Recommendations - hobby mills

[DennisCA]

I googled that thinking it was a bike!

Haha yeah. I Sold it today, gonna miss it. Very slick gun but it has sat in my safe for 5 years, I just don't use it anymore, rather put the money towards a milling machine.

Some images of the shotgun, it was basically as new in shape:

 

[DennisCA]

I've had Deckel Fp1 FP 2 and Thiel milling machines in the past. they are no better or worse than any other milling machines. The best milling machine I ever had was a Brown and Sharp mod O omnimill.

I have seen a Brown and Shape machine in Sweden, is this one of those machines?
https://www.blocket.se/vasterbotten/Frasmaskin_81357441.htm?ca=11&w=3

 

[MBB]

No, the milling machine is here.


http://www.lathes.co.uk/omniversal/

Weighs about 1750kg

 

[DennisCA]

Too big for my shop definitely then

 

[DennisCA]

Researching the TOS FN-20/32/40 lathes currently, for ex-communist machines the prices they seem to fetch are in the same range as deckels. Is there a general price inflation on old small machines or something.

 

[RichardM]

anything small that can be used by a model engineer usually has inflated prices.

Just think of it as the sellers starting point, start at less than you want to pay, you can always offer more or walk away

 

[Keith 66]

I have an Arboga U2508 & it is an excellent machine, you have to remember that its a mill drill but it is surprisingly capable & accurate & very well made indeed. Only real downside is the motor is built in & its a two speed three phase job. I have heard that they wont run on phase converters for some reason. Its floor footprint is small & i would not be without mine.

 

[DennisCA]

I was looking at one of those for the longest time, but I am wondering if I might feel too limited from the start with one. I am not sure. They do fetch a premium here however, 2000 euros for the older cousin to the U2508 the EM825 and at those levels of cost I think I'd like something more capable.

I think the Mattson & Zetterlund VF-600 is the smallest and most basic mill I think I would be satisfied with.

 

[DennisCA]

Based on some websites calculations, it's cheaper to ship from the UK than Germany, weird....

I found there's a british made Deckel clone too, this auction ended but it looks nice. Anyone used one of these machines, know how they are with spares and such?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183259630884

 

[Rig Pig]

Researching the TOS FN-20/32/40 lathes currently, for ex-communist machines the prices they seem to fetch are in the same range as deckels. Is there a general price inflation on old small machines or something.

I had to turn down a FNK25 mill, lovely thing but it was massive, think 1.5 x Bridgeport size, but built like a Russian tank, TOS make good machines!

 

[DennisCA]

Massive TOS lathes and mills pop up regularly here as well, but they rarely fetch much. Looking at the lahtes.co.uk advert section and it strikes me the prices in the UK are lower than in Germany and most other continental countries. Even saw another alexander mill and it sold for £1600 so perhaps the one above ended without seemingly being sold because it was priced too high at £2500?

 

[Hopefuldave]

Priced too high plus it isn't an exact Deckel replica, so threads differ and some accessories don't fit...
Also I think the Alexander has changewheels for feed speeds instead of a gearbox?

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[DennisCA]

That does sound like it could get annoying. But I will keep a close eye on the UK sites in the future. Though I also found a mill in sweden, a Köpings UF-0, doesn't look terribly big but it's hard to tell and hard to find good info on it. Only 800 though.

 

[Hopefuldave]

The 0-size mills are usually a bit smaller than a Bridgeport, the U probably means it has an universal table (rotates on the knee, add a dividing head and gearing to mill spirals and helices) - does it have a vertical head with/without a quill? I sometimes wish mine had a quill...

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[DennisCA]

The seller told me the "foot" was 1 by 0.5 meters so thats not big, with the table and the shaft that sticks out it's 1.2 by 1.65 meters though, bigger than a euro pallet. And no quill. I think that might be bothersome.

https://cdn.blocket.com/static/1/original/24/2460663271.jpg

https://cdn.blocket.com/static/0/original/24/2435689307.jpg

https://cdn.blocket.com/static/2/original/24/2431725644.jpg

Seems to be sitting on not quite a pallet but something made from metal, perhaps for moving it. Power feed in one axis only.

 

[DennisCA]

I noted the Alexander mill btw has a two speed motor, according to lathes.co.uk this was a very rare option but doubled the speed range available. This might not be of much use to anyone without genuined 3 phase because two speed motors might be tricky to run from a VFD.

I have also gotten a shipping quote for the köpings mill just incase, 320€ from Sweden to Finland, to my doorstep.

 

[DennisCA]

I have decided not to go for the Köpings mill. I went out with a ruler and almost had to laugh at just how big 1,65m was (depth of machine with the boom included), I could simply not fit that into my shop.

It also wasn't a universal mill, no rotation of the table, and no Z-axis feed and no quill.

 

[DennisCA]

I found a deckel at a decent price, but it does not have a proper table and it only has a slotting head. At least there seems to be a functioning aftermarket for deckel parts, for instance, I did find a horizontal deckel setup with arbors and stuff for 300€. But I'd basically have an unusable machine for the first time if I bought this. But the slotting head is apparently a rare option, though seldom needed.

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/fraesmaschine-deckel-fp1/883063697-84-1942

And then there is the issue of freight, assuming the seller wants to deal with a foreigner, assuming I dare buy something like this. Lots of assumptions.

 

[DennisCA]

Now I found a Maho MH600 too
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...hine-werkzeugfraesmaschine/786404428-242-4512

This looks an interesting machine, another deckel clone, good rep I understand. Assuming the usual.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

From the looks of it in the listing pics, I doesn't appear to have been abused - but of course you can't go solely on cosmetic appearance with such things.

I assume Germany is too far/expensive for you to travel to inspect. Would the Seller send you a video perhaps?