My “new” Clausing 8520

[jwmay]

You'll be thrilled with this mill and all of its capabilities compared to similarly sized mills sold new today.

I agree. Having only used my Rockwell once for milling, I should probably reserve my opinion. But it really went smoothly compared to the mill/drill. And the motor is alot quieter too.

 

[markba633csi]

I was just going to ask about that vise- it does look home made and well made too. Nice job, whoever did it
-Mark

 

[jcp]

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

View attachment 396660

Yes they are oil ports for the fine feed reduction gear train. Here's pic of what's inside.

 

[BGHansen]

Here's a copy of the manual/parts blow up for your mill. Courtesy of Vintage Machinery (and Google).

Bruce

 

[woodchucker]

Welcome to the Clausing club. Having a knee sure beats a round column. I think you will find it to be a fairly capable machine. It does not have the rigidity of the BPs and larger, nor the R8, but you'll get to understand how to make it work. As far as the wheels, I would lose them. They are not adding the the rigidity. If you need them block it up when you don't need them.

 

[Zertsman]

There are gibb screws opposite each other that squeeze the quill to sort of prevent it from falling. They are located in the steel collar on top of the spindle stepped pulley.

There is supposed to be a spring under the screw and then a piece of brass that rides on the quill between the splines. You tighten them and put pressure on the quill that will sort of hold it up.

They both need to have the same tension or you can feel it in the down feed handle when the mill is running. It can be alarming when you feel all this intermiten resistance in the quill handle, but it's because you have one screw tighter than the other. It's a bit to fiddly, but if you get them both adjusted the same, the feeling almost completely goes away.

One of the 8520 sites talks about getting some springs out of I think .030 wire. I just did it and I don't think they are stiff enough. Maybe my brass sluggs need to wear in a bit.. not sure as I have not had them installed that long.

It holds the quill at the top, but as soon as it moves, it sometimes wants to fall all the way to to the bottom, especially if the handle is on the down swing of its arc.

I found a 4" chrome wheel on amazon and drilled it to fit the fine feed and pinned it to match. Works very well although I haven't adapted my boring head to 2MT yet.

Clausing still has some parts available, although they can be pricey. Be sitting down when you call. Hard to make parts can be worth it. If they don't have the parts, they sometimes have drawings they can send you so you can make replacements yourself. Some are posted here.

 

[woodchucker]

I guess that depends on the year. Mine only has one (only one hole) and it doesn't work that well. It really needs to be cranked on to have a little effect.
I have thought of doing it to get more/better pressure. It does quiet the quill down, I get knocking if it's loosened.

 

[gard]

On the left side of the head is a bolt, you tighten this to lock the quill at any height. Just above and below this, there are 2 screws, you can tighten these just a little so the quill does not drop on its own. I have never messed with those little set screws at the top of the pulley but I may take a look at that.