trlvn's terrific travelling RF30 tale

[trlvn]

We join the story slightly past the beginning. There is a long and boring saga between my purchase of this mill in August 2019* and relocating it to my basement (November 2021). Suffice to say it involved renovations, pandemics, illness, surgery, chemo, recovery and more renovations to get to the present situation. Which is that I need to disassemble the machine into pieces that my son and I can safely transport down the basement stairs.

Since the machine is almost 20 years old, this is also a good opportunity to clean and lube all the hard-to-get-at places. The powerfeed, DRO, X and Y tables and motor have all been removed and deposited in the basement. No pics--all rather straightforward stuff. The previously linked thread explained a little detour driven by the desire to remove the lower portion of the belt cover to enable a safe lift of the head and column off the base. Here is how I lifted it:

@Canadium your hoist is a joy to use. Smooth as silk going both up and down. Dead-nuts simple to pick up the head and column this way.

Since the head is not easy grab securely, it occurred to me that a temporary base under the column might make it possible to lash the unit securely to my 2-wheel cart. Here I've just bolted it onto the bottom of the column before setting the assembly down on the floor.

I haven't done this yet but if it turns out to be dicey, I can always simply lift the head off the column and take them separately.

Since the engine hoist was already there, I also used it to pick the base off the stand:

You can also see the head & column sitting out of the way on the temporary base.

So the next steps are that the head & column, base, and stand all need to get down the stairs. The engine hoist will also be disassembled and go down to help with putting the mill back together. I need the sun to melt today's snow and my son to provide some muscle.

Stay tuned for the next instalment in Trlvn's Terrific Travelling RF30 Tale coming to a web forum near you...

Craig

* I was able to use the mill in the garage by stringing an extension cord from my clothes dryer outlet. Inconvenient but possible.

 

[6.5 Fan]

My daughter and i did a similar move down the basement stairs, we put2 2x10 planks on the stairs and then used the winch on my polaris utv to lower the pieces down the stairs. Go slow and stay safe.

 

[Susquatch]

Very cool! Without a photo, it wasn't entirely obvious to me why you didn't want to put a chain down the column. But it's obvious to me now! Thats a MUCH BETTER spot to lift at! Straps are just as good as chain for such a light load.

Great job so far!

 

[Dusty]

@trlvn, sorry to learn of you surgery nasty stuff.

What became of the mill table and how did you manage that? Must go back and review your beginning saga.

Which Busy Bee model is your mill/drill?

Please keep your photos coming more specifically when you tear down, clean and inspect the head.

 

[trlvn]

@Dusty The mill table is pretty easy to remove. The table was heavy--about the max I'm willing to carry down the stairs by myself. It is presently resting on a Workmate in basement. The table has a couple of peck marks that don't bother me. The ways look to be in very good shape. I've wiped off a bunch of dirty oil and I'll give them another cleaning before I lubricate and reassemble. The top side of the table should just need a good stoning and oil.

My machine has no good system for ensuring the table ways get fresh oil regularily. If someone knows how to incorporate a simple but more effective oiling process, I'd be very interested. Otherwise, I think I need to pull the tables off from time to time (annually, biannually?) and repeat the clean-and-lube process.

At this point, I don't plan to tear down the head. I don't see any reason to mess with it. I'll clean what I can get to and make sure there is lots of fresh oil afterward. AFAICT, this machine has had very few hours of use over its life.

Craig

 

[Dusty]

@Dusty The mill table is pretty easy to remove. The table was heavy--about the max I'm willing to carry down the stairs by myself. It is presently resting on a Workmate in basement. The table has a couple of peck marks that don't bother me. The ways look to be in very good shape. I've wiped off a bunch of dirty oil and I'll give them another cleaning before I lubricate and reassemble. The top side of the table should just need a good stoning and oil.

My machine has no good system for ensuring the table ways get fresh oil regularily. If someone knows how to incorporate a simple but more effective oiling process, I'd be very interested. Otherwise, I think I need to pull the tables off from time to time (annually, biannually?) and repeat the clean-and-lube process.

At this point, I don't plan to tear down the head. I don't see any reason to mess with it. I'll clean what I can get to and make sure there is lots of fresh oil afterward. AFAICT, this machine has had very few hours of use over its life.

Craig

@trlvn, so you believe the grease on the spindle will be just fine for a 20 year old machine?.

 

[YYCHM]

My machine has no good system for ensuring the table ways get fresh oil regularily. If someone knows how to incorporate a simple but more effective oiling process, I'd be very interested. Otherwise, I think I need to pull the tables off from time to time (annually, biannually?) and repeat the clean-and-lube process.

RF30 Basement Install

The wider piece would probably work. The narrow piece is too narrow.

canadianhobbymetalworkers.com

 

[trlvn]

@trlvn, so you believe the grease on the spindle will be just fine for a 20 year old machine?.

Sorry, what grease? AFAIK, the bearings are sealed and permanently lubricated. The instructions I've seen say the quill just needs a regular coating of oil (ISO 68 or equivalent).

Craig

 

[YYCHM]

Sorry, what grease? AFAIK, the bearings are sealed and permanently lubricated. The instructions I've seen say the quill just needs a regular coating of oil (ISO 68 or equivalent).

