Maho "Universal Tool Milling, Drilling and Boring Machine" - MH600

[Chipper5783]

There hasn’t been much activity on this forum re the “European Style” mills. Sam has encouraged me with the pictures of his “new” FP1, so I am sharing information on my machine. I have seen them variously referred to as “Toolroom” or “Diesinking” machines. The works original documentation describes the machine as per the subject line above. For a number of years I had been milling with only a mill attachment on my 15” lathe. I had been on the lookout for some sort of a small milling machine – when, low & behold a Maho MH600 came up at the local government surplus auction.

I was faintly familiar with Deckel – never heard of Maho. A little research and it seemed like a pretty desirable machine. The next step in the story is now obvious – I brought it home. That was 3 years ago. There was nothing really wrong with the machine, but it still took me a year to get it sort of cleaned up and powered (needed a 600V transformer, which to run off my existing RPC). I’m a home machining guy, nothing happens very quickly. Anyway, the machine is from one of the local tech colleges (I actually went there myself 30+ years ago, but I don’t recall seeing this machine – that’s because it was in a back room, reserved for use by the department technician), 1963 vintage, with #40 taper and fitted with the S20x2 drawbar.


I have now used the machine a bit and love it. The main issue was cleaning and powering it. One of the comical issues I created was to wash the colour coding off the gear selector plate (fixing that became a project in itself!).



It came with a good attachment package. I was even able to get quite a bit of original documentation. Even some of the tooling came with the machine (so often at auction, the tooling gets mixed with other machines – and is never seen again. Heck, I got a bunch of Schaublin W25 collets with the MH600, wish I could trade'em for something I could use). Anyway, as with so many other individuals here, I’ve been in a continuous search for additional tooling.

Maho accessories very rarely come up. To get most of these items up front was a real prize:

• The works cabinet containing
• Vertical, horizontal and slotter heads
• Universal table, rotary table, dividing head with tailstock and alternate mounting plate
• Large Pratt Burnerd Hi/Lo vise, an unusual (to me) Simco Tri-vise universal tilt swivel vise
• Punch milling attachment (still looking for an excuse to use this)
• Plus some arbors, drill chucks and collets.

I was able to track down additional collets to complete the x1/16ths set of imperial U2 collets (the long ones), and particularly the direct fit, Imperial collets #40-S20x2 (which cost me dearly). Overall, it has been a fun machine to get going. Of course, I have constantly been on the look out for more pieces to build this machine out.


About a year and a half after I got this 1963 machine, the opportunity came up to aquire the spiral milling unit – with the complete machine included (the seller would not separate anything out). I was quite concerned as it was a long way away (about 4200 km), no practical way to inspect anything, the machine had been removed from service for a while (not even a video of it running) and I had no idea how to move it. So, I bought it! Actually, it worked out okay. The seller packaged the machine pretty well and the cost to ship the machine and a pallet of attachements across Canada was $700.00 (I thought that was okay).



Now I have 2 Maho MH600s. This second machine is a 1965 machine and almost identical to the 1963 machine. I have not played with this 1965 machine, it was reported to be operable and I have no reason to believe otherwise (everything seems to be in place and there are no visual issues). Basically, it is just very dirty. I do not currently need a second machine just like the first one, and there are so many other projects I am working on.



Maho ’65 had the fixed solid table and I have cleaned it up and moved it to th Maho ’63. The benefit of the fixed table is a little more head room and a table I am able to lift myself (the universal table is more weight than I am comfortable handling safely without the little shop crane). I have a couple of little swivel vise arrangements for small jobs and that has got me by without having to pull out the universal table.

Fitting the spiral milling attachemnt will be yet another project (I actually have a project where I need this capability). I am pretty sure it is the correct one for the MH600, but the x-axis end bracket has not been drilled for the “bearing arm” – seems to have been used on some other Maho MH machine of vintage mid 1960s (the spiral milling unit was common to several sizes of MH machines). The first part of the project will be making up additional change gears (only the 5 gears that were mounted came with the machine – the other 26 gears are ??? gone).

