Deal or No Deal - Clausing 8530 Mill

[PHPaul]

Cruising Craigslist and spotted this Clausing 8530. Appears to be 110 single phase, price seems reasonable. Appears to have a Jacobs chuck mounted, but I'm assuming it will also accommodate some sort of drawbar system for tool holding. Doesn't appear to have any tooling which is a drawback.

Have questions in to the seller. Depending on the answers, may go look at it.

 

[Martin W]

Find out what taper this has. A lot of times these Clausing machines had Morse tapers. Not a big dea,l but makes it tougher to buy tooling off the shelf.
Morse taper end mill holders are readily available on Ebay.
Deal
Cheers
Martin

 

[Choiliefan]

That's a very popular home-shop mill so seems a good price if it's functional.
Wonder if the more versatile Burke Millrite with Tree head next to it is for sale as well?

 

[C-Bag]

That’s the best price on one of those I’ve ever seen. I’d be all over that like white on rice. DEAL.

 

[Aaron_W]

$850 is a great price, these often sell quickly at $2000-2500, and this one looks like it is in decent shape.

The 8530 is an improved 8520 (redesigned, heavier knee, 4" column spacer as standard, and a two speed crank on the right side to move the table) which makes it a little more desirable.

The 8520 and 8530 use an MT2 spindle, the 8525 and 8535 used a Brown and Sharpe #7 taper. MT2 tooling isn't as common as R-8 but it isn't hard to find.

The spindles are a bit delicate, so worth checking, but at that price even if it needs some repairs you would be getting a good deal. I'd jump on it, I doubt it will last long.

Just understand these are small mills, that Millrite sitting next to it is twice the weight with a bigger table, about 50% more travel, and more power.

 

[PHPaul]

@ Aaron_W - Thanks for that information. Haven't heard back from the poster yet, probably at work.

In my case, small is good, I'm space-limited. And it's a step up from my Grizzly bench-top unit!

I'll keep the board posted.

 

[kb58]

@ Aaron_W - Thanks for that information. Haven't heard back from the poster yet, probably at work.

Hopefully. A lot of sellers have the discourteous habit of not replying once something's sold.

 

[PHPaul]

Hopefully. A lot of sellers have the discourteous habit of not replying once something's sold.

True, and I don't see it lasting long at that price. We shall see, I guess.

 

[Aaron_W]

@ Aaron_W - Thanks for that information. Haven't heard back from the poster yet, probably at work.

In my case, small is good, I'm space-limited. And it's a step up from my Grizzly bench-top unit!

I'll keep the board posted.

I have an 8520, and there is a reason they are popular with those of us who are space challenged. Size wise they are similar to a Grizzly G0704 or PM-25, but have a knee. Looking at the pictures this one looks complete, and in decent shape. I don't see the fine feed wheel for the quill in any of the photos so if you get it have a look around for that, it is a 3-4" hand wheel that slips onto a stud in front of the quill down feed lever. It should't be too hard to get one / make one if it is really missing, but worth checking for, maybe it is just laying around nearby.




Good luck, looks like a great deal if you are able to get it.

 

[PHPaul]

Owner did eventually get back to me on a couple of questions and mentioned that extra collets were in the cabinet. Immediately emailed back asking when I could come look at it, no reply as of this morning.

I have a G704, I'm now wondering if this is enough of an upgrade to warrant a 7 hour round trip and the money?

EDIT: I found a post with the dimensions of the 8530 and it's virtually the same size as my 704. Actually, slightly smaller in a couple of places. From the picture, I had the impression that it was about halfway between the 704 and a Bridgeport in size. Looks like it would just duplicate what I already have. Dang.