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Clausing Mill 8520 - Buy??

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nitroracer20

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Feb 25, 2018
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hello,

Got a lead on a clausing 8520 mill. I wasnt in the market much for one, yet, but a friend is selling out his deceased uncles estate.

Hes looking for $4-500. Has some tooling. Dont think it has a vise. 110V baldor 3/4 hp motor.

Should i grab it? Anything in particular to look for? Price seems reasonable i think?

Ways / table move smooth. Seems tight.

It will be home owner hobby use. Its a nice size for my shop.

Any thoughts?

Thanks heres some photos
 

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larry_g

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That is normally a 12-1500 dollar mill. If it comes with the tooling then that is an add on price. Why are you still sitting there...go get it. While there look around in the drawers and shelves to see if any other machine related items are there like rotary table, indexer, collet holders, cutters and setup blocks etc.. Take a couple thousand bucks and buy the lot. It is not unusual to spend more on the tooling than the machine.

lg
no neat sig line
 
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RoninB4

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For a small, light duty mill it's a good one. For that price you really should go get it if you would ever want to do small metal working jobs. It's not the same capability as a larger mill, obviously, but it's a far better machine than the imports. Price makes it a very good buy. Get all the tooling/fixtures that are with it even if it cost a bit more. You won't find that price again any time soon.
 
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Shiftless

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As said earlier, take some extra cash in case there are accessories or other tools that the estate will be liquidating. There might be an old vise or 2 in the mix. :evil:
 
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Whitworth

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I'd rate it as a $700 to $800ish mill.

Doesn't hold a candle to a Millrite or a Rockwell.

And has Morse #2 taper. It's good that it comes with some tooling.
 
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liliysdad

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Whitworth said:
I'd rate it as a $700 to $800ish mill.

Doesn't hold a candle to a Millrite or a Rockwell.

And has Morse #2 taper. It's good that it comes with some tooling.
Click to expand...

Those mills sell for $2500+ all day long. I had folks beating down my door and offering me over asking for my 8530 at $4000. I ended up selling for $3500 as part of a package deal with my lathe, but I could have gotten $4500 if I’d wanted to piecemeal the deal.

MT2 tooling is ridiculously easy and cheap to source, and there is not shortage of variety. Unlike the Rockwell machines, you can pick up the phone and order parts from Clausing.
 
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Whitworth

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liliysdad said:
Those mills sell for $2500+ all day long. I had folks beating down my door and offering me over asking for my 8530 at $4000. I ended up selling for $3500 as part of a package deal with my lathe, but I could have gotten $4500 if I’d wanted to piecemeal the deal.

MT2 tooling is ridiculously easy and cheap to source, and there is not shortage of variety. Unlike the Rockwell machines, you can pick up the phone and order parts from Clausing.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind having one set up for a dedicated operation (but not at $3500!), but otherwise wouldn't work for for me, too light weight. Maybe people value them for that.
Still doesn't hold a candle to the Rockwell.
 
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liliysdad

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That’s the exact reason they command the prices they do. They are lightweight. One man can move them and set them up, even in basement shop.
 
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Aaron_W

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Whitworth said:
I wouldn't mind having one set up for a dedicated operation (but not at $3500!), but otherwise wouldn't work for for me, too light weight. Maybe people value them for that.
Still doesn't hold a candle to the Rockwell.
Click to expand...

8520 is solidly in the same class as a Rockwell. Almost identical size / weight. Rockwell has the benefit of using R8 instead of MT2 / B&S. 8520 /30 offers a few more features, and better support.

Milrite is a stap above either, but also a significantly larger mill.
 
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Whitworth

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Aaron_W said:
8520 is solidly in the same class as a Rockwell. Almost identical size / weight. Rockwell has the benefit of using R8 instead of MT2 / B&S. 8520 /30 offers a few more features, and better support.

Milrite is a stap above either, but also a significantly larger mill.
Click to expand...
Seen them side by side. Rockwell has greater weight. I'd say 2-300 pounds heavier.

Millrite I'd guess weighs in at 1000 lb machine.
 
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slowtwitch73

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There's a ton of conflicting info out there as to machine weights. Table size differences, power feeds etc etc adds weight and confuses matters.

I have a Millrite with long table and feeds... wag is that it's north of 1k lbs. but short of driving over a scale with it, I'll never know for sure!
 
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Aaron_W

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Clausing and Rockwell both use a 6x24" table, Millrite was offered with more options from a 7x27 to 8x36" table.

From the catalogs Clausing mill has a shipping weight of 720lbs, Rockwell has a shipping weight of 780lbs, Millrite (7×27) has a net weight of 1100lbs.
 
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G-ManBart

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I sold an 8520 two or three months ago and got $3,200 for it here in Michigan. We have all kinds of machinery around here, but Clausing 8520/8530 and the Rockwell and Millrite mills are hard to find.

Yours is missing the pulley cover, which is a bummer, but not a deal breaker. The one I had came with maybe $500 worth of tooling, including a mill vise, and had the factory power feed for the X-axis, but those honestly don't work all that well. When I sold it we disassembled it into the three main parts and it went in the back of a full-size SUV with no problem. The guy drove three hours to get it, and said he'd been trying to find one for a year.

