Monster Cane Mill Restoration: Building up and Turning Down the Bearing Journals

Monster Cane Mill Restoration: Building up and Turning Down the Bearing Journals
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[@davidsmethurst4318]

Thanks Keith. You maxed out the reveal on that mess of a journal. After the literal tension of pressing the gears off, we find out how to improv a mig weld positioner then safely spin the roller of death! The deadpan, "it is what it is" delivery makes it.

[@oh8wingman]

Please do not take this as criticism. I am a licensed welder by trade. One thing I frequently see on machining channels is the questionable practice of MIG welding on surfaces that are less than pristine cleanliness wise. MIG has no cleaning characteristics of any kind, so any rust you encounter at all will cause porosity. Another issue with MIG on large members is hard spots due to MIG being a "cold" process with little heat. This could be the reason you have the "bands" showing in your machined surface. To mitigate this, preheat the parent material and keep it hot during welding, then cool it slowly in air. For a better, more consistent weld with wire feed, consider flux core wire with some preheat at the start. The flux in flux core wire actively cleans out contaminants, and since it runs hotter than MIG, it does not require heating during welding. The machine you are using is a Lincoln 210 MP and it is capable of running flux core by changing a few readily available parts and installing flux core wire. I would recommend that you try flux core sometime. I am sure you would be much happier with the finished results.

[@Hoaxer51]

I was wondering if Keith should have taken a skim pass on that shaft to clean it up and get rid of the rust, or at least a big majority of it. I’m not a welder other than what I stick together in my shop but when I’ve seen welders repairing heavy equipment it seems they spend most of their time prepping the material and the welding doesn’t seem to take that long.

[@clintonhanson]

That would be correct! It’s 90% prep work with 10% welding if you want a pristine weld! Certified multiple processes all position for 35 years! Cleanliness is next to godliness!!!

[@mitchstephen5491]

That was nice of you to share your years of experience. We all need direction at some point.

[@brucecliffe6213]

Kieth, like the rest of us, is learning something new every day, no doubt. Good advice like this allows us all to step up to the next level so I say Many Thanks to you wingman as I have learnt a lot from your comments. I also now know why Kurt from Cutting Edge Engineering always uses flux cored mig wire when doing these sorts of jobs. Once again, many thanks. Also, a good job Keith, greatly appreciated. many thanks.

[@Tishers]

Didn't know that there was flux core available for a MIG machine. Good to know!

[@bcbloc02]

More important that it is round than pretty. 🙂

[@jimhebert9343]

I find all these episodes to be fascinating. I got to this from the TALLY HO project, and I have stayed for more. The pace and narration in these presentations are just great. My professional work involved producing instructional videos for major auto manufacturers. We would be shooing for a week to get 20-minutes of useful video recording to turn over to editors and professional voice-over announcers to finish a month later. This stuff is great work.

[@davidc6510]

The begin to end finish on that shaft was amazing. Another great video Keith. Thanks for sharing!

[@chrissmith513]

I'm sure glad you have that overhead crane 😊😊😊

[@kendavis8046]

Thanks, Keith. It is always a pleasure to watch you fixing things!

[@garybrenner6236]

I wonder when he is going to resume "fixing" the Stoker Engine.

[@jonk6092]

Ik geniet van je werk. Soms vind ik het wel eng dat je alleen ben.. met die zware onderdelen Blijf veilig.

[@dennisclapp7527]

Thanks Keith

[@parsias5381]

This is why I watch -- never seen a repair job like this! Super interesting!

[@d942yd42]

Keith - thanks for putting all the lathe turning into one video, including the mounting

[@SciPunk215]

Back on track !!

[@markellis9967]

That chuck is large enough, you should be calling it Charles! I'm glad you got the side quests with the lathe complete so you could get to this stage.

[@gritz1701]

LOL, I watch the repair videos and was anticipating this video. My heart sank when the lathe didn't start! Forgot you filmed that part before the repair. Now I feel stupid lol

[@charleswelch249]

Nice to see you have the late back in action. The repair job was well worth the time. I like how you repair the roller. Everything will be original and should last a lifetime.

