Buckshot
01-26-2009, 04:49 AM
...............No it's NOT a Procunier :-) And yes, the destructions were barely in English. This was part of the milling machine accessories I'd bought during the 2 years preceding buying the mill.
Your typical bonehead here.
Why do they sometimes include directions, but that' are written like you've already used one before, if not THIS very unit? Maybe they should also add a line that says feel free to 'Intuit", or read between the lines? But no. They DO go into quite a discussion about using lube, why use lube, and what it's benefits are. Wasted on me regardless because I'm an oiler. If it moves, I oil it regularly and have the T shirts with the oily racing stripes to show for it.
These directions cover 4 models and without too much brain trauma I figure out which one is mine. It says mine will stand 1000 rpm. !!!!!!! I've never tapped at 1000 rpm before, and that's ALL they have to say about speed. So okay, in the cutaway of the unit it's all full of gears, clutches, springs, guide pins, and other doo-dads. I figure it has a reduction gear in it.
I'm making a bunch of T nuts to fit the rotary table. More then I'll ever need to use at once, but they're simple and fun to make. I need to thread 3/8-16. The T nuts are still in the shape of one long bar, so I figure out the distance between each hole for the DRO. Set it up and have a great time drilling 10 holes. Lower the knee to replace the chuck with the tapping head.
Raise the knee back up, then go have another cup off coffee and a smoke whille reading the instrucitons over again for the umpteenth time. Maybe they added something while I was busy elsewhere? It says to lower the 'Attachement' which is their word for the tapping head, so the tap lightly touches in the hole. Also they say, it is advised to give a quick upward movement on the quillfeed when reversing the tap to avoid wear on the "Attachment". Huh? Okay, I can do that.
So I start the mill and set the VFD for a spindle speed of about 1000 rpm (are you guys laughing yet?) and lower the quill. Holy Hannah on a Pogo Stick! The poor tap when ZZZZEEEEEERRROOOOOWWWW, down through the cringing hole, hit the quill stop reversed and sat there spinning in the NOW no longer 5/16" hole but the NEW 3/8" hole. That tap went through the steel like a drill bit, HA! Since there were no threads to grab onto the tap didn't back out.
Ya know, SOMETHING just isn't right here (like, no crap huh?). After much cogitation, coffee drinking and cigarette smoking I devised a plan that was mentioned NOWHERE, nor even alluded to in the instructions. I would put the mill in back gear and try again. The only thing even remotely close to suggesting it, was their comment of following the tap as it fed with the quill feed and THEN give that quick upward movement to the quill they suggest.
Reading between the lines, it seems the quill would be moving rather sedately? Otherwise it's impossible as my neural synapes simply do NOT fire fast enough to follow the tap down, and then do that quick upward quill move deal. No way brother! Smart fellow that I am, with the mill now in back gear, I tone the motor speed down by half. The spindle I can see is turning at a speed any sane person might consider as suitable for tapping.
Squirt some juice on the tap and lower the quill. I was still a bit aprehensive as to what COULD, or MIGHT yet happen. I mean, who knows, ya know :-)? After all, that 3/8" hole is STILL smoking, HA! Believe me, I was ready to drop everything and RUN!! When the tap entered the hole the tapping head went click, click, click ...........and I figured I'd busted it, but then the tap started turning and dragging itself AND the quill down with it, EUREKA! Give it another shot of juice and it's still going (I'm enraptured) then it breaks through, runs a down a bit more.
It hits the quill stop, and goes "CLICK" and stops turning. Give the quill handle a flick upwards and it does another click and the tap reverses and start backing up out of the hole, ZOUNDS! I even got so I'd reverse it halfway, clean some chips out and then complete the hole. I finished the other 8 holes without a hitch. In fact I went looking for other stuff that might need some 3/8-16 threads but was fresh out.
Now WHY in the H E double hocky sticks didn't the instructions suggest a spindle speed of X with a Y size tap in plain low carbon steel? But no, all it says is that the "Attachment" will stand 1000 rpm? It has a master clutch you're expected to adjust and they say to set it at it's lowest point and then keep adjusing it until the tap turns and feeds, then record the setting for future use. That makes sense as they couldn't cover every possible scenario, but come on. One column for common ole low carbon steel, a list of taps and then a conservative rpm suggestion, and another for maybe aluminum as 2 common examples.
