Power Feed question for Clausing 8520

Back to th OPs question whether the CDCO (and many others) will fit onto the Clausing - the simple answer is ... no, but... one can be adapted relatively easy. As with many of the old machines the Clausing 8520 was cloned by the Chinese and is generically called the 6x26 (with R-8 spindle:))) mill with several offerings of it (Grizz, WT, etc)

Some 10 yrs ago I had the WT version of it and adapted one of the Chinese PFs to it, scrounged up a couple old pics of when I did the install (I had a bunch more but can only find these. I remember just starting to mess around with some trial methods digging in the scrap box and pretty quickly had it mounted. Course this was back when I bought the PF for something like $175 instead of the $300 or so now...

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Based on Pacer's comment above, has anyone replaced a clausing quill with a Chineese R8 quill? Are they compatible?
 
11 years ago when I sold my 8520 you could still get a Servo brand power feed that was made for 8520. The price was very high, I believe they have since quit selling them. I gave up on my stock Clausing power feed, it would work half decent then not work, too many broken endmills were the results. I ended up hand feeding. I believe the Clausing PF had design issues and have spoken to only a couple folks who were happy with theirs.
 
11 years ago when I sold my 8520 you could still get a Servo brand power feed that was made for 8520. The price was very high, I believe they have since quit selling them. I gave up on my stock Clausing power feed, it would work half decent then not work, too many broken endmills were the results. I ended up hand feeding. I believe the Clausing PF had design issues and have spoken to only a couple folks who were happy with theirs.
Thanks, I had seen that one of the sites about the 8520. I might try a cobbling something together. What did you wind up with after the 8520?
 
Thanks, I had seen that one of the sites about the 8520. I might try a cobbling something together. What did you wind up with after the 8520?

When I decided I wanted something stiffer and bigger than the 8520 I bought a Jet JTM-1 9 x 42" 2 hp step pulley mill. It was a steal at the time $4000, plus a grand for a Newall DRO. Years later I am still happy with it. Sadly the Jet stuff has gotten considerably more expensive since then. I have seen some incredible work done on 8520s and don't mean to denigrate them but they are not in same league with a Bridgeport size machine in terms of rigidity. Which is kind of comical because being a nodding head machine Bridgeport type machines are far from rigid, but its all relative and mass usually means more stiffness and less flex and the Jet certainly is a world different than the Clausing. Ya Dance with the Girl ya brought, if a HF mini lathe is what you have you deal with its limitations and do the best you can, likewise with a Bed Mill or what have you, its all trade offs. If I have to move to town and live in an apartment, I will swap out all my big toys go sherline or Taig or what have you. Making chips with a smile on your face is what its about.
 
When I decided I wanted something stiffer and bigger than the 8520 I bought a Jet JTM-1 9 x 42" 2 hp step pulley mill. It was a steal at the time $4000, plus a grand for a Newall DRO. Years later I am still happy with it. Sadly the Jet stuff has gotten considerably more expensive since then. I have seen some incredible work done on 8520s and don't mean to denigrate them but they are not in same league with a Bridgeport size machine in terms of rigidity. Which is kind of comical because being a nodding head machine Bridgeport type machines are far from rigid, but its all relative and mass usually means more stiffness and less flex and the Jet certainly is a world different than the Clausing. Ya Dance with the Girl ya brought, if a HF mini lathe is what you have you deal with its limitations and do the best you can, likewise with a Bed Mill or what have you, its all trade offs. If I have to move to town and live in an apartment, I will swap out all my big toys go sherline or Taig or what have you. Making chips with a smile on your face is what its about.
Yep, understood. For years I made due with a milling attachment on the lathe. It sucked. I had to really tighten the gib screws and do everything possible to get more rigidity out of it. I got what I got for ease of getting it into the basement and it has a knee, which the rong fu's don't. So I figure it would be easier to machine with. I just found out how stout the Rong Fu's are though as they guy had one there. They seem to be quite big for a bench top unit. I will try to make the 8520 a little more use friendly with DRO's and a power feed. I think it's important for surface quality to have that power feed. So I may try to do as above, and get it done.
 
I was under the impression that the 8520 screw needed to be keyed and/or a bushing needed to be installed in order to make a aftermarket PF work? I would love to have a PF on my 8520 in the future.
 
I adapted this power feed to my Clausing 8520 and also to my Millrite MVN without much work. If anyone is interested in more detail let me know. I did not modify anything on the mill. I made an extension to the shaft and drilled and tapped the end to screw on where the previous acorn nut was and the power feed gear crosses the joint which makes it work in both directions without unscrewing the joint.

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If you have any close up pics of the modification I'd really like to see them.

thanks, Brian
 
I need to take mine off as I plan to sell the 8520 when I get my Millrite home and sure it works. I can photo the parts then.
 
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