Subject: rockwell mill questions

From: [email-masked] (Bob Powell)
Date: 4 Oct 1995 06:19:45 GMT

Tomorrow I'll be looking at a Rockwell combination horizontal /
vertical mill.  3/4 hp spindle motor, 6 x 24 table, but I forgot to ask
if it's knee type or column type.  Knee type I think as Z travel was
quoted as 16" but the seller may have confused Y and Z.  Seller is
the son of the former owner who bought it new "long ago" and recently
died.  Condition ostensibly mint.

I recall a recent thread generally praising these machines.  How much
of a limitation is the tiny table however?  What is a fair price
range for the knee type?  Column type?   Parts situation?

thanks,

Bob

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From: [email-masked] (Jonathan M. Elson)
Date: 4 Oct 1995 18:27:15 GMT

Bob Powell ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Tomorrow I'll be looking at a Rockwell combination horizontal /
: vertical mill.  3/4 hp spindle motor, 6 x 24 table, but I forgot to ask
: if it's knee type or column type.  Knee type I think as Z travel was
: quoted as 16" but the seller may have confused Y and Z.  Seller is
: the son of the former owner who bought it new "long ago" and recently
: died.  Condition ostensibly mint.

: I recall a recent thread generally praising these machines.  How much
: of a limitation is the tiny table however?  What is a fair price
: range for the knee type?  Column type?   Parts situation?

The small table is less of a problem than small table movement.  My
old Brideport is not much bigger than this, but allows about 10 x 20"
movement.  Since it is a combo (H + V) it almost has to be a knee type,
since there is no way to move the horizontal spindle up or down.
I would asume that a combo would never be built as a column type mill.
3/4 Hp is a bit weak for horizontal milling, but should be fine for vertical,
my machine is 1/2 hp.

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From: [email-masked] (Mark McDade x36841)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 15:41:18 GMT

. . .

I recently bought an old (1953) Diamond Tool machine of nearly
identical description.  Horz/Vert mills of that size seem to
be generally in the $1000-$1500 range - somewhat more than a used
Clausing vertical or similar size mill/drill.  My experience so far
is that the machine is excellent for the size.  Quite heavy and
vibration free.  You probably should check out the spindles for collet
size (assuming there are no wear or gross repair issues).  The old
Diamond uses a #9 B&S taper on the horizontal - MSC carries collets
and reamers for that size but you need to be sure the machine either
comes with horizontal spindles or that you have a source for them.
The vertical spindle may have a non-standard collet (the Diamond does)
- that's something to check.  I got quite a few collets with the
Diamond but haven't found a source for additional ones.

The table size is a limitation but assuming that the z-axis is about
15" and that the horizontal spindle can take end mills in a collet,
that may not be a big deal.  Makes setup more difficult but milling
relative large items is possible.  In general, mills are described
by the "cube" in which they work.  These are not big mills and you
need to decide if the work you anticipate will fit in the 3-d space
the mill supports.

Mark McDade

[email-masked]