Craig

Mine to.

 

[YYCHM]

What's the plan for getting it down the stairs? I bumped my head down the stairs on a two wheel cart. My son physically picked up the column and base and carried them down down the stairs He and a friend placed the base on my bench, mounted the column and mounted the head for me.

 

[trlvn]

RF30 Basement Install

The wider piece would probably work. The narrow piece is too narrow.

canadianhobbymetalworkers.com

I'll think on this. If I understand correctly, you used a good-sized Bridgeport (and Rudy's experience) to drill the necessary intersecting holes. I don't have an obvious source for either of those ingredients!

I don't know if the poor little table on my Delta drill press would be happy supporting the mill/drill's table for work like this!

Craig

 

[Dusty]

Sorry, what grease? AFAIK, the bearings are sealed and permanently lubricated. The instructions I've seen say the quill just needs a regular coating of oil (ISO 68 or equivalent).

Craig

I watched a chap tear down an older mill head and the bearings weren't sealed that's why I asked.

 

[trlvn]

What's the plan for getting it down the stairs? I bumped my head down the stairs on a two wheel cart. My son physically picked up the column and base and carried them down down the stairs He and a friend placed the base on my bench, mounted the column and mounted the head for me.

Are you saying the column and base went down as ONE trip?!? Is your son on the front line of pro football team?

As I said earlier, two of us are going to use a 2-wheel cart to move the head plus column and then the base. Even my stand is a heavy bugger--thick-wall steel tube construction. From the extra holes in the top, it may have been used for something else long ago. I'm sure it could be used in the circus for elephant tricks!

Craig

 

[YYCHM]

Are you saying the column and base went down as ONE trip?!? Is your son on the front line of pro football team?

Two trips. After taking the head down the stairs on my 2 wheel, I was shy about taking the column and base down the same way by myself. But ya, I was surprised when he just carried the base down like he did.

 

[YYCHM]

I'll think on this. If I understand correctly, you used a good-sized Bridgeport (and Rudy's experience) to drill the necessary intersecting holes. I don't have an obvious source for either of those ingredients!

I don't know if the poor little table on my Delta drill press would be happy supporting the mill/drill's table for work like this!

Craig

Ya, I hear you. Kind of hard to use your mill to drill the holes when the table isn't mounted. @RobinHood 's setups were rather interesting to say the least. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that.

 

[Susquatch]

My machine has no good system for ensuring the table ways get fresh oil regularily. If someone knows how to incorporate a simple but more effective oiling process, I'd be very interested. Otherwise, I think I need to pull the tables off from time to time (annually, biannually?) and repeat the clean-and-lube process.

Can't you just move the table to all four extremes and oil the ways manually? Even if you miss a tiny bit in the middle, the oil would get there doing regular work.

In the absence of video's like those attached, and availability of another mill or drill press, I wouldn't hesitate to take a hand drill to it and drill some strategic oil galleries that get tapped and plugged with little lock screws and/or oil balls. It's likely that the path won't be square to the table anyway, and it's not like the job requires any precision at all.

 

[trlvn]

Can't you just move the table to all four extremes and oil the ways manually? Even if you miss a tiny bit in the middle, the oil would get there doing regular work.

[/QUOTE]
Yup, and that is what I have done. But it is not getting any easier on my knees. Right now I've got a baby food jar of oil and a solder brush that I use to 'paint' on some oil. It is possible that I haven't done this _every_ time before using the mill.

In the absence of video's like those attached, and availability of another mill or drill press, I wouldn't hesitate to take a hand drill to it and drill some strategic oil galleries that get tapped and plugged with little lock screws and/or oil balls. It's likely that the path won't be square to the table anyway, and it's not like the job requires any precision at all.

I haven't tried to plan out the locations--maybe I'm making it out to be more challenging than it really is. OTOH, I haven't got my head around the gib-sides. Craig and Rudy apparently drill through one of the gibs. I guess that means you have to know pretty exactly where the gib is going to be positioned when the machine is adjusted for use. Otherwise, it seems to me that the gib could cut off the oil flow quite effectively?

After I get the bull work of moving and reassembling the heavy pieces out of the way, I'll give this a closer look.

@YYCHM are you using an oil gun with the zerk fittings? I'm guessing this is mentioned somewhere in your 39 page thread but I couldn't see it right off.

Craig

 

[YYCHM]

Zerk fittings and a modified grease gun filled with way oil.

 

[historicalarms]

The spindle bearings on my mill-drill were not "sealed" . the bottom bearing has a seal on the bottom only, inside the spindle & top bearing are wide open to the elements. I did a tear-down two yrs ago and re-greased them with wheel bearing grease from an expensive tube of race car grease my brother left laying around at an opportune time.
The 20 or more yr old grease was still doing its job, bearings weren't running hot & still looked "as new" upon inspection but the machine now has a lot more volume of good grease in the bearings and when re-assembly was done, the bearing back-lash was cut in half so spindle run out was also cut in half ( less than a thou detectable D I movement on the spindle with column locked). With column unlocked as if in a drill usage, runout is in the 4 thou range (column clearance for ease of spindle movement).

 

[YYCHM]

@David_R8 are your spindled bearings sealed or open and grease packed?