Whats going on with this mill

After my success with the £5 watchmakers lathe (woops it got sent to a relatives adress instead so that will take another week to get here) I am again cruising through the internets ready to chew bubblegum and get bargains.

Aside from 80s movie references here is my question. Through a website other than fleabay this time I have found a small horizontal miller but I must say I can't tell how the chucking works. It has what looks like a collet drawbar on the pulley end but on the other there is just a nut. Can anyone tell what is going on there?

Also more generally how useful do you think this would be? Spindle height is apparently adjustable and the table moves by that lever but there isn't an z axis to speak of. I guess it is useful for making surfaces flat or cutting slots but it doesn't posess the over reaching arm of most H millers so I guess it will only achieve light cuts. I'm debating what a good price for it would be.

Finally pictures

Can't be sure from the photos, but I think the bit with the nut on is being held in a collet.

What would worry me [and certainly go towards determining the price] is the brassy patch on the front bearing ... it looks very much like a brazed repair of a cracked housing.

MichaelG.

Not sure its really a milling machine. I would say the collet allows for quick changing of the actual part not the cutter and a toolpost or two would be mounted on the bed. Quick pull of the lever would do the cutting opperation(s) and then change to the next part and so on, ideal for repetative production work.

I beg to differ, Jason

It looks [to me] very much like a small [Horological] Horizontal Milling Machine.

I would expect the [missing] arbor to fit an 8mm collet, and carry cutters with a 7mm bore.

... Always happy to be proved wrong.

MichaelG.

!!!

Now you say so you may be right, I have seen capstan lathes with a similar mechanism. I would have thought a production machine would be heavier built though.

Also he says there is a brazed crack in the headstock does not affect operation. No doubt he is an honorable man and is entirely correct.

And re: nut being held in collet. Well sometimes the obvious will just fly over my head.

They used to use these things by the hundreds for slitting screw heads.

As to value if it polishes up, £10 if it doesn't £8

Simpler version of this Boley, second op or finishing lathe. If you were only making hundreads of small parts why would you need a heavy substantial machine? As for the brass nut could have been the last of the production run that was being faced and/or chamfered

And another

Edited By JasonB on 26/06/2015 18:54:38

Maybe I should send that to the seller

What you have there is a Morticing machine for wood. Most likely it will have '0' taper in the spindle. It would need to run at high revs.

Clive

Similar to the action of a slot morticer Clive but lacking the second lever to advance the work into the tool, looks like there is only one axis of quick movement. Also teh position of teh lever would limit you to quite short lengths of wood.

J

"It's 9" high, and 13" deep. The bed is 3" x 7.5" with about 2.5" travel. The bed is moved across by the lever for speed."

I asked if they knew what the collet standard was. If it was a standard size and not some long defunct proprietry I might be tempted. Not sure why but tempted none the less. (It is for a lower price than an adept lathe so the temptation is real)

.

So at £3 I might be tempted

The lever between the pulleys and headstock looks exactly like the quick action collet closer on one of my Pultra lathes. I can't see why you'd need that on a mill, so my money is with the suggestion by JasonB, it's a second op lathe. If there is a height adjustment, it's not immediately obvious. If one is very lucky it may use one of the commoner watch making collets but is probably more likely to be proprietary.

Unless one has a specific use for it, value is probably scrap only, and that's from a sufferer of OIS!

Andrew

Probably not so much for what it is but for what it could become. Might be a basis for a nice little tool grinder for instance.

.

Thanks for that.

It is whatever it is, and could become one or more of many things !!

MichaelG.

Andrew, and Jason,

There is a graduated scale just behind the knurled drum; but I can't see the units.

My first assumption was that it related to angular displacement of an eccentrically mounted spindle ... but perhaps it measures linear displacement [if the spindle body is suitably threaded] ... Do you have any suggestions ?

I also note that there is a maker's name [?] cast into the body, but I can't read it.

... When Rainbows buys it; all should be made clear. ...

MichaelG.

On my repetition lathe the amount of closure of the collet is adjusted using a knurled ring with radial holes before it is locked in place prior to use, a bit like the one here. I can't see why it would need a scale though. It would also be strange if the unit was using dead length collets.

Andrew

Read my post 6th one down.

It's not a lathe.

It's not a morticing machine.

It's a one op milling machine that only needs one axis of feed.

They were used for putting slots in screws, putting hexagons on screw with two ganged cutters.

The work was in jigs on the bed and the cutters went into the spindle. The spindle is on eccentrics to set the depth of the cutter instead of altering the jigs all the while.

I'm surprised that no one has found a picture of one from one of the old books.

Thanks for the confirmation, John

MichaelG.