Clausing 8520 Question

[70samsquanch]

I am eventually going to get a mill. A full sized Bridgeport or clone is out of the question due to space and available electricity. There are a few bench top mills I've looked at and actually like. I just fear that eventually a larger machine will work better even for the small projects I plan on doing.
I only recently discovered the Clausing 8520 and it seems to be a great compromise between a bench top and a full size mill. I know they can be expensive and hard to find. My main questions are would a clausing be a good machine to learn on and how available are replacement parts?

Thanks in advance.
Eric

[spro]

This is going to be a reply about nothing you can hang your hat on. I have literature on that mill I can't find now. They are quality machines and people like them but they also sell them. Parts were available, are available and yet it is all over the place. Sometimes very reasonable then none will turn up. If time is on your side, everything is available.
Since I don't have my stuff and the rescue laptop puts words and parts of words into different areas of my reply, I deal with that in answering slowly. The mill has a heavy base which is part of the stability of the unit. Some people sell the machine without the base/drive. That is parts, in my opinion. Altogether they are one of the finer small mills.

[earlgo]

You might try Clausing themselves. I contacted them about parts for an Atlas lathe and they still had some in stock. Here is the contact info for the lady I corresponded with:

Klarice Lenhart
Clausing Service Center
Phone: 800-535-6553
Fax: 269-342-7888
Email: KLenhart@clausingsc.com

--earlgo

[70samsquanch]

Thanks. I'll give them a call.

Eric

[blackcube]

This reply may be late but I might have a bit of experience to add on the 85XX mill series.

I've owned a Clausing 8520 vertical mill and a 8540 horizontal mill for close to 8 years. Parts prices are high and availability from Clausing is slowly diminishing. The 8520/8530 series tend to bring high prices as they are small and light enough to fit in garage shops and move into basements. When I bought my pair of mills, I was based in a one car garage and had very little space to move around.

The 8520 is a good smaller mill. It's like having a smaller lathe, you can do almost anything that will fit in the operating envelope of the mill but you will have to take lighter cuts. Most of the 85XX mills you will find have a 2MT spindle. There are a few that have B&S7 spindles. You can tell those by the 5 in the last place of the model number. 8520/8530=2MT, 8525/8535=BS7. There seems to be fewer 853X mills and fewer used parts for them but the heavier knee and the fast return gearbox is worth it. The 853X series was the 8520 with the heavier knee and table and the two speed X axis gear box of the 8540 mill grafted on. It also has the column extension that was an option on the 852X series. That extension is a must for a 852X mill.

With any Clausing, you are going be limited to about a 3/4" end mill and don't think that you can take big roughing cuts as it will hammer the mill hard and give a bad finish. Be patient and it can turn out work as fine as a big old Bridgeport. I've been running up against the limits of my baby Clausing for some time so I have purchased a Wells-Index 55 mill. But I'm keeping my Clausing as it is just the right size for smaller parts and is a joy to use. If you find a machine, be sure to check the quill fine feed gears. A lot of Clausing mills get used as heavy duty drill presses and the feed gears take a beating. Mine needs a quill gear overhaul which I'll probably do soon after I pick up the Index mill. The previous owner was an local to Dallas older gentleman who used it as a drill press to restore old outboard motors. He wore the quill gears so badly the shaft openings in the cast cover are worn oval and will have to be bored and bushed. I have been putting it off as I rarely use the quill feed and haven't wanted to take the mill down until I have another mill. Clausing wants almost 3/4 as much as I paid for the mill for the replacement gears and the cast iron gear cover is NLA. I have collected generic parts from Boston Gear and McMaster to make my own gears and shafts at about 10% of the quote from Clausing.

James Rice
Sherman, TX

[Outboardguy44]

The previous owner was an local to Dallas older gentleman who used it as a drill press to restore old outboard motors. He wore the quill gears so badly the shaft openings in the cast cover are worn oval and will have to be bored and bushed.

James Rice
Sherman, TX

You don't happen to know his name, do you?

I found this comment to be amusing because I also collect antique outboard motors, I've been doing it since 1991, and to help machine the parts I always have to make in order to restore my pre-1930 outboards, I just recently bought and installed a Clausing 8530. I wonder what he worked on that wore out the quill gears, or if he just didn't take care of it. I have to replace one of the gears in my machine, but at least the shaft bores are not worn out.

Edit - nothing wrong with the bottom cover, I guess that slot IS in there by design.... DOH!

Best,
T2