Milling machines

[Thuppu]

Have been looking for a "small" milling machine recently. Small china bench units doesn't seem to be the choise for me... so have been looking for "real" older milling machines in about 1000kg class, and table size/movement enough for a 5cyl head. What would I need to consider when looking for old mills? Would a belt driven mill be something to avoid?

[blux]

A second hand milling machine that is still hooked up and can be demonstrated/tested would be a good start. At least you can hear and feel it to give a proper first impression.

[Error404]

Can't go wrong with a Bridgeport turret machine, really versatile. Belt drive is no problem, as with everything how well it's been looked after is more important. DRO does really make them quicker and easier to use. Also try and get some accessories - a rotary table will come in handy

[Thuppu]

Missed closely a Prvomajska ALG 100 that would have been a nice little machine, and was not badly priced.

Today I did go to take look at an old(60's?) swedish Värnamo wich was in quite good condition. Everything was working fine, and it has enough table movement with power feed. Quite small machine but rubust design. It's a very strange machine with dual spindles. And negative side is that the spindle tool fittings are not SK or ISO fitting, it's outside taper(68mm/big end diam, height 40mm, 50mm/smal end diam.) for big tools and small inside taper for collets that looks like MT3 with a M12 thread in the end. Not much usable tools with the machine so all depends if any tool holders/tools are available for this..?

[Thuppu]

Decided to skip the Värnamo mill, it would have been a maybe little restrictive. Now I got a offer of a French Alcera... a "tiny little" machine with remote control board. Fully functional mill 1000 euros. Nice price but it's so small I don't know where to put it haha!

[SteveH]

Beast!

[pasbogdan]

What is the min travel you need for the axes?
Try to stay away from the machines with electo-hydaulic things.If you want it just for small mods the best is to have it all mechanic controlled.Nothing can go wrong inside the gearbox of auto feeds and rpm's.
If you do production or if you still have nerve to find and wait for a company to service the machine go to newer models.

I have now a machine with 300mm travel for x axe.To small for a 7a head when i do the coolant manifold ports mod.So i need to slide the table on the slots to do the 3'rd hole
But i like that i can lift and replace by myself the tilting table to the fixed one,the heads of he mill etc.For a biger models you need a shop hoist to move all.
Best is to have a small unit and hudge unitLike lathes...small and fast one and one big enough for 19 inch rims and long enough for propshafts

And most important:A mill that has all or as much tools:tilting table,dividing head,rotary table,slotting head(internal gear cutting),cutting tool holders,small and big vise,collet chuck set,auto lock chuck,boring tool,clamping devices for keeping work on the table,parallel set for rising work from table etc etc etc.
Spending extra 500 or 1k on a mill that has all tools will be much mor less than getting all after.
Imagine having the mill alone.You will not even be able to drill a hole without a kind of a tool holder.

[Thuppu]

Yea, the Alcera will propably be little too big with a 2.2 meter table. Also the hydraulics don't feel so good, even that everything works. It would have some makro/auto features, but anyway more things that can fail. Skimming I5 head and block would be the wanted travel x/y/z amount.

[pasbogdan]

You need x travel longer than face of the i5 block.When using flycutter,the tool design needs a radius of minimum half of width of block.That means you begin the cut early and end the cut later,in relation to milling head center.So if the travel of x axis is equal to head or block length you need to consider another 16 to 20 cm extra axle travel needed to begin and end the cut with the fly cutter.That means...500-550 mm the head has?+200mm extra.Hm....750mm travel on x....

[Thuppu]

Seems to be very hard to find quite compact size mill, that doesn't take 4-5m² of the garage floor, and has large enough table travel. Now I have got an offer of an Stanko 675 mill, that is really nice compact size, weight about 800-900kg, autofeeds in all directions, and good working order. Downside is the table movement, only 320x200x300mm, and it doesn't come with any tools.

[Thuppu]

Finally some progress. Just made a deal of an 1970 Värnamo U-1 mill. Comes with two angle-heads, horisontal mill accessories, rotary table, milling vice and full service documentation. The machine is also fully checked and serviced. It weights about 1700kg and is quite compact but table movement is great, X 875, Y 210, Z 450. The mill has been in light school use, and the rapid feed tumbler has been removed. But the seller will check if it can be found somewhere, or if not then it need to be fabricated. Downside is that there is no cutting tools with it and the left side table crank is broken. Spindle is ISO40. Hope to get it next week.

Pics(taken by the seller)

[Thuppu]

Mill in da house!

[quattro-nick]

nice thomas

[Thuppu]

Thanks Nick!

Still waiting for a bunch of tool holders and tools. Some small service has been done, new grease for the cranks etc.

[Error404]

Awesome, you have a nice little machine shop growing there.
Now you will spend a few thousand euros on tooling
I can recommend WNT in Germany, they are not the finest quality but good value for light use and quick delivery