Monday, August 27, 2018

Summer project - new mill




I picked up this little knee mill last spring, and have spent the summer rebuilding it. As near as I can determine, it's a 1984 Enco 6x26 vertical knee mill, made in Taiwan. The overhaul  consisted of a full disassembly, replacing every bearing, many of the bolts and nuts, turning a 6" riser block to raise the head and installing an Arduino-based TouchDRO digital readout. It weighs about 600lbs (I brought it home in my Subaru!) and has a 1.5hp reversible motor that'll run at 120 or 240. (That's true 1.5hp, it pulls 18 amps on 120V.) There's still some work to do, but it's operational now. It's a great match in size and functionality for my 9" South Bend lathe. More to come...