DW mill table

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Adrian Godwin - 29 Jan 2007 10:22 GMT

I've got a dore-westbury mill, and have just acquired a nice 3"
Abwood swivel vice to put on it.

However, the slots in the table aren't conveniently placed for
the vice mounting points. This isn't the first time I've had
this problem, but mounting this vice diagonally seems less
than ideal.

The usual slot arrangement on a DW mill is 6 or 8 short slots
from each side, and two slots along the long centre line that
reach only 1/3 of the way along : i.e. they don't meet in the
middle, leaving about 1/3 unslotted.

Picture : http://www.lathes.co.uk/dore%20westbury/index.html

I'm considering cutting the central slot full length, which
would make life much easier. But there's probably some reason
why this wasn't done in the first place : maybe it would make
the table significantly less rigid.

Someone seems to have done this here :

http://www.allchin.de/html/frasmaschine.html

Alternatives might be to extend the slots only a little way
(another inch or so would do, perhaps with a shallow groove
to take the vice location keys) or to make an adapter plate.

Anybody got any thoughts about the wisdom of this ?

-adrian

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ravensworth2674 - 29 Jan 2007 10:43 GMT

I have used a steel sub table between the table( mine was the boring
table on the Myford) and the odd vice- of which I have many!

With a decent sub-table, you can bore holes or whatever without
worries about messing up the machine.

Cheers

Norm

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Trevor Jones - 29 Jan 2007 13:37 GMT

> I've got a dore-westbury mill, and have just acquired a nice 3"
> Abwood swivel vice to put on it.
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> -adrian

You could consider simply drilling and tappind a series of holes to be
used to hold down the vice in the positions you feel most appropriate.
Were I in that position, I suspect I would start with just two holes,
and make some blanking screws to fill them when they are not in use for
the vice. A simple threaded stud with a slot end for a screwdriver would
serve nicely.

As for the vice key, it can be dispensed with. It merely provides a
quick means of rough alignment. I doubt that a DW mill will ever push
the vice hard enough to move it from the holding forces of a pair of
hold down studs.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

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Steve - 29 Jan 2007 22:37 GMT

> I've got a dore-westbury mill, and have just acquired a nice 3"
> Abwood swivel vice to put on it.
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> -adrian

Adrian

I have a DW with a fully machined centre slot, slightly larger than those
cast in the sides of the table. It was like that when I bought the machine,
the builder was a professional engineer (unlike me) - take the point about
weakening the table, but it seems to be ok and very useful.

I would commend the raising base idea on the German one, both dad's and mine
sit on fabricated bases to lift the casting 4 - 5 inches off the bench.
Helps keep the millings out of the back of your hands if the bench top goes
under the handwheels.

Steve
(Sheffield)

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Adrian Godwin - 30 Jan 2007 09:23 GMT

> Alternatives might be to extend the slots only a little way
> (another inch or so would do, perhaps with a shallow groove
> to take the vice location keys) or to make an adapter plate.

Thanks, folks.

I think I'll go with the adapter plate for now : I'd like to
do the longer slot but the adapter plate is less invasive to
start with.

The tapped holes would be neat, but I have a 3-axis vice I'd
also like to use with slightly smaller hole spacing. If I tap
for everything, I could end up with an emmenthal bed :-).

-adrian

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Model Forum / General / Models / January 2007

DW mill table