Can anyone tell me more about this mill?

So basicly look for an 8530 in the future?

In theory that is the premium version, but they are far less common. My 8520 came with a power feed and the column spacer so the difference between it and an 8530 is just the design of the knee. The knee on the 8530 is built heavier but I have no complaints with the rigidity of mine.

The BS7 taper of the 8525/35 is less desirable than the MT2 of the 8520/30 but I'd put the price, condition and included tooling well above the spindle taper. The Clausing mills are getting scarce so if you want one you can't be too fussy about the specifics, even project ones don't tend to last long if priced right.

BS7 is less common than MT2 but not impossible to find. Little Machine shop sells a set of 7 BS7 collets for $129, and a set of 7 MT2 collets for $79, so it will cost you more but is a one time purchase. Other MT2 tooling is a lot easier to find.
MT2 is also common on smaller lathes so you can potentially share tooling if it matches your mill.

There are several import mills quite similar to the Clausing mills and some of those use an R8 taper which can use the super common Bridgeport tooling.
 
Back
Top