# My “new” Clausing 8520



## Defender92 (Feb 16, 2022)

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?


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## frankly2 (Feb 16, 2022)

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


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## matthewsx (Feb 16, 2022)

You most definitely suck.

nice looking machine


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## Aaron_W (Feb 16, 2022)

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.


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## Defender92 (Feb 16, 2022)

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


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## Defender92 (Feb 16, 2022)

Aaron_W said:


> 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.
> 
> ...





Aaron_W said:


> 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.
> 
> ...


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.


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## Steve-F (Feb 16, 2022)

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


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## jwmay (Feb 16, 2022)

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.


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## ConValSam (Feb 16, 2022)

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!


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## Musky_Hunter (Feb 16, 2022)

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


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## jwmay (Feb 16, 2022)

ConValSam said:


> 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.


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## markba633csi (Feb 16, 2022)

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


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## jcp (Feb 16, 2022)

Defender92 said:


> 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.


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## BGHansen (Feb 16, 2022)

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

Bruce


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## woodchucker (Feb 16, 2022)

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.


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## Zertsman (Feb 16, 2022)

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.


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## woodchucker (Feb 16, 2022)

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.


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## gard (Feb 19, 2022)

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.


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