[@phlodel]

In order to avoid that porosity in your weld, I believe you'd have to machine the shaft clean before welding. Contaminates trapped in those pits is boiling out. A lot more work. Like you said, those little pits won't hurt.

[@AffordBindEquipment]

call them "tiny oil reservoirs".

[@WobblycogsUk]

Great to see the lathe fixed and running. I'm not engineer but wouldn't it be a good idea to take a light skim off the shaft before welding just to clean it up. I wonder if the porosity is from oil trapped in the surface.

[@pokerpig9069]

I seriously look forward to each episode, knowing that Keith will need to do something unique, walks off camera, and comes back with a purpose built never heard of tool that will do it.

[@Digital-Dan]

I love to watch your projects.I have learned a lot, and have been motivated to do more of my own. Two exceptions, akin to watching paint dry: 1. Watching you scrape stuff flat 2. Watching you raise and lower things using manual hoists. You seem to revel in it. I'd contribute to a gofundme to buy you a heavyweight electric option. Keep up the good work. Congratulations on joining Clark in retirement, as full-time machinist.

[@assessor1276]

Great job Keith! This reminds me of the type of work that Kurtis does in Cutting Edge Engineering Australia.

[@paulsilva3346]

Exactly, you beet me to it...

[@garybrenner6236]

If you compare "Bubba" here with the work at Cutting Edge you know nothing about machining!

[@paulsilva3346]

@@garybrenner6236 LOL, smh... Who are you insulting, Keith or Kurtis? Don't get your exercise by jumping to conclusions.

[@rennkafer13]

@@garybrenner6236 so where's your channel so we can see your better work? Or are you just another non-skilled troll?

[@pokerpig9069]

Great to start seeing the sheen of the original material and look of the part. Hopefully the finished assembly will look refinished.

[@marcelpost4052]

@9:28 no hearing protection, no respirator, no dust extraction. Good on ya Keith. Showing everyone exactly how to look after our bodies when working in the shop.

[@donhuebert9151]

When working in my shop I wear all the PPE I can get my hands on mostly because of injuries I have suffered. I see people welding and grinding on ytube all the time with minimal PPE, it blows me away. I have burnt so many holes in my self I don't know how these people do it.

[@firehousecustomfab3286]

It really turned out nice Mr. Kieth. It was great talking to you the other day and thanks for the help.

[@jimfiles3307]

Good morning Keith. I’m impressed with that job you tackled. As someone who has used a chain fall hoist, I appreciate the ability to move it in small increments and have the internal clutches hold the load. I really like your BARN. Congratulations on your retirement. Now you will be working harder than you did at work, but there’s no one to tell you what to do.

[@TgWags69]

I think you needed some pre heat into that shaft before you started welding. You could tell those first few rounds were barely welding. It evened out farther down once it warmed up.

[@darryllines7563]

Yes Preheat the shaft before welding.

[@garybouchard827]

Good video.Keith I have had good luck preheating the shaft before welding to cut down on the pitting.

[@walterplummer3808]

Good morning keith! Have a great week! Thanks for the videos.

[@Pocketfarmer1]

It’s amazing the weight that lathe can handle.

[@Ervan-l9v]

Definitely big boy toys. Not for the faint of heart. Great teaching video. Hope this gives people a good appreciation for things most take for granted.

[@jeffreyspilker2209]

I notice myself moving my phone side to side thinking I'm helping you 😂😂😂. Then I feel stupid lol. Nice work keith

[@stevenslater2669]

+1 on the side to side, and I tilt my phone trying to get a better view…

[@aserta]

@@stevenslater2669 I find myself tilting the laptop screen thinking i'll get a better view quite a few times. :))

[@mrfarmall-vk4gw]

Next project is to make a weld positioner that goes in the back of the spindle that is variable speed, nice job👍👍

[@Galerak1]

Brilliant idea. Although, I may be biased because I thought the same thing 🤣

[@oleran4569]

He could have really used a footswitch on the welder for that operation.

[@JohnDoe-es5xh]

This cane mill should go into the museum of agriculture for rum production.

[@garybrenner6236]

Yes, and the Stoker Engine should go into the "Museum of Promised and Unfinished "!

