Newbee Help With Mini-Mill

[royhobbs100]

Harbor Freight Mini Mill #44991 How to remove Taper Shank From the Spindle sleeve. I know your all getting a kick out of this. But hell I'm a newbee and I can't get the damn thing out I've did what the manuals say. and even watch a guy on Utube just tap it & fell out, mine won't and suggestions I'm Afraid
To hit it harder the bottom roller bearing is already moved a 1/4 of inch down.

any ideas would sure help me out.

Royhobbs100:

[kf2qd]

Which collets does that machine have? R8 or Morse?

Typical approach for R8 is to loosen the drawbar no more than 2 turns and give it a sharp rap with the side of the 3/4 wrench... BUT if it is stuck real tight it may reqire a sharp rap with a hammer. Once you get it out you may want to clean the taper with a shop wrag and a thin film of oil so that it doesn't stick the next time.

Sounds like you loosened up the wrong nut if the bottom bearing has moved. You should just loosen the small nut at the very top, not the nut with notches around the outside as that is the bearing preload nut.

[royhobbs100]

3 Smacks with rubber mallet and on the table. your good.. I know I did it 20 times before I yelled for help and nothing. So Now that is out it's a morse now tell me where to get a end mill end I guess.

[wooleybooger]

e-bay,shars,victor machinery all have Morse taper end mill holders. is your machine new? if so it might have had rust preventative/metal protectant dried in there and glued things together. or a burr.

[knedvecki]

Little Machine Shop

[BillDaCatt]

Welcome to the board. You will find a wealth of info here.
(now that the greetings are out of the way...)

OK. I'm confused. You said that your machine is a HF #44991 Mini-Mill and that it has a Morse taper. However the HF website as well as the 44991 manual says that the spindle is an R8. You also stated that you were new at this so I'm thinking that you may be confused also.

So, just for clarity; which one of these does your machine have?

R8 (easy to identify because it is only flared on the end)(the picture is of an end-mill holder)



Or Morse Taper (will be uniformly tapered over the full length although it may be relieved in the middle to make it easier to remove)



When I got into machining I had no idea what many of the specs on my machine were and I had to guess quite a bit about what I needed to buy for tooling. It is my hope that my question helps to add a little clarity to your experience.

[royhobbs100]

Thank you for clearing that up. I do have the morse taper with a drill chuck on it although mine has a flat end at the top of the taper. I think that is why it was a bitch to remove it.

Now after reading all the post I can I need to buy some collets. with the collets do they come with a bolt to hold them in place or do I use the one with the drill chuck.

The quest is on.

[BillDaCatt]

Did you buy this machine used or possibly a floor model? I ask because my gut is telling me that you have an R8 spindle that had a Morse taper drill arbor jammed into it. If it is an R8 spindle you should be able to feel the little pin inside the spindle that prevents the arbor/collet from spinning when you tighten the drawbar. It is also possible that you have a model that uses a #3 Morse and my concerns are unnecessary. Just be sure that you are certain what spindle you have before you buy an expensive collet set.

Little Machine Shop has a few items that I think you will find useful:
Comparison chart of the mini mill offered by different vendors
Mini Mill Users Guide (PDF)
Lathe & Mill Spindle and Gearbox Repair DVD (I don't own either of these particular machines but I still found a wealth of useful info on the DVD and it made me a lot braver about taking my machines apart.)
(This DVD can also be purchased or rented direct from Swarfrat)

Generally speaking, collets don't come with a drawbar. Just reuse the one that held the drill-chuck arbor.

[tumutbound]

I have a mini-mill with an M3 taper.

These are the collets I got for it.

Here's the corresponding collet chuck.

[huntinguy]

"Thank you for clearing that up. I do have the morse taper with a drill chuck on it although mine has a flat end at the top of the taper. I think that is why it was a bitch to remove it. "Royhobbs100:

That would be the wrong morse taper. That would be for a drill press or a lathe the one for a mill has a tapped hole in the end for a draw bar....

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/29...ters_with.html
shank for milling machines.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/29...PTER_WITH.html
shank for lathe and drill presses.

I do hope you did not damage the machine.