MANUAL MACHINES > Milling Machines, vertical & horizontal

Wells Index Model Super 55 complete scraping and rebuild

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Thunderdog:
I know I put this up the first go around. There will be some repeat images that some have seen in the past.  So, I'll recap this intense and totally worthwhile rebuild.  For future readers, I'm self-taught but took a significantly long time to gather information and materials. I also had first-hand help via the internet from a variety of sources, including folks here and Richard King.

I purchased this Wells Index Super 55 back in the winter.  I had finally moved into the respectable size mills from my time with an Atlas horizontal mill.  The Atlas was a fun machine, but I just knew I had to upgrade eventually. :)

I must have some type of sickness because I seem to enjoy buying these abused machines and bringing them back to life.  I think I'll let the pictures tell the story for now.  There is no way I could have scraped this machine without the cast iron surface plate, an engine hoist, and some type of power scraper.  I don't own a biax, but I built something similar with a reciprocating saw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCtmry4flLs&t=

Carpenter84:
How did that home made power scraper wind up working after all said and done? I know you recieved some heat over it.

Thunderdog:
You're right, I got heat over it.  But, that's when I sometimes double down. ;D

It has worked perfectly.  There was a learning curve, but I could not be happier with the results.  After adjusting the grind angle slightly, things improved dramatically.

Carpenter84:
I have an old mastercraft recip saw in the shed....

Thunderdog:
I'm posting multiple times due to picture limits on the forum, no worries.

I set to town with checks/measurements and eventually just dove into the deep end.
Scraping and scraping for alignment are two different things.  Future readers, do your homework before even considering any of this.  It is not for the faint of heart!!
As an example of my inexperience, the first picture in this post shows a false reading.  Glad I didn't scrape first.  In the words of Richard King, "Be a detective".  It's wrong because I didn't take the time to clean up the stamped numbers at the top of the column.(See the pic. below)
Moving things around and making cribs/holders for the parts is also critical.
Another rookie mistake that I made, don't try to scrape the gibs from the start.  Instead, save yourself some time and energy by bending them back close to original form if you can.  Then, proceed to scrape.
More pics to document the experience. 

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