However, right now I’m fitting a DRO to Maho ’63. The fun never stops J.



Of course I’d still like to find:

• The highspeed head
• more collets (i.e. Imperial U@ collets x 1/32[SUP]nd[/SUP])
• #40-S20x2 tooling
• radius gauge for the punch milling attachement (maybe even find a project to use the PM attachment for!)

Looking forward to seeing more pictures from Sam when he gets his "new" machine home.

Regards

 

[18w]

Chipper those are some beautiful machines and getting all that tooling at once is a chance in a lifetime. I think I will just go out to the shop and kick my Bridgeport now.


Regards
Darrell

 

[Chipper5783]

Chipper those are some beautiful machines and getting all that tooling at once is a chance in a lifetime. I think I will just go out to the shop and kick my Bridgeport now.


Regards
Darrell

Well, Darrell, thank you for the kind remarks. – don’t kick that BP too hard.




Agree, the Maho was a chance of a lifetime (the surprise is that I was clue'd in enough to recognize that). When I (and a bunch of other folks were checking it out very close) saw it at the auction – you certainly had to get the angle right to see it as a prize. It was dirty (not the worst I’ve taken on) and chips in nearly everywhere, there was no possibility of running the machine (in fact, you couldn’t really pull much out or take anything apart), it was a 600V 3 phase machine, and an odd ball spindle (those’ll scares some folks off). So, it was certainly a “pig in a poke”. I think I paid a full dollar price – having now played with it for a few years, I have no regrets at all.

I was already well infected with old iron, I then contracted the rare old iron infection. By the time the second Maho was through the door, I’d paid just about as much as for the first one! Still no regrets (yes, one sick puppy).

I’ve done what most folks probably do, take pictures that show my hobby in a good light (I’ll bet you could do the same). If I were to point the camera in other directions, it would look like a war zone debris field! I have the greatest intentions of fixing / building / creating all sorts of things – certainly enough to last the rest of my life (yet I still keep looking for that next opportunity).

I’m not sure if it is what is available in my area, or something about how I pick machines – the main issue with the metal I drag home is that it is real grubby and little bits and pieces broken or missing (no issues with spindles, or slides). Generally pretty cheap.

I’ve cleaned up and been using: Maho ’63 milling machine, a Kasto PSB210 hacksaw, an Arboga C830 clone drill press, a very sturdy 15” Rockwell drill press, and a sweet little Smart & Brown 1024 lathe (and a few power tool type machines).




I still have quite a few components on the Maho and Smart&Brown to service, I have a Cincy Toolmaster waiting for attention (see posts elsewhere here), Maho ‘65 and have destroyed one Victoria U0 (haven't scrapped it yet. 'keeping it as my monument to stupidity and thankfulness for being in one piece).

Regards

 

[18w]

Thanks for the reply Chipper. I would like to hear about the mill laying on its side...or maybe not! You have some wonderful equipment there. I now regret passing up on some machines over the years. Last year I helped a friend clean out his machine shop as he was retiring. He had a lot of old worn out machinery along with some decent stuff. It almost brought tears to his and my eyes to see a Lucas horizontal boring mill hauled to the scrappers. It would have taken up a sizable garage in its self and without a overhead crane would not have been able to use it to its capability. A man has to know his limitations as they say. Glad to see folks like you and Paul living the dream.

Regards
Darrell

 

[Uglydog]

Thanks for posting these pics!
What I've read on the net is that these are sweet machines.

Daryl
MN

 

[samthedog]

Hey Chipper, lovely machines! They look very similar to the Deckel, even down to the travel of the quill. Yours look to be newer than my Deckel as the dial speed selectors are a nice modern touch, so is the switch gear.

You are a fortunate man to have landed 2 machines. Lightning really does strike twice. well this forum is certainly starting to get a little more lively. I'll be posting once I get the machine in the shop. I really can't wait )

Paul.

 

[Brain Coral]

Hello Chipper

Really nice mills and to have all the attachments to go with them... nice score. I did the mileage and it puts the second mill somewhere around Montreal, P.Q. $700.00 to ship all of that gear for that distance sounds very reasonable to me, considering it was going to cost me $200.00 to ship a 1# parcel to England over Christmas...

