Newcomer to Tree Forum

[LLoo]

Hi, I'm a newcomer who, because of accidental acquisition of a Tree mill, may be seeking advice from members of this forum. I am a retired design engineer and physician who currently invents tools. I've only done a little bit of metal turning but jumped at the chance to buy a lathe and mill that a friend was selling. I intended to keep the lathe and offer the mill, a Tree 2UVR-C tracer, to another friend who wants a full-size mill. He liked the mill but couldn't find space in his garage for it - since his garage is occupied by tablesaw, welder, metal lathe, mill-drill, tool cabinets and a Piper Cub that he's restoring. Therefore, I found myself the owner of a huge milling machine I've never used.

My initial question is: what are those round feet or leveling pads that I've seen in the photos of a few Tree mills. They seem to be inserted in the 3/4" diameter holes at the corners of a mill's thick base. "Stinson Voyager" Bill, for example, shows them in the photo of his installed Tree mill. The feet are not evident, though, in the photos that show him sliding the mill off his trailer and moving it into his garage. I've seen another Tree mill with identical-looking feet on eBay. Most used Tree mills, however, don't seem to come with them. Are these standard feet/leveling pads made just for Tree machines?
Larry

[Michael M]

Larry, are you thinking of something like a Mason anti-vibration machinery mount?



You can get those from most tool suppliers.

cheers,
Michael

[LLoo]

Michael, thanks for suggesting the answer to my question. You're right, the Mason mounts are identical in shape and color to the ones I've seen on a few Tree mills. I found out that they're quite expensive, though, as four may cost about a fourth of what I paid for my Tree mill itself. Since I'm retired, I may fabricate some similar mounts with hard urethane sheet on the bottom of the pads or, perhaps, just place roofing felt underneath the mill's base.

Larry

[Michael M]

Larry, Enco has the 500-1000# Mason mounts (1/2-13 thread) on sale at $9.49 each if you buy four or more. The 1000-2000# units with a 5/8-11 bolt are $15.79 each in that quantity.

cheers,
Michael

[LLoo]

[QUOTE=Michael M;]Larry, Enco has the # Mason mounts (1/2-13 thread) on sale at $9.49 each if you buy four or more. The # units with a 5/8-11 bolt are $15.79 each in that quantity.

cheers,
Michael[/QUOTE
----------------------
Michael, thanks for this info. I have been trying to find the mounts you're referring to. The closest ones I found in the Enco online catalog are "Mason Industries 1/2" Stud Glider 1000 Neoprene Leveling Mount" with 1/2"-13 stud and rated at 1,000 lb. each (Enco #). The mount is priced at $15.08 each. Four mounts amount to $60.32 when totaled in their cart. Is there a special quantity discount offer that is not apparent to me?
Larry

[Michael M]

The May 2008 Enco sale catalog has the 1/2-13 3.625" OD 500-1000 lbf/mount load range RW325-6615 as $12.78 for 1-3 and $9.49 for four or more. The 5/8-11 5" OD RW325-6626 is rated at 1000-2000 lbf/mount and go for $21.13 or $15.79 for 4 or more. I've got the latter under my 325 but that's a lot heavier than the manual mills.

Be sure to get enough stuff in your order to qualify for the free freight.

ETA: That's on page 13 of the May "Hot Deals"

http://tinyurl.com/48rtpj

cheers,
Michael

[LLoo]

Okay, Michael, I found them in the Enco "Hot Deals" catalog. Thanks for your help.
Larry

[Stinson_Voyager]

Originally Posted by LLoo My initial question is: what are those round feet or leveling pads that I've seen in the photos of a few Tree mills. They seem to be inserted in the 3/4" diameter holes at the corners of a mill's thick base. "Stinson Voyager" Bill, for example, shows them in the photo of his installed Tree mill. The feet are not evident, though, in the photos that show him sliding the mill off his trailer and moving it into his garage. Larry

whoa, no one ever noticed my feet before...

Must be a podiatrist.

Actually, I got those feet out of a dumpster. They have a big-ol ball bearing int he middle that supports the load when they are cranked all the way down so you can move the machine like it was on casters. Dunno who threw them away but I've had them for 15+ years, finally had a use for them when I got the mill.

[LLoo]

3 months ago I bought a Tree 2UVR-C mill with Scan-O-Matic tracer for a good friend and ended up with it because he couldn't find any room in his small shop for it. The mill is still in storage. I've been cleaning up my shop, however, to make room for the mill and finally completed a pair of heavy-duty caster units I plan to use to move it into my shop. My casters are modeled after some I viewed on the Internet that were fabricated by a Bob P. in Seattle. I used different structural steel shapes than he did in order to make use of the scrap materials I had on hand. My casters' bodies and arms are made from 3"x2"x0.10" thick channel welded together to form rectangular tubes. The channel was salvaged from heavy-duty shelves. Each caster unit has four 700 lb. capacity swiveling wheels from Enco. Two 5.5" long 1/2-13 bolts will fasten each unit to an end of the mill's base. My beam calculations indicate that each caster unit will deflect only 0.01" under a 2,000 lb. load. My calculations are somewhat suspect, however, since it's been about three decades since I last did any structural steel design work.

But I'm getting there! The 2UVR-C may take up residence in my shop within a couple of weeks.

I have a question, though, that one or more of you might have the answer to. If I disconnect the hydraulic pump and reservoir tank - to remove some weight from the mill itself - will it be difficult to purge the hydraulic lines of air when I reconnect them?

LLoo

[Adobe Machine]

No, self purging system. Just make sure the tank leval is correct. Use the correct hydraulic fluid.You may want to drain the old fluid and fill with new..It is a 70's machine, bet that fluid is almost as old as the machine.Old fluid could kill the hydraulic controls, do not be suprised at leaks under pressure, it is common, just fix one at a time.They were excellent machines that filled a gap between manual and CNC,and with lots of time and work , could copy 3d surfaces.

There are some excellent Tree Historians on this board that can help you on procedures.

Adobe (old as dirt)

[LLoo]

Adobe, thanks for the information. I'll go over to where the mill is stored and drain the tank and disconnect both it and the hydraulic pump from the mill. That should lighten the unit somewhat.

BTW, I wish you a Happy Birthday - though it's a few days early. Since I'm a little older than you are, however, I guess that makes me "Older than old dirt!"

LLoo

[Adobe Machine]

Sorry for the delay, thanks for reminding me about another birthday..Any way I owned a Gortan Tracer Mill with 2 Tree 2urv heads mounted on a machined gang mount, ie I could make 2 parts while copying the original. Which , in the early 70's was a wow! The machine would copy x and y, no Z...But the Tree heads were outfitted with a rotating gismo that would select 5 preset Z depths...It was at the time a step above a manual machine..

When the unit got warm ( Phoenix Az) during the day, there was some slippage in the X axis, but the short Y axis kept pretty close tolerance.

During the time I owned, we replaced all of the hoses at least twice,(the State EPA found us ot of compliance due to the amount of Hydraulic fluid around the machine).The machine did perform good for several years, but replacent parts got hard to get, so I traded it in on a Tree Mill.

Good luck, hope the machine works good for you

Adobe (old as dirt)