I’m looking at a clausing 8520, it’s been professionally gone through and is in fantastic condition. The price is a 2,250, which is a bit more than I wanted to spend on it. It comes with a nice vise and a set of collets. I live in AZ and I am relatively new to machining (so I’m not sure how often these come up for sale). I have a bench master now and the lack of vertical space is a major pain. My question is: do machines of this size come up for sale often in AZ and does that sound like a fair price? Thanks in advance!
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Clausing 8520 Advice
- Thread starter Riguy14
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- Dec 27, 2014
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Here's some info on the 8520...
www.wentztech.com/metalworking/equipment/clausing-8520-mill/
Technical Reference on the Clausing 8520 / 8530 Mill . The Clausing 8520 is a highly sought-after small knee mill due to its versatility and light weight. I can be broken down into lighter pieces and easily moved, even up or down stairs. This makes it ideal for the home shop. History: The 8520 was main mass-produced model of this mill.
Clausing 8520 Mill | Dales Shop
Technical Reference on the Clausing 8520 / 8530 Mill . The Clausing 8520 is a highly sought-after small knee mill due to its versatility and light weight. I can be broken down into lighter pieces and easily moved, even up or down stairs. This makes it ideal for the home shop. History: The 8520 was main mass-produced model of this mill.
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- Nov 14, 2016
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I can't tell you how often they come up in AZ, but based on comments from others AZ does not seem to be a great place to look for machines. I have an 8520 so tend to notice the price when I see them for sale.
As far as the price from what I've seen $2000-2500 is pretty typical for a Clausing mill in good shape, often even without a vise or tooling.
A couple of things you may want to consider.
These are a relatively light duty mill for their size. Look at the spindle and vertical feed controls, there is a course feed lever and a fine feed hand wheel (removable). These are areas where you can find damage if the machine has been roughly treated. Since it is easily removed the fine feed is sometimes missing.
There was an optional 4" spacer block available. With the size of the mill, this is a very desirable feature as the standard mill only has 12" from table to spindle, the additional 4" is very welcome.
If you have room for a bigger mill the Clausing mills are rather expensive, and you can sometimes find a Bridgeport style mill for around the same cost. If you don't have room for a bigger mill these are a nice mill for small spaces and they can be disassembled into fairly easily moved pieces. The column and knee weighs around 200lbs, but most of the other bits can be broken into loads under 100lbs, so not too hard for a single person to move the mill.
As far as the price from what I've seen $2000-2500 is pretty typical for a Clausing mill in good shape, often even without a vise or tooling.
A couple of things you may want to consider.
These are a relatively light duty mill for their size. Look at the spindle and vertical feed controls, there is a course feed lever and a fine feed hand wheel (removable). These are areas where you can find damage if the machine has been roughly treated. Since it is easily removed the fine feed is sometimes missing.
There was an optional 4" spacer block available. With the size of the mill, this is a very desirable feature as the standard mill only has 12" from table to spindle, the additional 4" is very welcome.
If you have room for a bigger mill the Clausing mills are rather expensive, and you can sometimes find a Bridgeport style mill for around the same cost. If you don't have room for a bigger mill these are a nice mill for small spaces and they can be disassembled into fairly easily moved pieces. The column and knee weighs around 200lbs, but most of the other bits can be broken into loads under 100lbs, so not too hard for a single person to move the mill.
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Agree with Aaron about the price on one of those. They are rare and "hobby sized" so very desirable
The spindle splines tend to wear and get noisy so check for excessive slop- wiggle the spindle back and forth, try to get a feel for the wear
Don't know if the spindle can still be purchased from Clausing but expect an astronomical price if they have them
I think the bearings are fairly common and available
-Mark
The spindle splines tend to wear and get noisy so check for excessive slop- wiggle the spindle back and forth, try to get a feel for the wear
Don't know if the spindle can still be purchased from Clausing but expect an astronomical price if they have them
I think the bearings are fairly common and available
-Mark
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R8 is more common but I wouldn't be too concerned about an MT2 spindle. MT2 collets and tooling are pretty easy to find. The main advantage I can see to R8 is the collets are bigger, MT2 collets are limited to a max of 1/2".
The Brown & Sharpe #7 taper used on the 8525 / 8535 could be an issue though. Collets are pretty easy to get but BS7 tooling is much less common than MT or R8.
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No, the Clausings don't come up for sale often in AZ.
Yes, $2250 would be way top dollar anywhere. I sold one here in Spokane for $1500.
jack vines
Yes, $2250 would be way top dollar anywhere. I sold one here in Spokane for $1500.
jack vines
Thanks everyone the info! I think I’ll have to pass. I was at the shop looking for a lathe when I stumbled on the clausing. If I buy this then I won’t be able to buy a lathe anytime soon. If anyone is interested it’s at Als Machinery in Tucson!
I doubt it lasts long, if it is in good shape. It seems that hobby machine tools are harder to find west of the Mississippi based upon folks that live that way. Even in Indiana, you might see one 6520/30 per year show up on Craigslist and they sell fast.