Clausing Mill 8520 - Buy??

[nitroracer20]

Goods acquired.

Ill post some better photos once i get it offloaded + the tooling bundle. I have to make heads / tails on everything i got for accessories. On quick glance a bunch is for a SB lathe, some endmills im not sure will work, some stuffs not MT2 etc…

Anyways, time to go down the rabbit hole earlier than i planned!

 

[Provincial]

Unless there is a hidden problem, you made a great score! You won't be sorry.

 

[Roberts210]

Wish to hell I could find a comparible set-up for that price.

 

[nitroracer20]

Some of the accessories. Im sure i will have tons of questions for the experienced folks in coming days.

 

[slowtwitch73]

You can make some $$ selling the lathe stuff...

 

[RoninB4]

-Well Newb you kinda struck a jackpot of sorts. Lot of money saved with the extra tooling, that's good. The lathe tooling may not be needed but selling it likely won't bring a lot of cash. Used tooling, unless it's really good quality or unobtanium factory originals, usually sells for only a fraction of what it does new. Perhaps better to hold it, doesn't cost you anything to hold it, and barter/trade it for thing you'll really want. A better milling vise and a boring head come to mind. You might even get a lathe and you'll wish you had kept those items you sold or traded.

Make a list of what you have and what it's used for before selling/trading anything. What you can't identify someone here likely can. Looks like you did real good on this purchase. How's the mill condition? Any bearing noise or excessive slop in the table/spindle? If not you did real good on this.

 

[alfadan]

Keep it. You'll get a lathe soon

 

[Jawn]

OP, you ****. Big time.

 

[nitroracer20]

Hey if anyone local wants that equipto workbench for $40, its theirs. Thought it would work better for my shop but im sticking with my current bench.

Mills running good did some turning. Will play more this winter hopefully! Baby #2 due mid february!

 

[Jawn]

Hey if anyone local wants that equipto workbench for $40, its theirs. Thought it would work better for my shop but im sticking with my current bench.

Mills running good did some turning. Will play more this winter hopefully! Baby #2 due mid february!

Where is "local"?

 

[nitroracer20]

Long island ny. Kemon by! Youll probably hit way more traffic here then your location leads on though lol!

 

[whateg01]

Long island ny. Kemon by! Youll probably hit way more traffic here then your location leads on though lol!

That may be true but I've always found the traffic in Atlanta to **** more.

 

[BombShelter]

Cool find nitroracer! Even up here in the land of a thousand machine shops, the little mills go for big money. I bought a Clausing because I love made in Kalamazoo Equipment, I used to deliver to the factory down on Pitcher Street, across from the Checker Cab Factory, around the corner from the Gibson Guitar Factory and pretty close to the Parchment Paper Factory (it's still there, mostly abandoned but huge).

Upto five years ago, you could get smaller mills (mostly obscure European) and Bridgeports for around $1500 here, nowadays they go for silly money, especially if they have tooling. I could have gotten anything but space, moving and power are always big concerns. If it's too small, you'll find your profit margin enough to move to something larger.

 

[tombell572]

Nitroracer--you got a great deal there--often if you buy a bare machine you'll end up spending more then it cost just tooling it up. The
Clausing an excellent size for most home shop uses. As Provincial wisely noted above, all machines have designed limits which when respected will yield excellent results.

I'll be back on Long Island in mid-September. I have a small "retirement" machine shop used primarily for my motorcycle work. If you'd like some help in identifying any of the tooling (I'm not looking to buy anything!) I'd be glad to stop by.

Tom B.

 

[msharley]

Some of the accessories. Im sure i will have tons of questions for the experienced folks in coming days.

Great score!

You got double yer money in tooling!

 

[nitroracer20]

Bomb - thats a great story. Anything old us made piques my interest, im sure many of us here share that feeling. I dont foresee myself out growing this any time soon but who knows.

Tom - id like to take you up on that. Id be incredibly greatful if you could give me some pointers. Im new, managing to get along, but a someone experienced with some guidance would be a huge help. Ill buy dinner and beers! Keep in touch. If your in seacliff still im about 35 minutes from you on south shore. I used to work on seacliff ave by RR tracks.

What a suckage honor Msharley. Thank you. Just looking to pass things along i wont ever use.

 

[tombell572]

Nitroracer--I'll shoot you a PM when we're back on Lawnguylin.

Tom B.

 

[WillyBoy]

Great score on the mill! I found one locally three years ago for $1800 and jumped on it. For a hobby machine it's a perfect size for my shop. All of the tooling that came with it would fit in a shoe box so you really made out. Yeah, as others have said, #2 Morse taper isn't the best for transferring huge amounts of torque but it's adequate for just about everything I need it to do.

 

[Aaron_W]

Great score on the mill! I found one locally three years ago for $1800 and jumped on it. For a hobby machine it's a perfect size for my shop. All of the tooling that came with it would fit in a shoe box so you really made out. Yeah, as others have said, #2 Morse taper isn't the best for transferring huge amounts of torque but it's adequate for just about everything I need it to do.

People frequently compare these small mills to a Bridgeport. 650lbs vs 2000lbs... of course they will seem wimpy.

When compared to a medium size benchtop mill they look pretty good. I've been quite happy with mine.