My “new” Clausing 8520

[Defender92]

I just picked up the last piece of my home shop. The Clausing 8520. I probably overpaid. $2500 in the Detroit area but I’m happy with my purchase and I’m an impatient person. Along with my Langmuir Pro CNC plasma cutter, craftsman 12 inch lathe, press brake, TIG and MIG… I’m going to be entertained for a while.







I have a couple questions about my 8520. I need a hand wheel for the quill. How does it attach?? I don’t see anything for it to grip on to.

Also, when operating my mill the quill slowly feeds down by itself. Is there a lock for it or do I have something worn out?

Can anyone identify this vise? It’s massive. I was going to get Kurt vise but this thing seems pretty legit. I might just leave it as is.

It runs pretty good! I love them Accu-Link belts and immediately put one on. Big difference. Now I need to clean and oil it up… and make something. My plans are to add a power feed and DRO eventually.

edited for more questions

The 8520 came with some cheap swivel casters that were definitely NOT rated for the weight. I want to get some heavy cast iron casters. Is this a terrible idea?? If so can anyone recommend good adjustable feet?

Can anyone recommend a decent carbide indexable end mill in MT3?

 

[frankly2]

You will not be disappointed, they are excellent machines ! Mine has never failed to please me with good results !

 

[matthewsx]

You most definitely suck.

nice looking machine

 

[Aaron_W]

The red arrow points to the sensitive feed. The hand wheel has pins that fit into the hole where the red arrow is pointing. There should be a matching hole on the other side of the stem. The fine feed hand wheel is a slip fit and not intended to be left on the machine when not in use.

The green arrow is your course feed allowing you to use the spindle like a drill press. There is a sliding collar to engage / disengage the course feed.

When milling the knee is usually used to raise and lower the work, I only use the spindle to adjust height when making a hole. Very nice mills but the spindle assembly is rather lightweight and you can easily damage it if you treat it roughly.

There is a lock for the spindle, front of the head opposite side from the sensitive feed.

Looks like you got the column riser block as well, very handy as there isn't a ton of room under the spindle so that extra 4" is nice to have.

Yours looks well cared for, and $2500 is pretty typical for one of these in good condition. They are very popular small shop mills and they haven't made them in about 40 years. There are only so many out there and that number isn't getting bigger.

 

[Defender92]

One more question. What are these things? They appear to be oil ports??

 

[Defender92]

The red arrow points to the sensitive feed. The hand wheel has pins that fit into the hole where the red arrow is pointing. There should be a matching hole on the other side of the stem. The fine feed hand wheel is a slip fit and not intended to be left on the machine when not in use.

The green arrow is your course feed allowing you to use the spindle like a drill press. There is a sliding collar to engage / disengage the course feed.

When milling the knee is usually used to raise and lower the work, I only use the spindle to adjust height when making a hole. Very nice mills but the spindle assembly is rather lightweight and you can easily damage it if you treat it roughly.

There is a lock for the spindle, front of the head opposite side from the sensitive feed.

Looks like you got the column riser block as well, very handy as there isn't a ton of room under the spindle so that extra 4" is nice to have.

Yours looks well cared for, and $2500 is pretty typical for one of these in good condition. They are very popular small shop mills and they haven't made them in about 40 years. There are only so many out there and that number isn't getting bigger.

View attachment 396659

The red arrow points to the sensitive feed. The hand wheel has pins that fit into the hole where the red arrow is pointing. There should be a matching hole on the other side of the stem. The fine feed hand wheel is a slip fit and not intended to be left on the machine when not in use.

The green arrow is your course feed allowing you to use the spindle like a drill press. There is a sliding collar to engage / disengage the course feed.

When milling the knee is usually used to raise and lower the work, I only use the spindle to adjust height when making a hole. Very nice mills but the spindle assembly is rather lightweight and you can easily damage it if you treat it roughly.

There is a lock for the spindle, front of the head opposite side from the sensitive feed.

Looks like you got the column riser block as well, very handy as there isn't a ton of room under the spindle so that extra 4" is nice to have.

Yours looks well cared for, and $2500 is pretty typical for one of these in good condition. They are very popular small shop mills and they haven't made them in about 40 years. There are only so many out there and that number isn't getting bigger.

View attachment 396659

Thank you! I don’t know how I missed that. It makes sense now. If I can’t find a replacement I can probably make a hand wheel with help from my craftsman lathe.

 

[Steve-F]

Love it!! I so want something like that too for the small area I have to put one:<)

 

[jwmay]

Looks great! And I think you did fine on the price. I think that vise is shop made. I wouldn't be in any hurry to replace it either.

 

[ConValSam]

Congratulations!

You'll be thrilled with this mill and all of its capabilities compared to similarly sized mills sold new today. When I moved from an Asian mini mill to my 8520 I could not believe the difference in rigidity and smoothness of operation. It still impresses each time I take a cut.

Have fun with it!

 

[Musky_Hunter]

I think you did pretty good. Wore out import drill mills were going for that much in my area.