How Good Are the Chinese Mills?

IF you get a horizontal mill with a small size taper,you can make your own arbors. My first mill was an Atlas with a #2 Morse taper arbor. I just made my own. Next,I had a Burke #4. It had a #9 Brown and Sharpe taper. Again,I made my own arbors. Then,I got a round column vertical mill,then my Bridgy type. However,I also have a nice Harrison Universal(table swivels) Horizontal mill. It has #30 tapers. Luckily,I was able to get them fairly cheap from Wholesale Tool at the time. My Deckle fp1 uses #40 tapers. I have a few arbors for it,but to tell the truth,I use my Bridgy for just about everything. Just used to it.
 
Whyemier link=topic=3189.msg23306#msg23306 date=1314315656 said:
Just saw this on Craigs'list. $850, Just down the road from me so delivery is not a problem. Just don't know what the reviews on this would be. It is made in Taiwan and virtually unused if the guy is to be believed. HMmmm?


http://Tampa.craigslist.org/hdo/tls/2564789287.html

New Central Machinery milling machine 2 horse power motor. Mill was bought many years ago by a friends father. The mill was taken appart to get it into basement and never put back together. So it sat for many years.

My friend gave me the mill and I cleaned all the cosmilene and old grease off the mill and put it back together and it is working as it should. I have the draw bar and drill mandrel installed on the mill.

Items missing ( drill chuck, collets, the stand, and vice, but I am adding a vice I used on my drill press). When new it was $1499.00 from Harbor Fright. I can deliver, call and we will talk...Brian


•Location: Spring hill

That's the very same machne that I had for about ten years. I paid $750 on sale from Harbor Freight in the crate on sale in 1995 or so. It's OK, but I can't see $850 on one. I sold mine for $500 about three years ago.
 
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I think $500 is perfect, plus it's close. Spring Hill huh? I have a condo in Timber Oaks.
 
That machine looks at least 20 years old if it's a day. Your wife is right, $600 tops. Plus it looks like you have the upper hand, being the only one in Spring Hill who could actually pick it up. Yeah , New Yorkers, Just look what they have done to the place!
 
It does seem that these little mill/drills have gone way up. I bought two of them years ago for second ops machines, and they were less than $1200 each if I remember correctly. I still wouldn't give $850 for one. That machine ought to go for 5.
 
Whyemier link=topic=3189.msg23318#msg23318 date=1314322185 said:
Thanks Guys, I'll fill you in on what happens tomorrow. I'll tell him I saw his ad and had never seen one of these Taiwanese/Chinese machines in the flesh (true) but his price was above what I'd bugeted for one. If he budges I'll haggle.

If he won't haggle I'll tell him to call me if he doesn't sell it. I might not have purchased another by then.

I sure would prefer a bridgeport type, its what I got used to way back when. But then...I'm not used to anything anymore so this may be the way to go.
Hello again.
I finally got onto the H.F. Site. It wouldn't open for me yesterday. See the link below. That machine is the same or similar to the one that they presently sell for $1,199. As I mentioned earlier, I paid $750 for mine in the mid 90's. The one that I had was rated at 2 hp and had an excellent motor. I think they are all made by a company called Rong Fu, unless the Chinese are copying themselves. LOL.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html

If you buy the one mentioned, there are some nice modifications that you can do to make life easier for you. The thing that bothered me the most was the hand crank on the left side which would raise and lower the head for different tool heights. I made a three-handled crank which relieved the problem considerably. Here's a picture of that.

HFMill-Drill002.jpg

On the right side, there were two draw bolts which had to be loosened each time the head was moved. I added some extensions with levers to make this easier and remove the need for a wrench. Another picture.

HFMill-Drill003.jpg

Also, I got tired or raising the plastic cover each time to change belt positions. I removed the covers and added a quickly removable stainless steel belt guard on the right side. That made changes of speed much easier. Pictures.