Finding an 8520 in decent shape for less than about $2,500 takes luck. To put it in perspective, the Bijur one-shot way lube system yours has is worth around $250-300 by itself so the folks claiming sub $1,000 may not be up on current pricing.
 
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G-ManBart

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Aaron_W said:
Clausing and Rockwell both use a 6x24" table, Millrite was offered with more options from a 7x27 to 8x36" table.

From the catalogs Clausing mill has a shipping weight of 720lbs, Rockwell has a shipping weight of 780lbs, Millrite (7×27) has a net weight of 1100lbs.
Click to expand...
Having seen all three in person, I'd say those numbers make total sense. The Millrite is clearly a more substantial machine than the other two.
 
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Whitworth

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Aaron_W said:
Clausing and Rockwell both use a 6x24" table, Millrite was offered with more options from a 7x27 to 8x36" table.

From the catalogs Clausing mill has a shipping weight of 720lbs, Rockwell has a shipping weight of 780lbs, Millrite (7×27) has a net weight of 1100lbs.
Click to expand...
BS, I've seen them side by side. The Clausing looks like a broomstick that's about to fall over compared to the Rockwell.
 
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pelletman

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Firstram said:
I don't see anyone saying that machine is worth 10,000, do you?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was low. Post #3 above

"That is normally a 12-1500 dollar mill. If it comes with the tooling then that is an add on price. Why are you still sitting there...go get it. While there look around in the drawers and shelves to see if any other machine related items are there like rotary table, indexer, collet holders, cutters and setup blocks etc.. Take a couple thousand bucks and buy the lot. It is not unusual to spend more on the tooling than the machine."
 
OP
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nitroracer20

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Thanks for the wide variety of responses. Got a call today he threw together a milkcrare of tooling. Cant wait to see what it contains and and pick this up.

Thanks @ gman - for the info on that oiler setup. I was wondering what that was about!

Also got this equipto bench for free at a different sale same day. He held it for me for a few weeks, honored his word he would, so i threw him $40 for lunch.
 

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RoninB4

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nitroracer20 said:
Thanks @ gman - for the info on that oiler setup. I was wondering what that was about!
Click to expand...
-Good spotting from gman, I hadn't noticed the Bijur until blowing up the photo. The Bijur is/was considered a standard and essential piece of equipment to have on any manual mill, a lot of them didn't have a central lube system when shipped from the factory. On older, used machinery, it's not uncommon to discover the wrong lube had been used by a previous owner that has now caked into something resembling soap. At that stage it's not only failing to lubricate, it's also preventing the correct lube from fully entering the galleries.

It's a small detail but I'd suggest that during cleaning some time is put into checking the oil galleries. Sometimes you can crank the table/saddle/column to end of travel to inspect what's in the galleries, be very careful of hanging all the weight off to the side and the machine tipping over. Use a Q-tip or something to gather whatever old lube is present and give it a good look under magnification. You can also pump a good dose of new lube and check the machine ways, if it's not wet it's not getting lubrication.

If that's the case the only remedy is to pull the table/saddle and clean out any blockage in the galleries and lines feeding them. The correct lube should be listed by the manufacturer. I've seen oil galleries that were plugged up with dried grease where an oil should have been used. Failure to correct a clogged lube system will result in accelerated wear and the machine will start getting loose where you don't want it to. I've had to do this with several machines, Maintenance for metal working machinery gets neglected far more often than not. The same professional machinists that neglect machinery wouldn't do that to their own automobiles, don't know why that is. If you take care of your mill it should be in good working condition for the next generation.
 
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dutchgray

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For that price you can barely buy a decent quality used drill with some tooling anymore. You won't better that machine with a used import mill for the same money.
MT2 spindle is not as convenient as an R8 but there is plenty of cheap and good enough Chinese MT2 tooling available.

RoninB4 said:
The same professional machinists that neglect machinery wouldn't do that to their own automobiles, don't know why that is. If you take care of your mill it should be in good working condition for the next generation.
Click to expand...

They are usually under pressure to get the work out the door and consider lubrication and cleaning of the machine to be the job of the maintenance people. Or they have never bothered to RTFM for the machine.

Firebrick43 said:
Wow, devolved into my mill weights more than your mill.
Click to expand...
I know a guy who once owned a mill with a working envelope of 3m square (about 10')
It had a 10' thick concrete foundation under it, which turned out to be not enough as he said they could rock that concrete 6" relative to the rest of the floor with a heavy workpiece and the table cranked right over.
He also owned a lathe that swung 14' 6" by 120' between centres and weighed ~120 ton.

alfadan said:
That is definitely the Friend Price!

It's no Bridgeport...like mine...which ways 2500 pounds...

😝
Click to expand...
Which are still a pretty lightly built machine, I currently own two of the things.
Some of the clones are more heavily built and come with 40 taper spindles but fundamentally the Bridgport style knee Mills are designed for versatility and not heavy work.
 
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Provincial

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Every machine has capabilities and limitations. Sometimes the limitations are not as great as expected, if the operator is creative. Sometimes patience is necessary.

Production is different from hobby work, and patience is not an option when trying to make money.

Apples and oranges.

The Clausing is a good machine when used within its limits. It may only be a step in the direction of future tools, but it will be a good step.
 
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