Clausing 8520 - Low range??

[terrywerm]

As near as I have been able to tell from photos, Clausing 8520 mills do not have a low range built in to the head, thus the machine has 4 speeds as near as I can tell. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

 

[Mosey]

Clausing mills have several speeds selected by manually moving belts on the 3 pulleys. See attached pictures. Any questions, don't hesitate.
Mosey

 

[terrywerm]

Thanks a million, Mosey! That is exactly what I wanted to know.

Oh, and a karma point for you for taking the time to supply the wonderful photos!

 

[lazylathe]

Another option is to install a VFD and run the mill off the original 3 phase motor.

That is how i have mine hooked up and i can get it from a few RPM's up to full speed with a twist of a knob.
Lots of low down torque available.

Andrew

 

[terrywerm]

I had that in mind, Andrew, not sure yet if I am going to attempt this purchase or not, money is a little tight right now.

 

[rhitee93]

Oh how I want one of those Clausings! Buy it now and you will regret spending the money for a while. Pass on it and you will have the money but regret not buying the mill until you find another one.

I've been looking for 2nd chance at one within driving distance for some time now...

 

[terrywerm]

I was looking at an odd ball mill, specifically a Fray All Angle head mounted on the frame of a small horizontal milling machine. I could buy it for a pretty low price, but I am also keeping in mind that I may want to sell the item at some point in the future. With that in mind, the Clausing would be a much better way to go. On top of that, the Fray head uses Brown and Sharp #7 taper in the spindle, which is even harder to get tooling for than the Clausing, which uses #2 Morse Taper. In an ideal world, I'd get a full sized Bridgeport, but they are kind of hard to wrestle in to or out of the basement! So, the smaller Clausing is a good fit for me!

 

[Mosey]

I have recently installed an ER 25 collet chuck on my 8525 and love it. I guess when I can get around to it I will sell of all of my Morse 2 collets and tooling. I sure won't miss em. Most of the time you don't even need a wrench to tighten the tools, let alone beat on the drawbar to loosen them.

 

[lazylathe]

th_wwp

What collet system did you use Mosey?
I am getting a bit tired of beating the bar... :big:

Andrew

 

[terrywerm]

Okay, I did it. I bought the Clausing that I was looking at. In this case I did something I don't usually do, and bought it sight unseen, going only off of a couple of photos. Yes, I know, many sins can hide within those photos, but the mill itself may have to be a project itself before I get around to building any engines. I will be picking the machine up on Saturday about 3 hours from here. It comes with tooling, collets, etc. but I am interested in the ER25 collets that you installed Mosey. I thought yours was an 8525, which would use #7 B&S taper, correct? Maybe youi can shed some light on this subject??

Here we go, spending more money already. That's okay though, I gotta give the wife some ammo once in a while!

 

[rhitee93]

Good luck with it Terry. I am envious!

 

[rhitee93]

Good luck with it Terry! I am envious

 

[Mosey]

Yes, very interesting.
Mine is an 8525 which is supposed to be B&S #7, but isn't. You should laugh to know about all of the #7 collets I bought, only to find (measure) the spindle and learn it was MT2. The 8530 & 8535 were the later larger table model, with B&S 7 or MT2 head.
Some even had Bridgeport heads.
I now have the ER 25 collets from Allesgute on EBay.
Good luck with it.
I recommend DRO's because the table screws are probably worn and there are no parts available.
Let me know if you need anything else.
Mosey

 

[terrywerm]

Mosey,

Thanks for the update and the ER25 collet source. I wonder if a previous owner of your machine didn't replace the spindle at one point, changing it over to the MT2 spindle from an 8520??

As for the 8530, I would much rather have found one of them, but they seem to be even harder to find than the 8520's. The one that I bought was less than 150 miles from home, which is pretty close as far as I'm concerned. Heck, I drove 400 miles for a Keller 5HD power hacksaw last year, but then again it was a freebie, only cost was fuel and time.

The mill I bought has a 220V single phase motor on it, which will work just fine for the time being, but I plan to round up a 3 phase motor and a VFD for it. I plan to do the same with my Logan lathe, but those mods will wait for the time being. I can see where the ER25 collets and chuck will be a more worthwhile upgrade to pursue first.

Now I just have to wait for Saturday so I can get my eyes and fingers on it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gosh, this waiting is getting boring. . . . . . . . . . .

Oh, shoot, I suppose I could wait offline!!