Rambaudi Models V2 and V3
In 1968, having manufactured more than 3000 examples of the earlier VR types (with half exported to the United states), an updated model was introduced, the V Series. Although of a similar layout to the VR, the two versions made, the V2 and V3 differed in almost every detail and were made in two versions with the first produced still styled in the rounded form common until the late 1950s and then, in order to look more modern, with the major castings redesigned in the distinctly rectangular fashion popular during the 1960s. The miller could be supplied as the V2 or V3 with a non-rotating ram or as the VG2 and VG3 with a swivel base that allowed the whole head assembly to be rotated through 360°. However, in contrast to the VR models the range was restricted, their being no combination vertical/horizontal "S" versions with a powered horizontal spindle. Identical in specification and size apart from their vertical heads, the V2 and V3 had just one size of table, 42" x 12", with four 9/16" T-slots on 2.5" spacing. Longitudinal travel under hand or power feed (hand being by a single, forwards facing handwheel working through bevel gears), was 29.5" with hand-driven cross and vertical travels of 12" and 16.3" respectively. Although no power-feed option was available for across and vertically, the latter could (as an optional extra) be fitted with a self-contained rapid-feed unit,
Driven by a 0.5 h.p. motor through an oil-bath gearbox located on the right-hand side of the knee, twelve rates of longitudinal table feed were available (power across and vertically was not available) spanning 0.5" to 22". Selection of feed rates was by a combination of a short lever and a front-facing dial on the front of the motor-gearbox with engagement by a second, longer lever - pressing it down from its central (neutral) position engaged the feed (and started the spindle) while lifting it up (against spring pressure) caused the rapid feed, at a rate of either 80 or (depending upon the year of manufacture) 100" per minute to engage (at extra cost a self-contained power rapid feed could be fitted).
Table feed screws were hardened and ground with that for the longitudinal drive running in an oil bath and made in two short sections, left and right and spring loaded against each other. The screws, around 3" in diameter, engaged against a long, semi-circular nut (a helicoidal rack) fastened to the underside of the table - this ingenious and beautifully constructed arrangement (adjustable to eliminate backlash) giving a huge surface area to slow down the rate of wear. Of conventional design, the cross-feed screw ran through two opposed bronze nuts, this arrangement also being adjustable to eliminate play.
Lubrication of the table and knee ways was by a hand-operated single-shot oil pump positioned to the right of the saddle.
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Fitted on the end of a ram (driven by rack-and-pinion gearing through 16" of travel on the V and 17" on the VG types) the head could be swivelled through 90° each side of vertical by a crank handle working through worm-and-wheel gearing. It was locked to the ram not by the expected four bolts but with a split ring formed with a conical periphery, the vertical position being obtained by a tapered pin of hardened and ground steel fitted at the 3 o'clock position on the head's right-hand side. On the V2 clearance between the spindle nose (both R8 and the more effective N30 were listed) and table was 19" and on the V3 (with an even larger N40 nose), 17".
Normally driven by a 2-speed 2 h.p./3 h.p. motor (a 2 h.p./2.5 h.p. was also listed) the vertical head on the V2 was of the usual superb Rambaudi build quality with its main casting in Meehanite iron and sixteen speeds from 65 to 4750 r.p.m. - the high range being by an A-section V-belt over a 4-step pulley and the low through a lathe-like backgear using hardened and ground gears. As on the VR series machines, the head fitted to the No. 3 was considerably beefed up and driven by a 2-speed, 3 h.p./4 h.p. 1450/2800 r.p.m. motor that gave sixteen speeds from 50 to 2500 r.p.m. Both V2 and V3 had a spindle lock fitted as part of the standard equipment (to enable the collet draw-bar to be tightened or released) with an electromagnetic brake offered as an option - a simple red push-button control bringing the spindle to a halt and holding it locked.
Hardened and ground (with precision-ground helical rack teeth) the quill held a nickel-chrome spindle (also hardened and ground) that could be moved through its 5 inches of travel by a quick-action lever for drilling, a handwheel through worm-and-wheel gearing for fine feeds or a choice of three rates of power up and down feed of 0.015", 0.003" and 0.006" per minute on the V2 and six rates from 0.015" to 0.008" on the V3. Feeds could be disengaged by either the control handle or set to release automatically (to within a setting of 0.001") when the slide block fitted to the front mounted vertical ruler and micrometer-dial assembly contacted the top or bottom of its housing. To protect against overload a slipping clutch was fitted to the power feed, the disengagement load being adjustable by the operator. Lubrication of the entire head - bearings and gears - was by the daily introduction of a small quantity of oil though a filler at the top of the assembly, this having to be drained every few days through a plug at the bottom of the housing.
None of the Rambaudi ram-head millers was fitted with a "nodding" head as standard, instead this was a facility offered as an option. However, in place of the usual very simple clevis (that always introduced an unwanted element of flexibility together with the added difficulty of getting back to a zero setting), the assembly consisted of a ram-end adapter formed as a semi circle to which a matching casting on the back of the vertical head was clamped. With a huge contact face spread over 180° rigidity was much improved and the head held firmly despite its considerable mass.
Weight differed very little: the early "round" style V2 and V3 being 2560 lbs and 2700 lbs respectively while the equivalent later "angular" models were somewhat heavier at 3000 lbs and 3140 lbs.
Accessories
On all types of ram-head machine a range of extras was offered including: a self-contained power vertical rapid feed (usually at the rate of 31" per minute); a horizontal grinding attachment (with a vertically disposed wheel) complete with magnetic chuck, table-mounted shields and even a wheel-balancing spindle; a 600 x 300 mm universal swivelling and tilting table able to be moved through 30° each way in traverse and 15° each way longitudinally; rectangular and round raiser blocks to raise the ram; a "universal" swivelling table; a 6-speed slotting attachment driven from the horizontal spindle with the stroke adjustable between 0 and 3.2" and rates from 32 to 410 per minute; a 6-inch centre height universal dividing head (with tailstock and an optional gear train driven from the table feed screw to allow spiral milling); a 24-division indexing head; horizontal and vertical rotary tables; a right-angle drive attachment; fixed and swivel-base machine vices; high-precision optical table-travel readers; length-rod and DTI holders; a centring microscope; a handy 3x1 rectangular magnifying class on an articulated arm; collet chucks, shell-mill holders and precision drill chucks and boring heads; collet sets to fit the various spindle noses and a number of hydraulic copying attachments..