[@Scodiddly]

No! It needs to keep making that sweet, sweet rum! :)

[@alantrimble2881]

@@garybrenner6236 Just guessing, but maybe he stopped with the stoker engine videos because they performed poorly. I watch all kinds of stuff that most folks find boring, but I think I only watched the first stoker engine video because it bored me.

[@paulputnam2305]

Gee Keith, that was Awesomeness Extreme!!!

[@edsmachine93]

Nice work Keith. Beautiful job restoring the shaft.👍 Your Jib Crane worked great. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day. 👍

[@lifttech65]

Neat trick with the mig welding. Kind of surprised you didn't use a face shield when doing the clean up with the wire wheel.

[@garth849]

Hey Keith, next time you might consider undercutting the area to be repaired by .025" - .030" per side before striking the weld, and also taking a grinder or rotary file to the "rusted-out" areas if the turn doesn't clean them up completely. Also, as someone else has mentioned, a bit of pre-heat will also do wonders for your repair overall. Then again, as you said, (paraphrasing) "It's not like we're doing this for NASA. I completely understand and, as we say often, "It's not a Swiss watch or a rocket ship, so just get it fixed!" Thanks again for a good job. BTW, I enjoyed your repair of the clutch engagement mechanism, another case of "get it fixed!" (I do, though, think a Monarch is the 'Swiss watch' of lathes!)

[@KB-dd9xr]

You did a lot more work on that than I would! Great job - shows your affinity for refining old into like new.

[@NeilABliss]

That Jib crane is a God send!

[@fransdriesen1311]

Very smart thinking about the ground attachment for the welding operation..I have seen disasters with bearings being seized because of arcing..

[@diggerddawg]

Always enjoyable to see you work

[@CraigLYoung]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@markmonroe7330]

Excellent presentation. Thank you. Really interesting to see how various machinists solve issues using what is available to them in their shop. Seems like there is always many multiple ways to solve issues. This specific issue might would be a good fit for a spray welding setup. You work on a lot of old rusty worn out stuff and could probably get a lot of use out of it.

[@johncloar1692]

Thanks Keith for the video alway a good day to see shop work.

[@elrond12eleven]

This drum had an experience of the fastest rpm in his entire life.

[@dfye55]

Good to see the crane in use, cool welding process, smoother than I would have expected!

[@frankerceg4349]

Thank you Keith!

[@carlbyington5185]

I loved the trick where Adam stood a ruler up so the indicator could handle the interrupted circle !

[@ifyoucantjointhem]

Your crane is pretty good, but Abom's is the Bentley of workshop cranes 😆

[@plakor6133]

That's a pretty slick setup. The jib crane and giant lathe combo. The machine shops that could tackle that project must be kind of few and far between.

[@mattomon1045]

Thanks, Keith you do great work

[@wavetwo2171]

Good to see you going at it! Looking good Keith! Stay healthy

[@tomdale1313]

Thanks, Keith.

[@MrArtVendelay]

Kurtis would be impressed.

[@stefanpariyski3709]

Hi there Keith, if you want to avoid spatter when MIG welding, you can try the following - 90%Ar/5%CO2/5%O2 mixture, 22,5V and 200A (about 4,5m/min for 1,2mm wire diameter). Getting the mixture can be a bit tricky, depending on your supplier, but is the only way to get spray arc (which has no spatter) at 200A.

[@jonfranklin4583]

A couple of tips that you might consider if you find yourself doing something in this size of shafting again. I agree with some of the comments about the rust pitting and porosity with solid wire, it absolutely hates any residual rust. I have used dual shield wire for years for shipboard work and can attest to its ability to penetrate deeper and "float" out impurities in the base metal. I have used both Select-Arc 720 and Lincoln 71 Elite. Both are available from 035 and much larger, up to 5/64. You can run Select 720 on straight co2 or 75-25, the 75-25 gives you higher tensile strength and yield strength, about 10 percent higher. I've always used 75-25 and can't attest to straight co2, but with a flap wheel or grinding on old metal have never had any issues with porosity when joining old steel to new to speak of. I run 1/16 wire from an LN-25 and a Miller XMT 350 for much of what I do but have run both the 035 and 045 in my smaller machines like yours and have no problems. The other tip I got from a marine shafting and propeller shop, they had a shafting lathe that could take 40' shafts up to 24" in diameter. For their shaft build ups they used a piece of large copper braided ground strap like you used to see in old vehicles for their ground strap wrapped around the tailstock end. They had a shop built lead screw connected to a separate drive and carriage using a drive tire that contacted the chuck with a very large reduction gear motor for power. They changed the speed of the carriage with a vari-drive depending on the size of shafting and what wire they were using. They did a 14' long 6" shaft with 7" bearing surfaces for me and it was very cool to see how perfect the welds came out with that rig. As always, I love your content and hope you find my 2 cents worth as useful as I find your video's. Thanks again!

