Round Column Wrangler - the TruLine 8

Apologies for the time it has taken to get this footage done, in the workshop tidy I lost my large socket set and thus the head was locked in place!
Never fear! It turned up and we now have some tests and measurements of the TruLine 8 on my RF30 round column mill.

[petertyrrell]

I am retired and lack funds. What I will do is set up my indicator and get a reading against my quill as you do in the beginning of your video. Without disturbing my indicator I'll move my mill head (say) up and adjust it to give the same indicator reading and I should be bang on as long as my mill head is in tram.. Thanks for sharing.

[pauljacquemin]

Thanks for the video it's given me some ideas on how the improve my z travel thanks for sharing Paul

[swanvalleymachineshop]

Works well - Would be good in a drill press as well ( not every job will fit into a mill ) as i bet many of us have had to drill large flanges on a rotary table & when tool changes are done from pilot hole to larger finished hole a head or table height adjustment is needed it keeps everything on centre .

[JimmysTractor]

That's nice, I need to make my own bracing for mine.

[npalen]

Running the quill up and down with an indicator against it doesn't tell you much other than how well the quill fits the housing if even that.

[stevecallachor]

The reason behind the round column is cost. A dove-tail rectangular column costs' heaps. The round column introduces an unnecessary degree of freedom to the matrix, let's call it "yaw" for want of a better term.

The introduced yaw does not disturb the tramming of the quill head but it does change both X and Y reference values.


A simple answer, and I believe far easier, is to pin the top and bottom of the rack to the column and thus hold the quill centre line steady. You would need to check the clearance between the rack and its slot, but it might solve most problems that occur when you raise the head. In any case what reference does one use to align the head in the Y. Y1 direction from the outset?

It may prove an easier way of solving persistent problem.


Steve Callachor
North Avoca. N S W

[smokNmiras]

Looking good mate! Any plans to make a kit up for the LC15 or LC30 round column mill?

[JBFromOZ]

For the TL;DR
On the way down with gravity, the TrueLine kept the round column dead nuts on (within .0005” reading on the test indicator)
On the way up, with a fair load on the winch handle, the head deflection was +/- .005” centres around 0.
Utilising a power drive lift (e.g. hex nut on worm drive) I am confident lift variance would be again within .0005” or 5 tenths in the way up

[garywills]

Still think a laser pointer on the head would do almost the same thing. Mark the point before moving head realign the laser to the mark tighten head . Should be as close as the bar holding it square.

[houseofbrokendobbsthings]

Nice work wrangling the unwrangl-able. Rong-fu evolves into No - Fu(p). Users are gonna have to retrain themselves to expect straight bores and less chatter.

Good design and well executed in this demo. Maybe Bruce should send John Mills a custom "Stay-Put Ya Bast&@#" version

_Dan_