Picked up an Atlas MF Horizontal Mill today

[jmhoying]

My uncle had this Atlas MF horizontal mill covered up in his heated garage for many years. He finally agreed to sell it to me today. Everything seems to work fine on it, and I believe it has had very little use. Only real issue is that it has a 7/8" arbor, so tooling is a bit more difficult to find than if it was 1". I see that someone is selling 1" arbors on eBay for about $100.00 shipped.
The MF wasn't sold with belt guards (the MF-G had guards)
The serial number is 004202. I'm not sure what year this would of been made.

I do some larger machine work at times, so I'll have to decide if the Atlas is going to fit my needs, or if I'd be better off with a more commercial size machine.









I clamped in a piece of aluminum tonight and just used the speed settings as there were from the last time it was used. This is a .500 wide x .020 deep cut.
[video=youtube_share;BRn5UNsrEwY]http://youtu.be/BRn5UNsrEwY[/video]

Jack
Fort Loramie, Ohio

 

[furnace3]

WOW! For a small mill, that is a gorgeous machine! Wish I had an uncle with one of those sitting around. )

 

[Andre]

Looks good, see if you can find a drawing or pick of the over ram support. It's needed on a machine this small.

 

[JimDawson]

What a beautiful machine. :thumbsup2:

 

[Earl]

My uncle had this Atlas MF horizontal mill covered up in his heated garage for many years. He finally agreed to sell it to me today. Everything seems to work fine on it, and I believe it has had very little use. Only real issue is that it has a 7/8" arbor, so tooling is a bit more difficult to find than if it was 1". I see that someone is selling 1" arbors on eBay for about $100.00 shipped.
The MF wasn't sold with belt guards (the MF-G had guards)
The serial number is 004202. I'm not sure what year this would of been made.

I do some larger machine work at times, so I'll have to decide if the Atlas is going to fit my needs, or if I'd be better off with a more commercial size machine.


I have a MFC model. It has the belt guards but does not have the guard over the arbor support. I really don't understand the need for that top guard. I use my machine quite a bit, mostly for gear cutting. I have the original overarm support and I recommend that you make one (Ebay supports run about $250 or so!!!) It really stiffens up the machine. Tools for cheap has the Arbors for $80, I believe. Your machine appears to have a shop made "kick out" for the power feed. That is another expensive part sometimes found on ebay. The spindle has a MT2 taper and I use an MT2 end mill holder for a lot of cuts. End mills are a lot cheaper than the cutters that fit on the arbors. I don't know if you have documentation for the little mill but the most important thing to remember is to not do climb milling with the atlas horizontal mill! If you try and take a climb milling cut about 10 thou or more, you will think that the world is coming to an end! Sounds like somone is beating on it with a large hammer, the table jumps around and the machine shakes like a wet dog! Don't ask me how I know that . One thing that some folks miss is that the little mill has a back gear. you need to open the trap door on the side and pull the pin on the right side of the spindle. (also engage the pin on the outside) There is a tool to pop the pin that you can make out of a 6 inch piece of aluminium about a half inch wide and 50 thou thick. Bend a 45 degree angle about an inch from the end and you have a tool that you cannot live without.

Good luck with the little mill. I love mine.

Earl

 

[jmhoying]

My uncle had this Atlas MF horizontal mill covered up in his heated garage for many years. He finally agreed to sell it to me today. Everything seems to work fine on it, and I believe it has had very little use. Only real issue is that it has a 7/8" arbor, so tooling is a bit more difficult to find than if it was 1". I see that someone is selling 1" arbors on eBay for about $100.00 shipped.
The MF wasn't sold with belt guards (the MF-G had guards)
The serial number is 004202. I'm not sure what year this would of been made.

I do some larger machine work at times, so I'll have to decide if the Atlas is going to fit my needs, or if I'd be better off with a more commercial size machine.


I have a MFC model. It has the belt guards but does not have the guard over the arbor support. I really don't understand the need for that top guard. I use my machine quite a bit, mostly for gear cutting. I have the original overarm support and I recommend that you make one (Ebay supports run about $250 or so!!!) It really stiffens up the machine. Tools for cheap has the Arbors for $80, I believe. Your machine appears to have a shop made "kick out" for the power feed. That is another expensive part sometimes found on ebay. The spindle has a MT2 taper and I use an MT2 end mill holder for a lot of cuts. End mills are a lot cheaper than the cutters that fit on the arbors. I don't know if you have documentation for the little mill but the most important thing to remember is to not do climb milling with the atlas horizontal mill! If you try and take a climb milling cut about 10 thou or more, you will think that the world is coming to an end! Sounds like somone is beating on it with a large hammer, the table jumps around and the machine shakes like a wet dog! Don't ask me how I know that . One thing that some folks miss is that the little mill has a back gear. you need to open the trap door on the side and pull the pin on the right side of the spindle. (also engage the pin on the outside) There is a tool to pop the pin that you can make out of a 6 inch piece of aluminium about a half inch wide and 50 thou thick. Bend a 45 degree angle about an inch from the end and you have a tool that you cannot live without.

Good luck with the little mill. I love mine.

Earl

Earl,
Thanks for the reply. I think the upper arm guard was intended to contain flood coolant for those who use that. I don't think the guard was offered on later models. I don't think a standard overarm support will work on my machine, as the arbor extends about 2" past the knee. Maybe my arbor is longer than others? (I have about 6.75" of usable space on the arbor)
I did find a manual for the mill on-line, but it's not a very good copy and is hard to read.
I'll have to keep an eye out for MT2 end mill holders. I saw a video that showed the tool a guy made for the back-gear pin. That's high on my list to make.
Thanks again for the advise,
Jack

 

[Ulma Doctor]

nice machine!!!

i love mine,
i hope you have as much fun with yours as i do with mine.

 

[b.dygger]

That is an awesome looking machine! I also purchased an Atlas Milling Machine yesterday (10/6/14) but mine is in rough shape, broken and missing parts. Looking at the pictures of yours I just realized the arbor support for mine is mining!
Best regards.
Bill

My uncle had this Atlas MF horizontal mill covered up in his heated garage for many years. He finally agreed to sell it to me today. Everything seems to work fine on it, and I believe it has had very little use. Only real issue is that it has a 7/8" arbor, so tooling is a bit more difficult to find than if it was 1". I see that someone is selling 1" arbors on eBay for about $100.00 shipped.
The MF wasn't sold with belt guards (the MF-G had guards)
The serial number is 004202. I'm not sure what year this would of been made.

I do some larger machine work at times, so I'll have to decide if the Atlas is going to fit my needs, or if I'd be better off with a more commercial size machine.

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I clamped in a piece of aluminum tonight and just used the speed settings as there were from the last time it was used. This is a .500 wide x .020 deep cut.
[video=youtube_share;BRn5UNsrEwY]http://youtu.be/BRn5UNsrEwY[/video]

Jack
Fort Loramie, Ohio

 

[Earl]

Here are some pics of the Mill with the overarm support, vise, knock out bar and the little "back gear pin popper"

 

[jmhoying]

Here are some pics of the Mill with the overarm support, vise, knock out bar and the little "back gear pin popper"

Thanks a lot for the photos. It sure looks like the arbor on yours (and most all the others I've seen) is a little shorter than mine, which would allow the overarm support arm to work (align vertically).
I made a pin wrench tonight similar to yours (to hold the arbor while tightening/loosening the arbor nut)
I was working on figuring out the back gear pin tonight. I finally figured out that it aligns with the setscrew in the gear, but does that setscrew have to be backed out or is it just for the gear itself?
Thanks again,
Jack