Thinking of buying a milling machine in Sydney Australia

Depends on if you want new or used. I'd talk with Richard Cannon at Emco Machine Tools(02 9648 4377) and see what he had used first.

The HM 50 looks ok and I'm probably going to buy the HM 52G for work. The one thing I really don't like about the HM 50 is the speed range.

220 RPM is way too high for a low speed if you're going to run any big cutters. A B/port goes down to 80 RPM, IIRC.

PDW

Yeah I am not worried about new or used as long it is in good nick. Yeah I was thinking of geting one of the 45 but when you add up the costs of a stand an x-axis power feed, a collet set and a vice you get near the same price as the 50

I wouldn't get the 45 either. However the lack of low speed on the HM

50 would stop me from buying it. Might not be important to you.

You're about 3 weeks too late - I arranged for a friend of mine to buy a quite nice used vert mill off of Hare & Forbes for $1500. We had to do a little work on it and buy a single phase-3 phase VFD but his total investment is still less than $2500 for quite a nice machine.

Don't be in too much of a rush would be my advice, plus look at 3 phase machines.

PDW

I am quite happy to wait out untill aug. ( Tax return time ;-) ) I went to Emmco earlier today and nothing there took my fancy. As to the Holbrook lathe thats another story. Yeah I was talking to my dad who is a retired fitter he sort of agreed. However I have been told that you can get variable speed controllers to get the speed lower As to that I don't know what the long term effect would bo on the motor. I have sort of gathered that Hare and Forbes are getting out of the second hand market. But If you hear anything please let me know as that is a nice price. As a matter of interest what did you have to do to this machine.

-greg

If you fit a 3 phase motor you can fit a speed controller. Dunno about a single phase one, never bothered thinking about it. However, you will lose torque which you need for the bigger cutter and the belt will lose grip efficiency. Been there, done that with a B/port M head mill. I retrofitted a J head to get the speed range I wanted. That said I got a lot of use out of the M head for many years......

Yes, they are.

Not a lot. The table was binding on the LH end of the travel. I thought it was probably worn along the rest of its travel, as did the sales guy. The new owner stripped it down and found that the nut was too high causing binding on the feedscrew. Made a new nut but could have machined the original one. The ways etc were in excellent condn. This was a Kao Fong machine made in 1978, 3 phase 2 speed motor with separate power feed to table. Quite a respectable machine in very good condition both cosmetically and function. It was seriously cheap for Hare & Forbes, due I expect to the table binding.

We also bought a couple 240V single to 240V 3 phase VFD's and changed the motor wiring to suit. The VFD's are available from Melbourne Machinery for $300 + GST IIRC. I've got a 415 one here at work we're fitting to a lathe. Teco brand I think.

Dunno if they're still in business - I'm in Hobart these days - but ACY Machinery occasionally had some 2nd hand stuff and Centurion Machinery had a lot. Mainly industrial so possibly too big for you, but you never know.

The Holbrook lathe is something he didn't have last time I passed thru. Richard has sold his Emco Maximat 11 now and keeps asking me when I'm going to sell him mine - mine's a metric machine. Not until I'm ready to buy a sailboat is the answer...... I don't need the lathe (I have a Colchester Chipmaster), but I don't need the money yet either.

PDW