Monday, June 15, 2015

Another Aspect of the Sherline Vertical Mill That Sucks

The End Mill Holder is round with nowhere to get a wrench on it.    Once frozen in place, it doesn't want to let go.  I hate having to do this myself, but the economy is clearly running at full capacity;
I can't get any CNC mill shops to respond to my needs.





Little Machine Shop sells a very nice end mill holder for the Sherline mill that is designed to be removed with a wrench.  That's what I use now after the last struggle to get the Sherline end mill holder off.  I have now trying heating and ice water to try and break it loose, without success.  Now it is in oil, in the hopes of loosening it.  I suppose if Sherline doesn't have a fix, I could drill the interior out.

Just tried to drill it out without success, so I ordered a replacement headstock.

10 comments:

  1. I think you had better do it right now. If you feel it still, then replace it. Nowadays, all Sherline mills include oil reservoirs to keep the critical parts lubricated. the brass leadscrew cover is the new feature in it which keeps the chips off the rear of the leadscrew at Y-axis. I usually offer dissertation writing help, but this time is for you. Hope you get solved your issue.

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  2. That was... amazingly almost-apt auto-generated spam up there.

    I'm impressed.

    (I don't know from milling machines, but I know on mere mortal woodworking lathes, the center of the spindle is usually hollow so you can knock out your holders/chucks with a mallet and a rod.

    I don't suppose it's that simple with the Sherline? A glance at their instructions for the Vertical Mill suggests it might be, since their drill chuck is held on with a bolt; that implies a through-hole you could use to tap out the end mill holder.

    Unless it's so stuck that *that* isn't working...)

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  3. The end mill holder is screwed onto the spindle, no draw bolt. I am about to boil the end mill holder.

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  4. Ouch. Good case for more traditional tools.

    my combo machine uses an M-3 taper for the mill and the tailstock, the commonality is nice, but it's a pain to pound it out of the spindle when it gets stuck, like a more typical R-8 taper would not. (Although the worst it ever got stuck with in the tailstock)

    If I had it to do over, I would have gotten separate machines.

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  5. Doesn't yourend mill holder have a little hole in the side? You insert little rods into that hole and the one in the spindle to to tighten/loosen holders. No wrench should be used.

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  6. The old manual mill spindle had no hole. The new one does.

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  7. Same problem here. Some shop gnome must have snuck in and superglued this thing on. I've taco'd my tommy bar and broke an allen wrench trying to get it off. Expletives.

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    Replies
    1. I wish that I could blame shop gremlins but this seems to be just ordinary tightening. Now use the end mill holders from Little Machine Shop with hex head on them. I use a wrench now.

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  8. I'm using the LMS holder too. My problem is I can't get enough torque with the hole through the spindle to break it loose.

    I designed a tool I can make on the lathe to solve it, will try it this afternoon. I'm going to get a 1 1/4 bolt (flat to flat, not ID), bore out the center to slip over the spindle, drill it for a 1/8" hardened bolt to pass through the spindle, face and part it, flip it, and turn it down to 7mm so it will fit between the spindle and holder. That should let me put two wrenches on it and get it off (or break it.)

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  9. I fixed it!

    Here's how:

    https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-remove-stuck-Sherline-end-mill-holders/answer/Elizabeth-Greene-1#

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