What do you think of this mill???

[Seaco]

Hi all

I am looking for a mill to use as an all rounder and think this may fit the bill, has anyone used or have one to give me an idea of it's capability and quality?

It is a Chester 626 Turret Mill

www.chesteruk.net/store/626_turret_mill.htm



Any help really appreciated...

Lee

[mutley]

A versatile and useful bit of kit. In my opinion you wont go wrong with a knee mill like that. It once toppepd my wish list before I aquired a Bridgeport.

Andy

[kwil]

Provided the 626 size will meet your needs, I passed through this size quite quickly because of the limitations of "daylight" ie z axis sizing and also found the table traverses limiting for my uses, hence I have a long table Bridgeport now!

[drjohn]

Bloody expensive!

DJ

[Seaco]

Don't get me wrong I would love a Bridgeport and I could get one for a similar price but I couldn't move it into my shed/workshop when it arrived, I have a concrete slope into the workshop and a wooden floor I could cut out a section of floor when I get it where it's going to live as it's concrete underneath but it's getting it there, I can't use a crane (inaccessible) or even an engine hoist due to the slope I am hoping it can be dismantled into manageable chunks.

[Nigel Bennett]

I got a Chester Lux mill into position on my bench single-handed. I was able to get it into place by the bench using a combination of bits of round bar as rollers and a hired engine hoist to get it up on to the bench. Perhaps you could rig up a winch to haul yours up the ramp?

I would have liked the 626 but the problem for me would be fitting it into place. It needs a lot more room at the sides (where I have bench space) as the table needs to drop down a lot lower than the bench machine.

I know of at least two similar machines to the 626 in my club, one is badged Myford, t'other Warco, but they're the same animal and have apparently given every satisfaction.

[houstonceng]

Very similar tom the Warco VMC and Myford of the same ilk. In fact, they probably all come from the same factory.

www.warco.co.uk/VMC-Turret-Mill-C7DAEB08E0.aspx

Make sure you buy an R8 version. MT3 isn't a milling taper and you can get it really stuck with the drawbar. Besides which, if you run to a B'Port later, you have tooling that will fit it. (And before anyone says that R8 isn't a REAL milling taper, only Int30/40/50 qualify - Yes. I have seen that thread)

I have a Warco A1S (same as a Myford VME). It's a little larger than the VMC in terms of knee and table size. Otherwise, the same.

I would recommend, if possible, that you buy one with a 3-phase motor and inverter. The speed steps are limited otherwise. Warco were willing to convert and deliver mine complete.

I'd have loved a B'Port but couldn't get it into the garage which is my workshop because of limited height.

[peterseager]

Ditto Andy's post except my mill is a Warco VMC, R8, 3 phase and converter.

Because Warco converted it they delivered it on their own transport and the driver helped me move it through the garage and into the workshop. A big help having someone who knew the tricks!

It is in the corner of the workshop set at 45 degrees. This allows the table to move through the open door to the garage. That was the trick to getting a VMC in the space I had available. Maybe others should consider it.

Peter

[welshy]

I have a similar mill in work and I would definately recommend one.
Mike

[Ralph]

www.benchtest.com/w-grizz.html
www.boysungrain.com/mill.htm
finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/6x26millingmachines/

Hello.

Something for you to read.

Especially the Yahoo group is very informative.

I own that mill too.
Mine has been sold by Knuth/Germany in the 1990s.
Made in China or maybe Taiwan.





You can see,there´s not much space in Z axis,but a riser block is not that hard to make.I added a picture with that modification.
If your lathe is big enough,you can turn yourself such a riser.My Super 7 is not.
Ah,btw.,you´ll need a good mill, with lots of space in Z...... for the stud holes.

More often than not, the Y axis travel is way too short as well.



I bought that mill very cheap and very used.
So far,I changed all bearings,made me a" push out drawbar"
Added an inverter and a DRO in Z,linear scales in X and Y.
When I bought it,I have had not a single idea how a mill should be.
With some more experience now,I would never buy it again.
It´s too small,even for model engineering.

Ralph


The same mill with a riser added.Unfortunately it´s not mine

[brozier]

Hi Ralph,

Could you share some details of your push out draw bar?

