Restoring a KR Wilson transmission fixture

[RGould1910]

Last year I purchased a KR Wilson transmission fixture complete with reamers. Upon inspection I saw the hole in the fixture was badly worn and the reamers needed sharpening. I sent the reamers out and made a sleeve to insert in the bored hole of the fixture.

I don't have a Bridgeport or an auto feed so everything was done manually in my mill drill and import lathe.

I purchesed a quality carbide boring bar with inserts and a better boring head. I had a couple of 12L14 steel rods I turned down to center first the fixture for boring and then the sleeve in the fixture.

Here are some photos

This is the first alignment rod turned to fit the existing hole with a close slip fit. Purpose was to center the fixture to the quill. Surprisingly no shims were needed between the bed and fixture.

These two photos show the hole bring bored to accomodate a 660 bronze sleeve with a wall thickess of 1/8 " and enough clearance for sleeve retainer. The sleeve was bored on my lathe to .00075" to .0015" clearance to the reamer shanks which varied abuot 1 thou in diameter.

The first photo shows the sleeve inserted on the second alignment rod turned to fit the sleeve within 1 thou clearance. The bottom of the sleeve is knurled to prevent the sleeve from falling off the bar. Both the top and bottom edges are taped to the bar to prevent sleeve retainer from seeping in.
The last photo shows the sleeve and alignment rod lowered into the fixture with the quill after applying sleeve retainer. It was important that the fixture was not moved once the boring was complete so the sleeve would be centered in the bored hole.

More to follow.

[Joe Bell]

When I first picked up mine, it was just for show and tell then one day decided to try it and now it gets used a bunch, do you have the triple gear attachment? I have one extra.

[RGould1910]

More work accomplished. The first photo shows the alignment of the rotary table. The alignment rod
(the third) was long enough to allow mounting the rotary table, the chuck and Wilson fixture on the bed when finished. The vertical travel on the mill drill is only 5 inches requiring raising the head to allow clearance.
The second photo shows the Wilson fixture after mounting in a four jaw attached to the rotary table. The Wilson fixture was aligned with the quill using the second alignment rod discussed earlier when installing the sleeve.
The third photo shows the bored circumference. It was bored because it was out of round by over .030" and not concentric with the reamer hole. When using the fixture, I can add shims to take up the space between the drum and fixture

[RGould1910]

These photos show the two machined surfaces in the Wilson fixture trued with a flycutter. When cutting the outer surface, the bit is set close to the edge of the machined surface that holds the transmission drum. The fixture is turned with the rotary table while the flycutter is moving. The alignment bar was shortened and kept inside the sleeve for stiffness. The two surfaces are now dead flat and perpendicular to the hole for the reamers.
The last operation will to machine the inside corner where the two machined surfaces meet at the circumference.

[RGould1910]

Project completed.

[TrentB]

Richard, I admire your workmanship. It looks really good.

One thing I have noticed while using my KRW Transmission Bushing Reaming Fixture is that clamping the circumference of a drum too tightly can force the drum off of the centerline of the reamer. So I only tighten fixture lightly around the drum, and use the two side clamps to hold the drum on to the fixture. Use a good bit of care to make sure the drum is properly centered in the fixture before running the reamer through.

Respectfully submitted,

Trentb

[RGould1910]

That makes perfect sense since only the top of the fixture compresses. I was thinking about letting the reamer center the drum then clamp it like you said. I may use the lathe to take a small cut on the bushing to give the reamer a place to start, then align the drum on the bevel of the reamer.
By the way do your shell reamers sit down all the way on the tapered shank so the keeper goes into the holes of the reamers? Mine dont. Not even close. The problem is the keepers set the travel on the shank and the shells stick out too far.
Thinking about removing the keepers so the shank can move back further in the fixture.
Any thoughts???

[RGould1910]

It just occurred to me that the shank keeper and corresponding holes in the shells may not be factory installed but done by some user down the road.
It doesn't make sense they wouldn't fit.