fairly strong spring and the strong springs on MMC are
pretty wide. I need to determine the required strength before doing
much else.

chuck

On 12 Jan 2005 20:18:21 GMT, Charles A. Sherwood wrote:
What, it didn't have one originally?

My rockwell does not have a quill return spring and looks like it never did. My friend owns a clausing 8520 and it does not have a quill return spring either
so I figured this was common practice on small machines.

Maybe I missed it, but did you post a model number or a link to photos?
I've got a small-ish Rockwell mill from the 70's that might be
similar enough to get useful information from (as well as the manuals
for same)

Dave Hinz

Maybe I missed it, but did you post a model number or a link to photos?


I did not post a link but my machine looks pretty much like the rockwell
milling machine picture at:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/rockwellmillers/

If you look at the right hand side of the head you will see the quill
lever. I am proposing to add a return spring around the base of the
quill lever with a flat spring to keep the spindle from dropping
when the quill lock is released.

simple concept that seem common now on even cheap drill presses. Hey
there is a source for a spring!
chuck

On 12 Jan 2005 22:01:00 GMT, Charles A. Sherwood wrote:
Maybe I missed it, but did you post a model number or a link to photos?


I did not post a link but my machine looks pretty much like the rockwell
milling machine picture at:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/rockwellmillers/

Yes, that's my mill.

If you look at the right hand side of the head you will see the quill
lever. I am proposing to add a return spring around the base of the
quill lever with a flat spring to keep the spindle from dropping
when the quill lock is released.

I'll take a look this evening. Does your email address work and
can I send you some digital photos, or would you prefer I put them
on a webpage? (either is simple).

simple concept that seem common now on even cheap drill presses. Hey
there is a source for a spring!

I have the parts manual for the mill, can probably get you a part
number if you think that'll help?

Dave Hinz

On 12 Jan 2005 20:18:21 GMT, (Charles A.
Sherwood) wrote:

What, it didn't have one originally?

My rockwell does not have a quill return spring and looks like it never did. My friend owns a clausing 8520 and it does not have a quill return spring either
so I figured this was common practice on small machines.

I rely on the feel of the quill for sensitive drilling,

Yea, and there is litte feel with the full weight of the spindle on
a small drill bit. It forces you to hold the weight back instead of
pushing the quill down.

Then when you are drilling a larger hole you have the weight of the
spindle to help you push and it makes the drill jump through the bottom
of the hole.

Still my major grip is the damage to workpieces and cutters when
I slipup and the quill drops. This has only happened a couple times
but it is so damn annoying that it is time to do something about it.

I looked in MMC and they sell constant force flat springs. I think
I need a fairly strong spring and the strong springs on MMC are
pretty wide. I need to determine the required strength before doing
much else.

chuck

Greetings Chuck,
The constant force springs I have used were all made to work with
linear motion. For example: mount the spring on an axle and attach the
end of the spring to the item you want sprung. As the item is moved
away from the axle the spring unwinds while keeping a constant force
on the sprung item. They don't wind up like a clock spring. When in
the free state they form a tightly wound coil. What you want is a
clock like spring.
Cheers,
Eric

"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

I'll take a look this evening. Does your email address work and
can I send you some digital photos, or would you prefer I put them
on a webpage? (either is simple).

You can send pictures to this address. Are you saying your rockwell
does have a return spring???


I have the parts manual for the mill, can probably get you a part
number if you think that'll help?

I don't think you can buy parts from rockwell anymore, but it would
be interesting to find out if some mills had return springs.

chuck

On 13 Jan 2005 16:40:54 GMT, Charles A. Sherwood wrote:



I'll take a look this evening. Does your email address work and
can I send you some digital photos, or would you prefer I put them
on a webpage? (either is simple).

You can send pictures to this address. Are you saying your rockwell
does have a return spring???

Checked last night, and it does not. My other mill (a small one)
does. I was confused between the two.

I have the parts manual for the mill, can probably get you a part
number if you think that'll help?

I don't think you can buy parts from rockwell anymore, but it would
be interesting to find out if some mills had return springs.

Nope, sorry. Nice machine, though, isn't it?

Dave Hinz

Nope, sorry. Nice machine, though, isn't it?

I have a rockwell combo vertical/horizontal mill.
I really do like it a lot. Its just too cool for school!
Power feed would be nice though. DRO would be nice too.

chuck