This is now the most recent shop addition - a Milwaukee Model FS, Type VSS Die Filer, Serial Number 5981. It was just picked up today (11/13/04) and looks to be in decent shape, although the power cord definitely needs to be changed. It features a 1/3 HP 120 VAC motor, with a continuously variable speed mechanism (Reeves-type drive?) that provides 100 to 400 stroke per minute.. The table tilts in two planes and it appears to have over arms for both die files and saw blades, though I suspect some of the pieces saw blade over arm are missing.
The die filer with the die file over arm in place. This is pretty much the way it was when I picked it up. It has a fair amount of surface rust that should clean up pretty well. The cabinet may be original or shop made by a previous owner. The table sits about 36" off the floor. The black plastic handle to the right of the belt guard rotates to adjust the speed.
The over arm is adjustable vertically along the column that can be seen at the left hand side of the table. I believe that the L-shaped rod near the top of the table is a hold down for whatever is being filed and is adjustable vertically with a set screw to clamp it in place..
There is also a roller at the end of the rod that protrudes horizontally from the casting. It looks like the roller is intended to act as a support for the files. A V-groove is machined at the center of the roller, probably to take rectangular or round files.
A view from the side.
A view from the back showing the variable speed mechanism.
A close-up of the name plate.
This one shows the die filer with what I believe to be the saw blade over arm in place and some miscellaneous parts on the table. I'm still trying to figure out how this is supposed to be set up and how the "extra" parts are to be used.
The over arm has the number 34-025 cast into it whereas the file over arm has the number 34-026 cast into it. The over arm appears to be unpainted so it may have seen limited use.
A view of the saw blade over arm from the opposite side.
A close up of the saw blade over arm.
Another close up view. The L-shaped rod protruding from the top has a groove for a spring loop or possibly an e-clip and has a flat on it and is clamped for height with a set screw that can be seen in the end of the casting. There is also a round rod protruding from the bottom of the rectangular plate that has a similar groove and a small plate with two holes at the bottom of the rectangular plate.
The long rectangular plate seems to be designed to slide up and down on rectangular ways milled into the casting. There are two set screws to with locking nuts that might be intended to tension the plate or adjust it's alignment.
These
are miscellaneous parts that I still haven't figured out whose purpose still
escapes me. The pin on the small part on the left seems to fit a hole in
I'd sure appreciate hearing from any one that knows how this is supposed to be used.
This
is a view of the die filer with the table removed. It appears that the
chuck consists of a yoke with two jaws that look a bit like oversized set
screws. It came with 3 jaws, two with smooth faces (similar to dog point
set screws) and the third with a rotating face that has a knurled square pattern
on it with a shallow V-groove at the center. Two jaws are apparently used
and tightened against the file or saw blade with an Allen wrench.
Another
view with the table removed.
A
close up of the three jaws. The two outer jaws have smooth faces and the
third has a rotating face, as described above. I'm guessing that the
knurled face jaw is used to hold the die file against one of the other jaws,
with the round file shank fitting in the V-groove.
Once it's up and running I intend to strip off the old paint, remove the rust, and repaint it. It should come in handy for some model engineering projects that are planned for the near future.
If any one has any info on this tool I'd sure appreciate hearing about it.
January 2005
Most of my Christmas vacation and quite a bit of time after was spent stripping the old paint and re-painting. Zip-strip was used to chemical remove the old paint and various wire wheels were used to get the stubborn crud off. Rusted bare metal parts were cleaned up with steel wool and 3M-type abrasive pads using a bit of WD-40 to help keep the rust in suspension. The parts were brush painted with Benjamin Moore primer and their Industrial-Grade Alkyd Enamel in a Clausing grey in two topcoats. Two mistakes were made there - a white primer was used and the topcoat over 5 years old. The white primer shows through in a few areas at the line between bare and painted metal and a grey primer would have been much better. The old topcoat paint has quite a bit of suspended solids which left the topcoat looking like sand had been mixed in with it It looks OK from a few feet but looks a little odd on close inspection. In hindsight, the top coat should have been filtered, but these lessons always come late to me.
Attempts were made to smooth out some of the castings with Bondo, but I soon gave up on that as it was a major PITA for me to apply much of it before it started to set up and removing the excess from nooks and crannies was more than I wanted to deal with. I also tried a blue 3M body filler. This was easier to apply but thin coats were needed and it dried much harder than the Bondo, so that quickly got abandoned, too.
Here are a couple of parts during the stripping process. Zip-strip is a viscous fluid that is brushed onto the old paint, which then bubbles up after a few minutes making the paint fairly easy to remove with scrapers, paper towels and stiff brushes,
The base with part of it stripped and one side in the middle of the stripping process.
Stripped parts, with a couple showing my meager attempts at filling in the castings with Bondo. The two parts Bondoed weren't too bad, but the belt guard took too much time for me and I gave up on it after an hour or two. In the foreground are a couple of the brushes I used to clean up the stripped paint that couldn't be wiped or scraped off. The small brushes were used in an electric-motor driven Foredom tool, which worked pretty well for small nooks and crannies.
Here some of the parts are masked off and the white primer has been applied. Rubber stoppers were used to plug up tapped holes for oilers, drain plugs, etc. These worked fairly well, but the paint reacted with the rubber in the stoppers - high density cork stoppers would have been better, I think.
The parts above with the topcoat applied. I used 1" and 2" brushes for the bulk of the painting and some small artists brushes to get into small areas.
The die filer after painting and clean up was completed. The white area on the hub of the flywheel is actually a small aluminum plate that indicates stroke length.
Another view of the completed job. I decided to skip painting the motor, though it looks pretty ugly.
Last edited: 06/25/2005