I thought some here might be interested - After buying and disassembling this thing, over a year ago, it's finally back together and running :~)
I needed a small mill for my small shop, and after trying to find a Clausing 8520 or similar for
quite a while, I gave up, and so here it is.
Probably was the first one they sold, last year, after it came back in stock, and it came up, it was listed at the old $1800 price!
I bought it instantly, and I think within a couple hours, they bumped it to $2600 - But they honored the old price.
I'm not going to discuss the pros and cons of these mills, as that's been done to death - But I have a couple observations.
First - If you buy one of these, you really need to take it apart
completely, and clean it, whether or not you choose to paint it, as I did.
The whole thing was unbelievably filthy inside, full of grinding grit, and just plain black grime.
Once it was back together, after being cleaned and de-burred, it's actually really nice and smooth, and surprisingly accurate - When I trammed it, the "nod" direction was within about .0005" - Don't know if just I got a good one, but it's good enough for me in any case.
What I found:
The key in the spindle bore stuck out too far to let a collet in - I wish I'd found this out when I had the head on the bench, for cleaning and painting.
After it was together, I had to turn the head to 90º, and reach in with my wife's jewelers flex shaft tool to grind it down - Annoying to say the least.
The drawbar was too long - I had to trim 1/2" off the top, in order for the lid to close with a collet in.
The amount of filler on the castings was amazing - They troweled it right over some of the joints where the head swivels and pivots.
I ground and blended a LOT, before I painted it.
The motor (2hp) seems very strong - The mill actually jerks when I hit the switch - No soft start here. It has kind of a high pitched whine, running.
Spindle bearings are pretty quiet, even with my stethoscope. I haven't checked the runout yet.
The belts shed rubber like mad - They quickly covered the mill with black dust - I think the pulleys are a little hard on them.
I changed them to Gates belts, which still shed. Finally changed to adjustable link ones, which seem OK now, and seem smoother and quieter.
And, believe it or not - The tapered gibs, on all three axes, looked to be hand scraped! But nothing else was ;~)
I have some new, old style, handwheels for it, that I still have to machine, as I'm not crazy about the disc-style ones .......
Anyway, here it is before, and after, about a year and a month after delivery, with it's new smoke gray brush paint job - It will never look this clean again.
I know red is supposed to be an auspicious color to the Chinese, but I didn't like it :~(
The stand is the top half of a Hardinge mill cabinet - I have a couple of them kicking around, so didn't feel too bad about cutting one down to size.
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