Author Topic: Clausing 8500 series mills  (Read 1325 times)

Offline steamer

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Clausing 8500 series mills
« on: July 19, 2019, 11:56:52 PM »
How popular is the 8520 and 8530 mills out in the wild?

Curious....

Dave
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Offline Larry

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2019, 05:39:42 AM »
I have an 8530.

Offline 90LX_Notch

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2019, 08:56:02 AM »
8520 here.

-Bob
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Offline rklopp

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2019, 11:02:55 AM »
I had a Clausing 8520 with a Bridgeport M head on it. A Clausport 8520M!  That was four mills ago. I’ve been spoiled by Deckel and Aciera since, but the Clausport was a fine home shop mill. The 8520 part was like new, having only ever been used as an optical stage. $125 was the price!


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Offline steamer

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2019, 11:39:15 AM »
What parts would you improve?

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
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Offline rklopp

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2019, 05:24:25 PM »
What parts would you improve?

Dave
That is a tough question. The overall rigidity could have been better, I suppose. The ways were decently machined but not scraped. Fit and finish were useable, but certainly not up to Aciera standards. No power feeds anywhere. I realize each of my Aciera mills originally cost about 10X the cost of a Clausing.


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Offline steamer

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2019, 05:39:07 PM »
My List


Spring return on the quill so it wont drop.    Like a Bridgeport

Some way to tighten the belts   A lever of some sort

Replacement gears for the down feed.....I made mine

I have a F1 Rklopp....I hear ya

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Offline Bobsmodels

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2019, 12:58:36 AM »
I have an 8530 with 3 axis Shooting Star DRO and a Servo Drive, also equipped with a  3ph motor and VFD.  Equipped it with a an ETYM ER25 collet system.  Replaced the quill lock bolt with a handle.  It is a real nice machine.  It could be more rigid but if you use it for what it was designed for it does a fine job. At this point for my small models I use it for about 80% of the work.  I am fortunate to have a Bridgeport to use for heavy stuff.

I just added a 8540 Horizontal mill with a Bridgeport M Head adaptor.   The M Head was new out of the box with the B3 (aka mini R8) collets.  Have just started using it.  The Adaptor plate was advertised in HSM a bit ago.  I like it because I can use the horizontal features with out removing the M Head.

Bob


Offline 90LX_Notch

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2019, 11:33:37 AM »
Dave, there are set screws to set drag on the quill.  Mine wouldn't stay up at all when I got it.  The set screws helped; but I also evenly torqued the bolts above and below the quill lock.  I torqued them to 40 inch/lbs.
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Offline steamer

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Re: Clausing 8500 series mills
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2019, 01:00:02 PM »
Dave, there are set screws to set drag on the quill.  Mine wouldn't stay up at all when I got it.  The set screws helped; but I also evenly torqued the bolts above and below the quill lock.  I torqued them to 40 inch/lbs.

Well, that's good that they provided some mechanism to keep the quill up, but a set screw and friction is pretty marginal.   It needs a spring.    hmmm   


Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

 

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