FILENAMES: Milldrill.jpg DESCRIPTION: This is a photograph of a shop built power feed for a mill-drill. Posted by John Stevenson . John provided the following description: ================================================================= This is a power feed that I made some years ago for my Mill/Drill. The motor is a 240V DC unit with double reduction gearbox. Final drive is 60rpm. Speed control is by a simple light dimmer switch which with the standard 10 tpi lead screw gives a speed range from a max of 6" per minute to nearly stationary. The output shaft of the inline gearbox has been extended by using a bronze bush pinned to the end of the gearbox. The other end then fits onto the extended portion of the leadscrew where the handwheel normally sits on the mill/drill. A keyway has been machined in this bush to carry a long key and on this bush slides a dog that engages with the handwheel dog. This is activated by the alloy grip ring that you can see in the photo by two selector pins that engage the dog. The whole arangement is secured by two screws that locate the extension tube to the register on the end of the mill table. One screw can be see in the picture. In use the drive can be left on the machine all the time and just brought into play as needed by the sliding dog. Not visible in the photo is a micro switch fastened to the front of the table to contact the travel stops so that it can be left running. The black coiled lead is visible leading to it.