MILL FINE FEED UNIT  Part 1 - by Graham Howe

I have had several feed units which I designed but after many years of use I abandoned the last one when the design needed comprehensive changes.  Rather than ‘patch’ the old one it was time to see what other owners had made and so I eventually opted for a fine feed drive using a

car windscreen wiper motor.  The unit attaches to the LH end of the table and has a clutch lever to engage the drive or revert back to the conventional hand feed.  The unit incorporates the following attributes:

  1. clutch engagement

  2. 12v motor drive

  3. selection of fast and slow speed (if on motor)

  4. switch to change direction

  5. variable speed

  6. limit switch on travel

  7. emergency stop

In use the feed provides adequate power for my needs and the resultant cutting surface is excellent.  The table limit stops which can be set at any position when reached the unit automatically stops.  The restart requires the clutch to be disengaged to move the table manually thus releasing the limit switch.  In practice the limit switch is there just in case.  The emergency stop button is far more convenient and saves using the clutch and can be reset as needed. 

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Part one  Part two  Part three