Guard off:
HFMill-Drill005.jpg

Guard on, notice knurled nuts to permit quick removal.
HFMill-Drill004.jpg

In order to remove the cover as mentioned above, I first had to remove the step pulley from the spindle. It wouldn't come off. Nope. Not at all. I was fearful that I would damage it. After examining the problem, I decided to make a puller......that only took two days and some lathe work and welding. Ha. Picture.

HFMill-Drill006-1.jpg

One other issue that I had to tackle shortly after I bought the machine was the metric set screw that was used to keep the R-8 collet from rotating. It was a standard metric screw (forgot the size, maybe 5mm) that was simply run through the side of the spindle. After a short while, it got peened and the collets wouildn't go in. I was forced to remove the spindle and address the problem. I found an old Harley crank roller (I forget the size other than to say it just fit the slot in an R-8 collet. ). I measured it for a tight (did I say tight?) press fit and I drive it in with my Chinese 20 ton press. It never moved or wore at all after that. There was room inside of the cavity around the spindle to permit some of the bearing to stick out so I didn't even grind it off. Problem solved.

After all of these changes, it was fairly easy to use and did a rather good job on most things. I had a 6" vise on it which was the only one I could find cheap and it was too big but it worked. The machine would be better served with a 4" or 5" vise. CDCO and ENCO have these at reasonable prices.

So when people talk about round column mill/drills, I've been there and done that! LOL. ;)

Good luck. Hope this helps!
 
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Nice, good luck. Now you can go ahead and make something instead of rebuilding something ;)
 
Whyemier link=topic=3189.msg23370#msg23370 date=1314376622 said:
Zigeuner,

I like your mods, I'll have to incorporate a couple of them at least.

Now I'll have to start looking for and saving for a larger, better lathe. O' No! When I think of how long it took to convince the wife of the necessity of my getting this mill. Sorrow, woe is me.

I think you will enjoy that machine. As I said, I had one for a long time until I got a bigger one. By all means, if that power feed woks and fits, grab it. $100 for a nice unit like that is a great price.

They say that those can be run on 220 or 110 but when I checked, the control switch wasn't easily deciphered. I left mine on 110 and never had a problem.

Let us know what happens.
 
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I wish to warn all of you that the wiring diagrams inside some of these machines are BOGUS!!!!! IF you ever decide to re wire your machine to 220, REMEMBER where he wires WENT when it was hooked up to 110. My Wholesale Tool round column mill had a completely bogus diagram inside the motor's box.

My electrician was there,and told me the machine would run better on 220(it had done just fine on 110,though what he said was true). He took the wires loose and re wired the motor according to the enclosed diagram. NADA!! After he had hooked it up several times,he could either not get it to run,or only get the motor to run backwards.

I am NO electrician,except for simple stuff. Somehow,I had a burst of intellect that day,and suggested that there was only one way he HADN'T tried to hook it up. He gave me a quizzical look,and tried it. It finally worked. I'm still trying to figure out how I had kept track of the 5 pole positions in that box,and all his variations on them!!!
 
george wilson link=topic=3189.msg23407#msg23407 date=1314397523 said:
I wish to warn all of you that the wiring diagrams inside some of these machines are BOGUS!!!!! IF you ever decide to re wire your machine to 220, REMEMBER where he wires WENT when it was hooked up to 110. My Wholesale Tool round column mill had a completely bogus diagram inside the motor's box.

My electrician was there,and told me the machine would run better on 220(it had done just fine on 110,though what he said was true). He took the wires loose and re wired the motor according to the enclosed diagram. NADA!! After he had hooked it up several times,he could either not get it to run,or only get the motor to run backwards.

I am NO electrician,except for simple stuff. Somehow,I had a burst of intellect that day,and suggested that there was only one way he HADN'T tried to hook it up. He gave me a quizzical look,and tried it. It finally worked. I'm still trying to figure out how I had kept track of the 5 pole positions in that box,and all his variations on them!!!

I took one look and decided to leave mine on 110. It ran just fine. The wiring diagram, as you say, is bogus. No one could figure it out from the diagram. I just left mine and never looked at the wiring again. LOL.
 
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