Build it yourself? How about "Machine it yourself"?

[PHPaul]

I posted in another forum about the Jari sicklebar mower I bought. The keyway on the main driveshaft is all hogged out and the drive pulley won't stay on.

Not a huge technical challenge for a machinist to weld up the keyway and cut a new one. Problem is, I don't have a mill to do it myself and I'm too cheap/impatient to drop it off at a machine shop and wait who knows how long for them to get around to it.

So, in the tradition of redneck mechanics everywhere, I cobbled up a way to do it on my drill press:

A regular vise mounted to an inexpensive (Grizzly) cross feed table. Clamp the shaft stock in the vise, use the table height adjustment on the drill press to center the stock on the cutter. Control depth with the Y axis on the cross feed and feed the stock into the cutter with the X axis. Belts on the press set for highest quill speed, obviously.

Several well-oiled shallow cuts later, voila! A new keyway.

Perfect? Not even close. Good enough for the girls I go with? Absolutely. It's a low speed application and works just fine. There are a number of things I'll do differently setup and adjustment-wise for better results next time, but this got me back to cutting brush for now.

Of course, the Kraut in me has ordered a new shaft from Jari to really fix it. $147 with shipping which sort of made me gasp, but when I looked up the price for the pulley (the bore is badly worn on the original) I darn near passed out: $125 plus shipping for a simple half-inch bore keyed 6" pulley for an "A" section belt!

Surplus Center, here I come...

 

[kc5dlo]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.

 

[moriboy]

Looks good! As a guy that owns a machine shop, we wouldn't have done anything different (other than use a little more robust machine).

 

[PHPaul]

Looks good! As a guy that owns a machine shop, we wouldn't have done anything different (other than use a little more robust machine).

Thanks!

I used to work at a cannery as the Assistant Maintenance Manager and General Dogsbody. Years ago, before multiple sales and consolidations, the plant used to be entirely self-sufficient with a fully equipped machine shop and 4 tool and die men.

By the time I came along, we were down to an ancient Hendy lathe and a Bridgeport mill. Nobody left in the place that knew how to run them or cared. I wasn't long teaching myself a little basic machining, making small brackets and motor mounts, boring pulleys, milling slots and such.

The equipment is still there but the company closed down completely and the plant has changed hands twice in the last 5 years. I don't know anybody there any more. Sure would like to make off with that equipment but I have no place to put it and no 3 phase power.

 

[CNC Dan]

glad it worked out for you. Nice to fix it your self.

FYI the reason that milling isn't done on a drill press more often, is that the drill chuck is held on with a taper mount. Works fine for axial loads, but can come loose with a side load.

 

[jwmorris]

The taper is not a deal breaker lots of mills use tapers but they also have a positive way to lock the male taper into the female, that most drill presses do not have.

 

[CNC Dan]

The taper is not a deal breaker lots of mills use tapers but they also have a positive way to lock the male taper into the female, that most drill presses do not have.

That's what I was trying to say.
On the drill press, the taper alone is holding the chuck in. No drawbar, like on a mill or lathe.

 

[STx]

I keep telling my wife I need a mill. She, being a female, keeps asking why. I haven't really come up with a good answer other than if I had a mill I could build and/or repair anything metal and it hasn't been good enough for her yet.

She is on board with the CNC plasma table though, once we get the shop built and move onto our land. But that can be used to make her "pretty stuff" so it was an easier sell.

 

[4570Man]

I have a mill. It has a taper, but it has a bolt in from the top and a keyway to keep it from slipping.

 

[Norm W]

STx tell your bride that tools are to men as shoes are to women. Maybe she can then understand.