Alliant Mills

[propforward]

I have an opportunity to obtain an Alliant knee mill. I don’t have any details yet, but will be getting pictures, price, model etc soon.

Is there anything to watch out for, any pitfalls, any years of manufacture to avoid or anything?

The seller is a gent I work with who is very trustworthy, so it’s a great starting point, but just curious as to any comments about these machines.
 
Thanks.

[d.williams]

The shop I worked in bought a new Alliant milling machine in 1983. It was the first real machine tool in our shop. We pretty much put it through its paces, doing some pretty heavy work. I recall stacking up 5/16" thick heat treated class 8 truck frames rails back to back so we could drill a pair in one operation. We would rest the front of the rails on the mill table while suspending the other end with the overhead crane. We would keep advancing the rails down the table until we reached the other end. This was common practice until we began receiving the frame rails pre drilled by the vendor several years later. I used to drill and tap "T" nuts for our concrete floor that had steel slots cast in it. The nuts were made from 1.5" thick steel and drilled and tapped for 1" bolts. The Alliant had the required power to power tap the threads. We then gave them the "T" shape with a 2" carbide face mill. That mill is still in the shop today turning out good work.

Don

[PJPickard]

I have one with a Prototrak 2 axis control on it. It is the functional equivalent to a Bridgeport. I have been told(but don't know for sure) that Bridgeport parts are interchangeable with it.

[propforward]

Excellent, thanks for the input. Definitely worth follow up then. Probably more mill than I really need, but then that's not really the criteria.

[b.lindsey]

Stuart, I have had mine for something like 25 years. I used it extensively when I was doing tool making for injection molding. Now it is only used for hobby purposes. It has served me well and is still in like new condition. My understanding is that they were made to the specifications of Bridgeport dealers at the time when Textron had bought Bridgeport and almost run the company into the ground. They were at the time far eastern made machines but, being made in Taiwan, were one if not two steps above the quality of mainland Chinese machines. If the price and condition of the machine you are looking at is good, I don't think you can go wrong.

Bill

[propforward]

Thanks Bill, that's great to know. Seems like I might have a nice opportunity on this. I'll go and see it and see what shakes out..........it would sure be fun getting such a machine, although the thought of moving it is not very exciting, but all part of the fun I guess. On the other hand, riggers really know their stuff in that regard.