Just bought a Van Norman No. 0 mill

G

gavin319

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Hey all,

I had been wanting to get into machining for a while and had been looking for a mill when I finally found a nice reasonably sized one pop up on craigslist. It's a Van Norman No. 0 duplex mill. Very small but perfect for a home shop.


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I have scoured various forums and found very little on this guy. I saw one other forum post where someone found a bright green painted one of these for sale and then, interestingly enough, I just found another one of these VN no. 0s on Facebook marketplace the other day. But other than that, info on the no. 0 mills is scarce to say the least. Does anyone have more info on them? I saw some ads from 1901 -1907 the no. 0 and no. 2 (like the one below), but I can't find much else.
Waltham_Watch_Tool_Co_Van_Norman_advert_in_Machinery_1902.png
Can anyone point me to any more information on it? I was also trying to look up the serial number, but the only numbers I could find on it are #12 and then 78 is stamped in two places. Is the serial number just 12? Maybe the machine really is that early.
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Anyways, it's in great working condition so I'm really happy with it. It came with a few collets (old VN C and a few Hardinge 5V). I'll probably do what others have suggested and use an adapter with ER collets if I can't scrounge up anymore of these old C /5V collets.

Looking forward to contributing to the forum!
-Gavin
 
Chips! Start making chips.............
 
@gavin319

Welcome to the group!

Fantastic looking machine, Congratulations, ......but I have no concept of size....
How big is the table?
What's the overall height?

-brino
 
Was wondering the same.
 
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In google books I found some information about the #0.
1901 patent I believe.
Old sob.
 
@brino

Thanks for the info! I have seen the first two links you posted. I'll have to take a look at that downloads section. I also saw a lot of older forum posts reference a jmkasunich site but it looks like that site doesn't exist anymore. I saw a thread here archiving pages from his site. Any idea if he or anyone else still has a website dedicated to Van Norman mills?

I grabbed some dimensions off the mill. The table itself is 4.75" x 20.25" and the overall height is about 33" without the base and about 52" if it's sitting on the base. Overall the footprint of this thing is tiny compared to a bridgeport but perfect for small hobby work in my basement. I just grabbed a small vise today off a machinist that's closing up shop near me.

The same guy that sold me the mill also sold me a South Bend 9" B lathe (~1945) so I have a good setup to get started on. Any suggestions for beginner projects to try out?


@Janderso
Yeah I saw a few Google book references. I found one page that had a patent date that matched what's on the base of my mill -- Nov 3, 1896. Crazy to think that this mill is older than anyone alive today and still runs smoothly.
 
Wow, really nice score!

I can’t add much more than that, other than that I’ve got an old Van Norman dividing head that takes VN C / 5V collets. They’re super hard to come by and used ones go for a fortune on eBay.

I’ve been making a few up on my lathe as needed from some 4140 prehard; there are dimensions somewhere out there. I could find them if you’re interested.
 
@gavin319 What a Beaut! I actually just purchased the same mill and nearly the same lathe, although mine is the dreaded C model. Anyway, what are your plans for your mill and perhaps we can sort of work together on coming up with ways to execute and share info? I am also essentially a newbie to metal and 'making chips', having starting welding about 5 years ago and got my first metal lathe about 3 years ago, but I am so excited about the VN 0...it seems like its going to be a pretty capable little machine with its huge dovetails and robust frame relative to everything else! Can't wait to hear back and I'll post pictures shortly. Best,
-Samm
 
gavin319 said:
@brino

Thanks for the info! I have seen the first two links you posted. I'll have to take a look at that downloads section. I also saw a lot of older forum posts reference a jmkasunich site but it looks like that site doesn't exist anymore. I saw a thread here archiving pages from his site. Any idea if he or anyone else still has a website dedicated to Van Norman mills?

I grabbed some dimensions off the mill. The table itself is 4.75" x 20.25" and the overall height is about 33" without the base and about 52" if it's sitting on the base. Overall the footprint of this thing is tiny compared to a bridgeport but perfect for small hobby work in my basement. I just grabbed a small vise today off a machinist that's closing up shop near me.

The same guy that sold me the mill also sold me a South Bend 9" B lathe (~1945) so I have a good setup to get started on. Any suggestions for beginner projects to try out?


@Janderso
Yeah I saw a few Google book references. I found one page that had a patent date that matched what's on the base of my mill -- Nov 3, 1896. Crazy to think that this mill is older than anyone alive today and still runs smoothly.
Click to expand...
Hey Brother, how is your mill and milling experience going? Have you made any progress or developments with the no. 0? I am finally diving fully into getting mine back into production/restoration and I'm quite excited...it's such a beautiful little machine!
 
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