[@paulkinzer7661]

Great work as always! One of the things I find most difficult in machining is dialing things in. I find it frustrating, and I'm just not very good at it. Part of it is lack of practice (I'm not very experienced at all) and part of it is having equipment that I know is not very precise, whether its my indicators, the holders for them, or the actual old lathe and mill I have to work with. The slight slop in all of these add up to getting accurate readings very confusing and difficult. What it leads to is me just not attempting projects that take great precision. That's a good thing, really. I know my limitations.

[@jimmymckay73]

Flying stuff that big and heavy is always a bit of a pucker factor.

[@samuraidriver4x4]

Compared to some lifts I have done this is tiny😂. Stuff this size and weight was pretty much a daily thing for me for a couple years. Pucker factor for me is when it's the size of a semi trailer, weighing 20.000+ KG and need multiple cranes to get it off the ground.

[@midgoog2]

Keith, It's not porosity it's definitely as you said, cunningly planned oil reservoirs in the weld area. The spiral marks could be related to a bit of crude left in the center drill hole. Cheers Eric

[@timf6916]

Good job

[@jamespittsfordiii7632]

If I might suggest a way to avoid porosity in the welding in the future, you might consider removing all of the pitting before welding. The gas shielding does nothing to remove impurities or you could try dual shield and that might not help much. MIG requires the surfaces to be bright clean in order to form an adequate fusion

[@brendanhart1065]

Block and tackle is great, electric hoist is much, much better.

[@snowtiggr]

Top quality Boeng work.

[@richardtaylor7199]

Great job.

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. 👍

[@paullangenkamp]

Good job 👍🏼

[@melshea2519]

Happy Monday Georgia 😊

[@garybrenner6236]

Ah yes, home to Fulton County "Kangaroo Court"!

[@renaissanceman7145]

​@@garybrenner6236easy now. There's Fulton County (Atlanta) and there's Georgia. I live in Georgia.

[@ddblairco]

thank you Keith

[@jaybailey3518]

Nice work.

[@robertskelton2576]

You need a rotating chuck for the tail stock. Cold day I would be near that rotating hunk of steel held by A center.

[@dirtapple1716]

Keith, If you do that again, what about putting a small diameter piece of round stock in the lathe behind it and linking them with a belt, using that to "power" the large diameter part, so that you don't have to rotate it by hand?

[@pyromedichd1]

That much weight spinning 450 RPM on that little tail center is a scary sight.

[@lewkyb]

cool you can use the welder to restore like that

[@lewkyb]

yerr a shaft wizard keith!

[@jmptaz]

Wow that my friend is some Abom size lathe work lol

[@Galerak1]

Great video Kieth. I'm not a machinist, in fact I haven't touched any turning equipment since my school and college years around 40yrs ago, but I noticed that both times you centred the work in the 4-jaw you didn't seem to check the end held by the tailstock to check concentricity so as to not turn a taper? I appreciate that this part is very slow moving and has a babbitt bearing but I still feel that, cosidering the length of that central shaft, a small error at the chuck end could end with a larger error at the tailstock. Just a thought. p.s. I loved the lathe repair videos as well, in fact I thoroughly enjoy ALL your content. Keep up the great work.

[@JohnGrabowski-f9j]

keep going

[@desoto3749]

Wire wheel & die grinder = Safety Shield. Even if your eyeglasses are safety your face is not. Sorry to sound so strong on this but wire wheels are EXTREMLY dangerous!

[@billdoodson4232]

You beat me to it.

[@d6joe]

To turn the piece slowly in the lathe. Could you have had your weld positioned in front of the lathe, with a piece of shaft mounted in it, and a flat belt running around the mill roller and shaft in positioner?