I'm also curious about the tipped over mill pic...

I'd better go get supper ready before I catch heck... :yikes:

Cheers...

Brian

 

[mattthemuppet2]

Beautiful mills chipper! Sounds like you have quite the shop in the making

Soooo, about the fallen mill....

 

[Chipper5783]

True Confessions

Soooo, about the fallen mill....

Oh, the dumped Victoria U0 - I guess I opened that can of worms.

I had been wanting to purchase a mill for some time (having only the mill attachment arrangement on my 15” lathe for milling type work). Anyway, this Victoria (Elliott) U0 came up for sale on Kijiji – very close by. After letting the add sit for some time, I did finally decide to pick it up. I generally do all my lifting / moving activities on my own. I elected to unload the machine from the pickup truck “Egyptian style” – pry bars, rollers, etc. I was not rushing. I had lowered the vehicle until the bumper was right on the ground (outside the shop is bare ground, so I dug out for the wheels, then let the air out of the tires). Then I set up a ramp, put the machine on rollers and lowered until the leading edge of the base was touching the shop floor – all was good. That had been my plan, and it had taken a few hours to get to that point. Obviously I ought to have finished that original plan!





Certainly what comes next highlights for me, and perhaps others as well the hazards associated with changing plans and failing to recognize risk. After the event it was “how stupid can I be?” Anyway, I was not hurt (shook up a bit), out $700 (actually only $600 as the scrapper will give me a hundred).




The seller had welded up a heavy duty cart for the machine. So I thought it would be handy to have the machine on wheels. I pulled the machine part way back up the ramp and began to slip the cart under the base. It is obvious now, but I set one corner of the base of the machine on the edge of the cart and went to the other side to remove the blocks from the other corner. However the center point of the wheels are a couple inches in from the edge (I think I had blocks in close to the wheels to keep it from rolling), when the rest of the weight of that front end of the machine came down, the cart flipped up – that one front corner had no support and the corner I was working at still had some blocks under it. The machine is top heavy – once it started to go, it went very fast.



So the machine is pretty thoroughly broken – the fixed side of the z-axis dovetail on the knee broke right off, x-axis lead screw is bent and a number of other issues. A further embarrassing insult to my ego was that the cart wasn’t wide enough – it would fit the base of the machine, but no account was made for the bump out where the coolant pump is located. Anyway, I think the Lord was looking after me that evening (okay, He does all the time – just certain times He gets more involved).

Now I get help (generally cost about $150 to unload a machine).



I guess the Victoria machine is fixable (with enough time and effort, anything can be fixed). I suppose I did fix it – the government auction was less than a month later and I purchased Maho ’63. I’m even using the cart, that is what Maho ’65 is sitting on (indeed it is handy for shuffling the machine around on). I have not hauled the machine to the scrapper just yet – I’ve been keeping it as a monument to what can go wrong (for myself, for my two young kids – there can be tangible consequences to the decisions and actions we make). Maybe I’ll use the table for bolt down assembly / welding ???



So Maho ’63 meets my current needs. I’m setting up for a spiral milling job, but first need to make the change gears, and would like to get the DRO going (should make all milling tasks a bit more straight forward). Granted, the Maho MH600 has a small work envelop, so the Cincy Toolmaster is intended to expand my options there.

Brian, you are correct, Maho '65 came from Montreal (via Transocean Machine).

Regards, David

 

[18w]

David,
That was a most unfortunate accident but most importantly your only injuries were to your wallet and pride. Thanks for posting, a good wake up call for everyone, it only takes a micro second for disaster. Looks like a lot of parts would be salvageable for some one who has one of these mills. I always have been looking for a clapped out mill table to use as a welding fixture myself. I would hang on to that if I were you. By the way, after your Maho and Smart Brown posts, did I mention I am up for adoption?


:talktogod:
Thanks for stepping up and showing us your disaster.
Regards
Darrell