Skunk Works

Mill Table Mods

I thought this power-feed attachment that I fabricated for my Emco FB-2 vertical mill might interest you. I bought the FB-2 many years ago when it was still in production. I have been very pleased with this mill over the years, however the one short-coming was the fact that I did not purchase the optional power-feed-attachement, because at the time, they were asking a 1/3rd of the cost of the mill for the power-feed-attachment. Later on, it became impossible to purchase one.

One day while browsing the surplus section in Princess-Auto, I noticed a surplus 110 volt gear-head motor. I decided that it had its possibilities and purchased it. After a fair amount of work, I came up with a power-feed assembly that powers the table longitudinally at a speed of 1.250 inches of travel per minute. For quick traverse, I dis-engage the drive and run the table manually. Now it would have been nice to have a gear box like the factory unit that had 4 speed selections, however I am pleased with how my home-built power-feed-assembly worked out, and the cost was right.

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