[@markbernier8434]

You beat me to it. Even a piece of rope would do.

[@garybrenner6236]

Oh yes, that would have made it even more "Rube Goldberg"!

[@passenger6735]

A preheat of something that massive is a must surely!?

[@Failure_Is_An_Option]

"Massive" dictates preheat? Those ship builders are going to be bent when they hear this.

[@gregarioussolitudinist5695]

Another KZbin channel I watch is Mike Farrington Woodworking. Mike 'seems' to edit his video content, then comes back in and does a voice-over of the process. Give his channel a look and see if that format might not be easier to put together. Thanks for providing your content, I really enjoy it!!

[@tropifiori]

That is such a gorgeous lathe. I bet you could make a lady’s hair pin from a railroad axle. Can really heavy projects hurt the bearing in the headstock?

[@ellieprice363]

Don’t think so. The headstock bearings are designed for heavy loads such as this. The heavy load is more likely to overload and damage the live center bearings

[@peteengard9966]

It appears that there taper lock bushings in each end of the drum. If that is the case, then that shaft is replaceable. I've replaced shafts on our conveyor belt rollers after bearing failures are them up.

[@kennethtencza9209]

You need some electric on that jib Keith.

[@byronwatkins2565]

Cutting Edge Engineering has a very nice swivel joint for grounding a part for weld. In this case it would require using a stead rest though... assuming the steady is big enough.

[@malcolmtill]

Seems to me that there's a problem in the apron causing it to be too stiff to move freely.

[@GJackie24]

Amazing that the lathe can turn such a heavy object. What is the max capacity of weight for the Monarch ?

[@bernardwill7196]

Depending on max load of the bearings in the headstock and on the tailstock insert.

[@DonMedford-vl2yt]

You beat me by 17 minutes asking that question.

[@Dudleymiddleton]

2:33 Holy dag-nab it! That is big, real big.

[@belatoth3763]

I'd put an indicator to the column of the crane while it is lifting. Specially to detect remanent movement

[@mickfortune3844]

Hi Kieth Love your vids you are much better off pushing the Mig gun unless you are using flux chord, hence the amount of porosity, so you would have been better rotating the work piece towards you when welding You also get a lumpier weld when drawing the torch. Hope you don’t mind my commenting Kind Regards Mick. (uk)

[@michaelcaprio5269]

It's interesting technoarchaeology hearing the theories about how rust and wear may have happened

[@kitmaira]

I was thinking that this is a job that calls for an extra hand in the shop, at least someone to call the ambulance if things go sideways.

[@wrstew1272]

Has the finish been a problem on other projects, or is this the initial instance? Feeds and speeds possible cure? Just thinking about possibilities….😊

[@aserta]

10:45 this. I've seen it a few times. What i've done in the past is cleaned it as best i could, used the needler to clean the pits and filled them up with metal epoxy. On the shaft i have repaired, it's ok - no separation so far.

[@joewhitney4097]

Morning Keith, Major repair on this roller. Q. Is there a reason you did not put some heat on the shaft before welding? Just curious, usually heat helps with the welding process. Thanks for sharing.

[@andreabennett]

Wow, Keith! Is there any danger of that drum breaking loose from the lathe? What if the tailstock moved a little?

[@philipwilkie3239]

Dumb question - but why did you not turn down the journal a few mm first, so as you would finish up with a thicker weld layer?

[@hectorpascal]

OK! That's what I call ENGINEERING... Spinning that great lump of metal at speed would scare the &^%$ out of me!

[@williamlee1429]

Are you working out in the shop lifting all of those loads alone?

[@MyLilMule]

As a welder, I see a couple places you can improve. First, that welder is way too underpowered for what you were trying to weld. That part also needs to be preheated with a gas/oxy torch. Lastly, I think stick welding would have been a better option given your equipment. You'd need a bigger 250 to 350 amp MIG welder with something like a dual shield wire, probably .045" or bigger, to properly weld that up. That extra porosity can be where cracks start to form. Although in this application, since I don't think this us going to see use like it did when it was made, it's probably OK.

[@MickZakrzewski]

With something of that mass, preheating before welding would have been beneficial.