New Diamond Mill Followed Me Home

[markba633csi]

We might need two "Diamond" categories here but here is my new (to me anyhow) Diamond tool company M-20 with a Rotex head added. A lucky find and only two cities over so the only shipping cost was for a Harbor Freight cherrypicker.
Broke it down into pieces and stuffed it into my little truck. All single phase motors so no VFD needed.
Brown and Sharpe #9 taper in the horizontal spindle but the Rotex uses a strange Shaublin-like collet size; fortunately came with a collection of useful sizes from 1/8" to 1/2".
Arbor and overarm support included. I'm jazzed. Do I officially suck now?
Mark S.

 

[francist]

Sweeeet!

-frank

 

[brino]

Cooool! That looks like a great machine. Solid and stable.

What are your plans, clean up enough to use ASAP or full disassemble, paint and polish?

Whatever you do please put up some more pictures when you get a chance.
What does the base look like?

-brino

 

[Uglydog]

Diamand Head?
Rotex?

Please explain.

Thank you!
Daryl
MN

 

[markba633csi]

Hi Daryl, I don't know all that much about the Rotex company but the mill is shown on the Lathes.UK website as one of several models built in Los Angeles in the mid forties to mid fifties. Apparently, Walt Disney bought several of these to make parts for his personal backyard railroad which was the inspiration for the larger train that runs the perimeter of Disneyland. Walt told the accounting department the mills were for maintaining film cameras. Yeah, right. Lol
Anyhow, I still don't know what collet system the Rotex uses. It looks like ER20 or 25 but I suspect it's not. It's a light duty head, but the mill is sturdy.
More pix to follow...Not doing a full teardown, just a little cleaning and paint. I want to use this thing before I get too old!
Mark S.

 

[brino]

Daryl,

It's a Diamond horizontal mill with an Rotex brand vertical head.

Here's the Diamond Milling Machine page at lathes.co.uk:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/diamond/

...and Rotex here:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/rotex/


Hey Mark,

There's a little info on Diamond mills here:
http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=2681&tab=3

Do you know the model numbers of the base and head?

-brino

 

[markba633csi]

Hey Brino: Pretty sure the mill is an M-20, not sure on the Rotex, I'll have to look closer. I should have the mill unloaded and re-assembled tomorrow so I'll send more pix. I want to get a couple Brown & Sharpe #9 collets so I can hold endmills horizontally too. Also need to shop for some 1" bore horizontal cutters and slitting saws (bucks). Darn, I wish I had bid on that Ellis head I saw on Ebay, but the seller wouldn't lift a finger and give me enough info to make an informed decision. Why do they do that? Don't they realize they could fetch a higher price if they describe the item better?
Mark S.

 

[Uglydog]

Thanks for clarification.
I was somehow trying to figure out how they were vertical diamond wheel grinders.
These may be small. However, that doesn't mean that they cant be perfect for many applications!

Daryl
MN

 

[markba633csi]

Got the mill re-stacked yesterday and took a few pics- only real flaw I can see is a chunk missing from the rear spindle pulley that drives the
power feed shaft for the x-axis. Still usable, just looks ugly.
Major cleaning needed- the grease in the knee gears is like modelling clay LOL
Mark S.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

very cool!
i can see how vital they would be to the maintenance of film cameras!