Cheers
Bryan

[bambuko]

"...It´s too small,even for model engineering..."
For a model engineer you are not very precise :-)
It depends what scale you model engineer in - might be too small for 5" gauge model, but I am sure would be great for gauge 1...
Certainly better than vertical slide on your lathe
Chris

[Ralph]

Dec 10, 2010 20:57:45 GMT bambuko said:

[glow=red,2,300]Certainly better than vertical slide on your lathe [/glow]
Chris

Of course, but only if you disregard the price you have to pay for that mill.
1600£ is much too much for that mill,IMHO.
My vertical slide was only 100€.
Cheers,Ralph

[bambuko]

If you have space and know what you doing, there is no better deal than second-hand industrial machinery.
I wouldn't buy the mill in question for that kind of money.

Chris

[Seaco]

Thankyou for all the info lads especially Ralph for the pics and links, it seems very mixed a reasonable mill but to expensive new. I am looking at second hand and as I've said I would love an old industrial mill i.e. a Bridgeport but I can't physically fit it in or even move it! so I have to look at something more reasonably sized but not to small.

As they say "you can do small stuff on a big mill but you can't do big stuff on a small mill..."

Lee

[davebreeze]

Dec 10, 2010 18:39:11 GMT brozier said:

Hi Ralph,

Could you share some details of your push out draw bar?

Cheers
Bryan

I'd be interested too if possible - I'd like to add something like that to my Elliott mill.

[Ralph]

Howdy.

For the drawbar I took a 12mm mild steel rod of the necessary length (regarding the spindle´s length)and cut a 12x1,75 thread at one end.Maybe 20-25mm long.
This is the end where the tools or collets are secured.

(My mill has a MT3 spindle and the metric tools,bars and tapper collets, for MT3 are M12x1,75 threaded.)

The other end was turned to 10mm at 25mm length.

Then I saw of a piece of a 19mm hexagon mild steel rod,turned one end to 14mm,over 20mm
The now round end was threaded metric fine 14x1 and drilled to 9,9 x 25mm,the depth is not that critical.
Next step is to loctite and dowel the partly hexagon rod to the 12mm rod.

You have to tap a MF 14x1 thread at the upper end of the spindle,25 mm deep .You are ready now.

If you unthread a tool or a tapper collet from the drawbar,at first it will be "pushed" out of the spindle.
This is because of the different pitches.No more hammering.

Cheers,Ralph
P.S.Hope you will understand my writing.I´m no native speaker,sorry.




The rod in middle ist the "drawbar" the mill came with


Here you can see the dowel pin.

[houstonceng]

Much as I agree that an ex-industrial machine is probably better and/or cheaper (and bearing in mind that i couldn't fit a Bridgeport into the workshop) I searched for about a year to locate a good second/third/fourth/etc hand machine.

Most had been subject to "The Scotchbright Treatment", or were overpriced - especially from the usual traders.
Some were too far gone to be useful until refurbished (masses of backlash, new gibs needed, slides needing regrinding, etc).
Some were past easy refurbishment (broken T slots, drilling marks in the table, in want of a new major part - or two).
See recent MEWs for, "How to rebuild a milling machine."

As I was trying to build a locomotive - not rebuild machine tools, I thought it was better to buy "now and use" than wait until who knows when a "good 'un" would come along. I find my Warco A1S is big enough for buiding a 5" gauge loco. I'm not into 7.25" gauge, but it would be OK for that as well. 12":1 foot traction engine - Probably Not !

Even my wife, who accompanied me on potential purchase viewing trips, started to say things like , "That one looks like it's been really misused - why don't you just buy a new one ?".

What I couldn't figure out was how other club members seemed to have a good machine almost "fall into their lap" and, often, it was a "one previous owner - only used occasionally" machine.

[davebreeze]

Re. Ralph's self-ejecting drawbar.

Ralph, That's an elegant solution, I like that. So as long as the top thread is a smaller pitch than the drawbar thread in the tool it will self-eject as you unscrew it. I'll have to see if I could do that with my Elliott mill.

[indy4x]

Dec 10, 2010 4:38:19 GMT Ralph said:

I bought that mill very cheap and very used.
So far,I changed all bearings,

[/b][/quote]


Hi Ralph

Would you mind sharing the details on the bearings especially the lower spindle bearings

Thanks

Chris