Milling machine question - how do I get this thing back in the milling machine? (1 Viewer)

[alia176]

The young machinist at my work walked up to my desk and showed me this collet alignment screw. He said it fell out when he was changing out a collet and has been racking his brain on how to screw it back on to the quil assembly. The thing has a square head and it sticks out for locating the collet and gets screwed horizontally. It has an allen head on the other end but that doesn't do us any good without seriously disassembling the quill assembly.

What special tool do I need to use here or purchase? The square head is 0.139" x 0.139".

Thanks.

 

[Waorani]

Here's how it's done on a Bridgeport.

 

[5speed addict]

a lot of people remove the pin because its more convenient for tool changes, the mills I've used without it have been fine for everything I needed to do with them. cant imagine you guys are pushing a manual mill hard enough for it to be an issue

 

[PIP]

Throw that screw away. It's unnecessary and wastes valuable time trying to get R8 collets and what-have-you's in there.

Think about this for a second- If you had a 1" shaft with a tiny pin the size of the end of that setscrew- How much force could it actually transfer before it sheared off?

The taper does all the work. That setscrew does almost nothing.

There is something that makes me scratch my head though- That screw can loosen up, but it doesn't just fall out. That screw fits between the quill housing and the collet. It can be totally loose and stay in place forever. And iirc there's a jamb setscrew on top of it to keep it locked in place so you want to get that out of there too.

Haven't had one in any of my Bridgeports for 20+ years.

 

[alia176]

Ok, thanks for the video and your feedback. I'll pass it on to the machinist. I learned something today.