This Old Mill

This Old Mill

Resurrecting a Lars-Gorton Dual Head Mill...

I picked-up this Lars-Gorton Mill from a buddy's shop in May of 2004 (this being posted in Nov 2004)...

I wrote a brief bio of the machine and the history of where it's numerous parts went at the bottom of the page linked below...

Click Here for bio

This is by far the heaviest tool I currently own, and is a bugger to maneuver about the shop, so all imaging will have to accommodate it's current position.

At this point I think I should also mention that this restoration project is only to the level of a manual mill.

I'm sure that it will be CNC'd eventually but not any time soon. The mill's primary function will be to face off plaques and create precision flats on mechanical parts.

My first step was to cast a pair of ball-cranks to take the place of cannibalized servo motors...

If you read the numerous problems I had making ball cranks for the "Homemade lathe" two years ago, you can imagine my relief and surprise when these turned out on the first pour.

This projects like so much on this site will appear to start and stop without much rhyme or reason. But the fact is that it is part of 3 (three) parallel but unrelated projects that seem to be perpetually underway.

The mill sat for a period of time in an active wood shop and as such has a heavy coating of sawdust over all parts, surfaces and crevices.

The Y Axis had to be disassembled to remove the motor mount that was welded to the heavy dual bearing fixture.

The lead screws are the ball type and required no adjustment, beyond a thorough cleaning and re-lube of the bearings and shaft.

The X & Y axis move so smoothly, as does the table lift. There appears to be quite a bit of slop in the table, but it likely can be stiffened up with an adjustment of the gib screws.

The next steps will be to completely clean the machine, sand down any surface rust, adjust the most obvious points of play... etc.

This mill was a dual spindle rig, but as you can see only one spindle is in place. Once the above is done, The second spindle axis will be removed, and the remaining spindle will be centered on the column.

If you've experience with this type of machine, and would be able to offer some basic advice I would be most grateful!!! The items that I have immediate concerns about are listed below...

Precise Power Quill Model Super 86VP - The head is rated at 220V 8.5Amp 1.5HP, there was a motor control circuit that varies the motor speed between 4,000 and 25,000 RPM. My questions are a) can the motor be run at 110V without damage (it does power-up smooth and quiet @ 110V, no load). b) there are a series of clear plastic lines to the head, one 1/4" and two 1/8" lines, I assume that the larger is for an air supply (PSI???) and the other may be lubricant???

The ways on the table and Z-Axis have similar 1/8th" clear lines to them (Air???, PSI??? Lubricant???) all movement is smooth as is.

Thanks in advance for any info...

frnkgmbk@renfrew.net

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