My ‘new’ Select 1/2V Milling Machine

[parklandworks]

Bob
That will do nicely. Thanks!
I'm glad you got your quill fine feed moving and engaging/disengaging.
I've got a new-to-me south bend 10k lathe that i got at the same time as this Mill, and i have other things going on in my life too, so i probably won't really make the Mill functional for a couple months, but I'm very much looking forward to first chips with this tool.
I look forward to reading about your progress.
Thanks for the documents!
--Peter

 

[Aaron_W]

3. Will need to get a decent vise. Any suggestions? Have been watching used Kurt D60, D601, D675 vises on eBay.

Mills this size work well with a 4" vise. I have a Clausing 8520 which seems to be the same market that these were going for, and they have a passing resemblance. I have a 5" Kurt style vise that I got with the mill. It works but is too large to get full travel of the table. I bought a 4" Glacern vise which I feel is a better fit. Glacern is cheaper than Kurt but seems to be a good quality vise. Currently $399 but they do have sales, as well as occasionally offering free shipping which on something heavy like a vise is a decent savings as well.

Precision Matthews also has some vices that would fit these, the Homge brand is good quality, I think made in Taiwan. Shars and Little Machine shop have some cheaper Kurt style milling vises that generally get decent reviews.

Glacern milling vises

PM Homge 4" vise


This will give you some idea of the difference in size between a 4" and 5" vise on a mill of about the same size as yours. The 4" sits flush with the front when in the rear T slot, the 5" has an overhang of about 1-1/2" which cuts significantly into the travel towards the column.

As far as the price you paid, that seems about right looking at the tooling it came with. I've seen the small Rockwell and Clausing mills asking $2500 with little or no tooling and the ads are usually gone in 48-72 hours.

 

[WEL0058]

Aaron - thank you so much for the feedback. I knew I had to do something better than the vice that came with the mill.
Your picture made it better to understand the issue would be with an 6". Can see with the Glacern vice, the jaws can also be mount on the outside for wider work.

I am also looking at getting an 3/4" endmill tool holder for starts since most of tooling are 3/4 shank with the flat spot.

I really luck out finding this mill. I was just randomly using SearchTempest when I found this 20 minute old post on Craiglist for the mill an hour away. I immediately contact the poster for more information. A few hours later, she said there where 10 other people interested but I had first bid at asking price. No buyer's remorse - this mill should be the only one I will need. Glad did not jump on any of the mini-mills or the HF Chinese 'A1S' version which was selling for the same price as this mill without tooling.

Bob G.

 

[Aaron_W]

Aaron - thank you so much for the feedback. I knew I had to do something better than the vice that came with the mill.
Your picture made it better to understand the issue would be with an 6". Can see with the Glacern vice, the jaws can also be mount on the outside for wider work.

I am also looking at getting an 3/4" endmill tool holder for starts since most of tooling are 3/4 shank with the flat spot.

I really luck out finding this mill. I was just randomly using SearchTempest when I found this 20 minute old post on Craiglist for the mill an hour away. I immediately contact the poster for more information. A few hours later, she said there where 10 other people interested but I had first bid at asking price. No buyer's remorse - this mill should be the only one I will need. Glad did not jump on any of the mini-mills or the HF Chinese 'A1S' version which was selling for the same price as this mill without tooling.

Bob G.

Yeah a 6" would be way too big.

Yours should be a capable mill, just remember to take it easy, it is not a 2000lb Bridgeport. It is fairly common to find these smaller mills with damaged spindles and spindle feeds as they don't do well with King Kong operators. I think you will find it is a big step up from a mini-mill.

 

[wrenchguyrich]

Bob, thanks for the manual upload. I bought my Select 1/2V last summer. Paid 1500 for it, no tooling. Reasonable price for the PNW machinery desert. Nice mill.
I was fortunate to obtain 2 junk Lincoln 180c welders from work, and with some parts and labor got them both working. The best part is my twin brother traded me all kinds of mill tooling for one of the welders. He's been in the trade 40 years and has acquired so much stuff, he'll never use it.

 

[WEL0058]

Wrench - You're welcome. Did not think your area was a machinery desert with aerospace activities.

I still have not played with the mill. Too many other things going on.

I did move the mill from the shop roll up door to a semi-permanent location. Under estimated how much floor space this style mill uses. It sticks out about 45". Thinking if a corner location would be better.

On eBay, have bought a "HFS(R) 52 Pcs 9/16" Slot 1/2"-13 Stud Hold Down Clamp Set" and a used 1/8 x 6" hardened steel parallel set. Looking at a used Kurt D40 vise for $370

 

[wrenchguyrich]

Bob - Desert, well perhaps I have unrealistic expectations. Boeing and all nearby, I suspect small gear like you or I would want isn't something they are going to have a lot of. Friend of mine has a shop near here, does a lot of contract work for Boeing, all nc. It seems like there is more used nc gear for sale on CL than anything else around here. Having said that, there was an older version Select mill on CL in Bremerton last week for 750, ad was up for 2 days. I would say definitely there are more small lathes for sale than small mills. Of course small lathes have been manufactured for many more years than small mills. Now I'm rambling.

Been looking for a used 4" Kurt vise locally. Never seen one, lots of 6" on CL here. Bought a cheapy on EB for now.

First project. 2.5" 5 insert sandvik face mill. 0.030" doc, 750 rpm, 11 cuts, probably 1.5 hours. Cutting speed seems low but much noisier if I sped it up. Have 1hp w/inverter so speed changes easy. I was amazed how once cutter was fully onto work, how quiet it was.

 

[wrenchguyrich]

The seller of my Select mill figured it weighed around 600 lbs, ok says I, it shouldn't be too much trouble to get it into the man shed. Well took it to work initially and weighed it, surprise, see picture. In any event its still at my place of employment, and currently I'm off on medical leave. Sure miss having the mill at home. Was in the process of putting in a fwd rvs switch, when I found a 1 hp 3 ph motor 4 to 1 invertor duty for 42.00.

Decided to rebearing the oem motor as they were 40 years old. Noisy? No, just cheap insurance. Got some SKF replacements off EB. Found wiring into start switch insulation kind of sketchy, so rewired that as well. I was a bit surprised that all the threads on the motor were SAE, mill too looks like.
A side note, there is a 10/24 screw in armature shaft for the start switch on the oem motor. If a F/R switch is installed, the screw may come undone in reverse.

 

[Aaron_W]

The seller of my Select mill figured it weighed around 600 lbs, ok says I, it shouldn't be too much trouble to get it into the man shed. Well took it to work initially and weighed it, surprise, see picture.

How big is the table on this mill? I had assumed these were basically the same as the 6x26" Grizzly G0729, but if if is 900lbs then I'm guessing it is larger and probably similar to one of their 8x30 mills.

Been looking for a used 4" Kurt vise locally. Never seen one, lots of 6" on CL here. Bought a cheapy on EB for now.

The 4" Kurts are not very common and often cost more than a 6". I had been looking for a while to get one for my mill, and finally decided to go for the Glacern since new it was still cheaper than what I saw many trying to get for a used 4" Kurt.

 

[wrenchguyrich]

Aaron - Manual says 7 x 30, I think that's right, not in a position to confirm currently.

Rich