look into the guts of the knucklehead ...... if your bearings are shot its an easy fix with basic equipment I do a quick and dirty paint job which goes quite well .... because I used great paint
Hi, do you know if there's any backlash adjustment for the gears ? My older style head runs true, but has quite a bit of backlash on the spindle and it makes a racket running my 50mm insert face mill.
Hi there the depthing of the worm drive to the knucklehead shaft cannot be adjusted ... so the worm cannot be brought into a closer contact - it only moves in and out relative to the machine horizontal spindle. I guess that you already adjusted the spindle bearings. I have a couple of two inch insert face mills - one with 4 triangle shape inserts, the other with four square shaped inserts. Both are mounted on their own dedicated arbour. On my M1 I had some success with the face mill using light cuts on cast, with better success on aluminium and brass. On mild steel it was hit and miss - to the extent of the machine slowing down and fading . Check the face mill is fixed solid on the arbour. Check the face mill is absolutely square to the workpiece. Check the insert edges and consider swapping out to other brands with different geometries. Try using varying spindle speeds. Lock off the knee and Y axis, keeping as close to the column as you can . Mount workpiece as solidly as possible. Keep trying On the ELT (with a bigger knee and heavier table and 2hp ) I was hoping for great things .... like you see Bridgeports doing. It didn't happen. I think running a face mill is essentially a little too much for the machine. I had better success with a fly cutter - but it is scary to use. Possible a face mill on the horizontal spindle would give better results The ELT can cut 150 thou depth with a 100 thou step over , using a 1/2 inch cutter and slow feed, in mild steel to give you some idea of where I am at. I will play around with face mills and inserts .... if I have an epiphany I will put a video out. All the best Shed Guy
