Mk 1 Chester Champion - any good?

Im on a limited budget and need a better mill - ive got a Clarke micro at the moment and its woefully inadequate for my usage. I want to build a 71/4 loco next. There is a Champion mill for sale at £400, used but in good nik, what do you think? Mill only - no tooling.

Hi Fizzy

I have had a Chester Champion 20v for about 4 years now and had no problems so far ( tempting fate now). Never having built a loco, let alone a BIG one i would have no idea if the champion would be man enough for that job, however i have done one or two jobs on mine that i thought may be too big and it managed them ok.

Cheers Derek

P.S. My 10 year old Axminster micro has just today started acting the goat.

Hi Fizzy

I owned one some years ago and built a 2" Traction engine on one alongside a ML7.

I brought it new, the problems I had were that the gib strips were too small and that there was play in the bed, Chester sent me a replacement which were initially too small eventually they sent me an unmachined set which I fitted myself. I also found a worrying amount of sand on the inside from the casting process. If this sand gets into he bearings then they will have a short life.

As a basic miller I found it a stable machine with the wide bedways. however with the round column it was limiting and if you use the quill feed you are restricted from memory I believe to 3-1/2", so boring of cylinders may be out of the question. Personaly I would look for a mchine with a dovetailed column or one with an alignment key in the column.

Andy

good advice - put me right off !!! not the unit for me

Hello Fizzy

If we're talking about the early Chester Champion with the round column and the offset motor with pulley drive I'd simply say 'save your money'. I bought one new and it was nothing but trouble. It was crudely made, noisy, and went through three sets of main bearings and two motors despite fairly light use. The poorly made taper gibs meant that it was impossible to avoid side play somewhere in each slide. The round column is very inconvenient in use, as mentioned by Fenley, although that of course is a matter of function rather than quality.

As a result of being sold rubbish and of delivery failings (White Van Man arrived with no handling equipment at all, not even a trolley, and had the quaint idea that it would be all right to dump the box in the road), I resolved that I'd never deal with Chester again - a decision I have not regretted.

John

I did'nt realise the early ones had a round column. Mine is the dovetail job, and i collected it myself, but i do agree that there service leaves somthing to be desired just lateley.

Derek.

Hi Derek,

You are quite correct, the 20V has a dovetail column and quite good Z axis clearance. It isd basically the same as the Warco WM16. I have another companies version of the larger machine equivalent to the WM18 but had the smallwer machine previously. They are company labelled Weiss machines made in China and mine have both been excellent with no problems at all. In fact very capable machines for the price.

Best regards

Terry

Before dismissing the Champion mill have a look at the articles in MEW issues 61 and 101.

I have had the Warco equivalent, ZX15 for five years and have had no real problems. Yes, the round column has disadvantages but, with a little thought before starting a job, they are easily overcome. You will certainly find it more capable than your present machine and adequate for building a loco.

Yes, if you can afford it go for a big heavy machine but I couldn't afford or house a Bridgeport!

Russell

Must admit to rather liking my Champion. Converting to variable speed using an inverter made a big difference and got the high speeds for the small cutters. The round column is a pain when going up in drill size to open out holes but as Russell says a bit of planning can get round most jobs. There have been some good articles in MEW about adapting it and I will be doing one of the mods to retain register when taking cuts at different heights requiring unlocking of the quill

One advantage I enjoy is being able to swap tools between my MT3 tailstock in the lathe and the Champion. Make one tool but fits both machines. Simples!

Edited By John Coates on 08/11/2012 12:39:55