Asian mill

Looks like any one of several 8x36" mills sold by Enco and others. Example:

As for accuracy, how did you measure the .002"? If the mach> Need help identifying this mill. No nameplate on it, bought it used

More than likely its a Taiwanese clone of the Clausing. Ive seen a number of them, some marked Yamazan and even one marked Jet IRRC. Your pictures were taken from the wrong angle..try 45' from the side for a head profile and larger in size.

Decent enough mills, and pretty accurate. They were designed to be competition for the Clausing/Rockwell millers at a significantly lesser price.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

Indeed, I see the design resemblance to the Clausing model that you linked @ the lathes.uk website. I will continue my search under the Chinese brand Jet or Yamazan. This particular model I have came with a power feed on the right end of the table. It doesn't have the fine downfeed on the quill that the Clausing has. I purchased it from Wright Brothers Hardware in Costa Mesa six years ago, it was supposedly used only to machine plastic parts at the shop that had it prior. I'm attempting to find an exploded diagram for it, I'm interested in exporing the internal quill arrangements and specs. Thanks for your response, it was most helpful.

Trg-s338

Gunner wrote:

My miller looks exactly like the Grizzly G3102 on their online catalog.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

trg-s338

trg-s338 wrote:

Now you know why the central manufacture of all Asian machine tools is called the Red Dragon Noodle and Machine Tool Collective.

Only a very few manufactures make these machine tools, and they rebadge to anyone who can order a dozen.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

Who IS the original maker/copier of this sized milling machine?

I know Rong Fu is the original maker of the round column and 600ish pound square column mill and i know they offer rebranding as a service.

But i got a catalog and the 900 pounder was not in it and even in the enco type catalogs there isn't a "Rong Fu" knee mill

The more i look and see around ehre in Ottawa Canada the more i realize I'm unlikely to find a machine of this size used in town as it is not a manufacturing town. And if i'm going to buy one new it makes sense to try and buy the toolmakers own brand.

Some house brand machine tools for being the "same" basic casting as discussed Ad Nauseum (till you wanna puke) on here have HUGE price and quality differences. I'd llike to figure out who the original maker is because the original makers tool had to be at least decent for an importer like HF to then make cheap crap versions to undercut other importers or why enco will sell an enco branded rong fu mill/drill on page 3 and have the same one in Rong-Fu on page 5 for a few hundred more

I think my logic stands up, its a LOT easier to cheapen a good tool than it is to improvve a bad one.

Does anyone know who REALLY makes the knee mill?

Or does anyone have a Clausing within 500 miles of Ottawa Canada

Thanks Brent

Asian machine tools is

every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts"

Don't put too much faith in the idea that spending more on a particular mill design will get you a better mill. Much of the price difference has to do with the number of sea cans of product that the retailer buys.

Most of the local sellers are getting their stock from wholesalers, and marking it up to levels they can.

When push comes to shove, the Tiawan machines have a bit better rep than mainland chinese.

And most of all, learn to be able to assess a machine, or find someone to help you. you do not automatically get a good machine by buying old iron, you have to find good, old iron. A worn out old machine from a good maker is still a worn out machine.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Don't know about this one.

One thing a poster here emphasized is that in China, every price point is negotiable. If they make it for $200 for one wholesaler, and a second wants to only pay $180, they will do this. And they will do what they can to lower THEIR cost to meet the $180 price point. Perhaps they may skip the quality control check, use substandard parts, etc. etc.

about this one.

That was my logic in trying to find the ORIGINAL manufacturer. They had to originally make a product of sufficient quality to interest the importers. THen if the importers and competition or demand pushed cheaper prices it would be the rebadged stuff of that importer that would show a quality difference. In MANY cases i'm sure there is no difference except for a paintjob. the problem of course is separating the machines whose focus is on sales numbers and price.

I think buying Cheaply made tools is a false economy. Just because i cannot afford and don't have space for a full Bridgeport sized machine doesn't mean i should get half made junk either. A properly built tool whether american european canadian or built on an ice shelf floating in the antartic, for all i care is a properly built tool. And cheap junk is cheap junk.

I know i'm unlikely to find a good quality Old iron mill fir the cost of a good quality asian mill in the size i'm looking for. Because manual machine tool resale values seem to be inversely proportional to their weight the small home shop machines command a large premium in an old iron machine. But of course if i had the space, room and means to move it there are 5 ton plus Cincinnati and Kearney and Tecker monstrosities that sell for a few hundred dollars on Ebay because they are too big to have a demand.

So I'm figuring that I'll wind up with a new offshore (Likely Taiwan) KNEE MILL but i'm still trying to find out if it really is nothing but the paint and badges thats different or otherwise who focuses on quality first. Saving even 500 dollars on the cost of a machine i intend to keep for over a decade for a machine that is less accurate or less well made is a waste. The less than 50 dollars a year i save could be spent in repairs or wasted on me getting more grey hairs using it