Anyway, I now have it hammered but I doubt I'll ever just casually use it unless I have a bunch of holes to be tapped. Another hurdle er, .........hurdled :-)
..................Buckshot
Your typical bonehead here.
Why do they sometimes include directions, but that' are written like you've already used one before, if not THIS very unit? Maybe they should also add a line that says feel free to 'Intuit", or read between the lines? But no. They DO go into quite a discussion about using lube, why use lube, and what it's benefits are. Wasted on me regardless because I'm an oiler. If it moves, I oil it regularly and have the T shirts with the oily racing stripes to show for it.
These directions cover 4 models and without too much brain trauma I figure out which one is mine. It says mine will stand 1000 rpm. !!!!!!! I've never tapped at 1000 rpm before, and that's ALL they have to say about speed. So okay, in the cutaway of the unit it's all full of gears, clutches, springs, guide pins, and other doo-dads. I figure it has a reduction gear in it.
I'm making a bunch of T nuts to fit the rotary table. More then I'll ever need to use at once, but they're simple and fun to make. I need to thread 3/8-16. The T nuts are still in the shape of one long bar, so I figure out the distance between each hole for the DRO. Set it up and have a great time drilling 10 holes. Lower the knee to replace the chuck with the tapping head.
Raise the knee back up, then go have another cup off coffee and a smoke whille reading the instrucitons over again for the umpteenth time. Maybe they added something while I was busy elsewhere? It says to lower the 'Attachement' which is their word for the tapping head, so the tap lightly touches in the hole. Also they say, it is advised to give a quick upward movement on the quillfeed when reversing the tap to avoid wear on the "Attachment". Huh? Okay, I can do that.
So I start the mill and set the VFD for a spindle speed of about 1000 rpm (are you guys laughing yet?) and lower the quill. Holy Hannah on a Pogo Stick! The poor tap when ZZZZEEEEEERRROOOOOWWWW, down through the cringing hole, hit the quill stop reversed and sat there spinning in the NOW no longer 5/16" hole but the NEW 3/8" hole. That tap went through the steel like a drill bit, HA! Since there were no threads to grab onto the tap didn't back out.
Ya know, SOMETHING just isn't right here (like, no crap huh?). After much cogitation, coffee drinking and cigarette smoking I devised a plan that was mentioned NOWHERE, nor even alluded to in the instructions. I would put the mill in back gear and try again. The only thing even remotely close to suggesting it, was their comment of following the tap as it fed with the quill feed and THEN give that quick upward movement to the quill they suggest.
Reading between the lines, it seems the quill would be moving rather sedately? Otherwise it's impossible as my neural synapes simply do NOT fire fast enough to follow the tap down, and then do that quick upward quill move deal. No way brother! Smart fellow that I am, with the mill now in back gear, I tone the motor speed down by half. The spindle I can see is turning at a speed any sane person might consider as suitable for tapping.
Squirt some juice on the tap and lower the quill. I was still a bit aprehensive as to what COULD, or MIGHT yet happen. I mean, who knows, ya know :-)? After all, that 3/8" hole is STILL smoking, HA! Believe me, I was ready to drop everything and RUN!! When the tap entered the hole the tapping head went click, click, click ...........and I figured I'd busted it, but then the tap started turning and dragging itself AND the quill down with it, EUREKA! Give it another shot of juice and it's still going (I'm enraptured) then it breaks through, runs a down a bit more.
It hits the quill stop, and goes "CLICK" and stops turning. Give the quill handle a flick upwards and it does another click and the tap reverses and start backing up out of the hole, ZOUNDS! I even got so I'd reverse it halfway, clean some chips out and then complete the hole. I finished the other 8 holes without a hitch. In fact I went looking for other stuff that might need some 3/8-16 threads but was fresh out.
Now WHY in the H E double hocky sticks didn't the instructions suggest a spindle speed of X with a Y size tap in plain low carbon steel? But no, all it says is that the "Attachment" will stand 1000 rpm? It has a master clutch you're expected to adjust and they say to set it at it's lowest point and then keep adjusing it until the tap turns and feeds, then record the setting for future use. That makes sense as they couldn't cover every possible scenario, but come on. One column for common ole low carbon steel, a list of taps and then a conservative rpm suggestion, and another for maybe aluminum as 2 common examples.
Anyway, I now have it hammered but I doubt I'll ever just casually use it unless I have a bunch of holes to be tapped. Another hurdle er, .........hurdled :-)
..................Buckshot