Enco 91007

[vintageracer13]

I have a 91000 Enco mill/drill that's 36 years old and I built my Gene Allen ten-wheeler using this mill. NO....it's not a professional machine, but I'm a retired die sinker and tool maker (40 years) and this mill has done everything I have asked of it, including the "fussy" stuff like connecting rods for my my ten-wheeler. Dialed right in, not a problem. You have to know the capacity of these mills and not do more than they are designed for. A good machinist should be able to do fine work with these little mills. You just have to know how .


Mine even has the original belts on the drive!

Thank you Gary! I'm going back tonight to take another look and make decision.

[spro]

Hi Gary. I bought my m/d new about the same time. It appears to be the same as yours and I guess these were the first models. Back in 1979-80 there wasn't many R8 , 2hp mills that could wind down my stairs and be reassembled. I learned a lot about squaring the column base etc. The table hand dials are surprisingly accurate and the Z feed not. But we all got around these problems in one way or another.

[ctwo]

The pic of the 91007 looks like a newer version of my M/D. Mine has the 4" column and the head is raised by a crank at the left side of the Head. That's Really awkward. The column base is octagonal, 2hp single phase motor, 28 3/4" x 8 1/4" table. I still use it in the limitations of my basement.

What is an M/D? I have never heard of these

Ha, I was thinking it was a M/D brand, like PM, so I went searching and actually found MD model numbers for these. But I think spro is saying Mill/Drill...

[spro]

Of course M/D or m/d was the parlance then. In Win '98 days, there were multiple threads about the shortcomings of the original designs. There were many mods by users and manufacturing changes of the whole column, base casting. I would expect they have been much improved. At the same time, my old horse does right and I won't replace it with more plastic. If you notice the condition of Gary's table or what we see of it, it is like mine. No deep scratches or rip-out of the T slots. They got some stuff right.
The other thing about lacking the knee: Really heavy stuff can be on the table without wearing the knee ways. The head is the head and stays the same. It is still the same PITA to raise and re center, like taxes.

[spro]

There is something about the spindle taper: Back then we wanted R-8 for milling and MT#3 collets were scarce. We didn't know MT #3 taper was still popular in other parts of the world. As Harold said, they are a dandy drill press and that presented another problem. The column could flex when powering in larger drills. There were interesting, brutal ways of making the column more stable and that is part of the lore about trying to make a mill a #3 drill press or a drill press, a mill. It was even worse applying a MT#3 adapter into a R-8 spindle and drilling with that! It stuck out too far. So it went that MT#3 with collets, was the better way but I didn't know that 20+ years ago, nor were the #3 collets as affordable
I wanted R-8 and got R-8 in the variation of a Sterling Packard model 925.

[Harold_V]

I have a 91000 Enco mill/drill that's 36 years old and I built my Gene Allen ten-wheeler using this mill. NO....it's not a professional machine, but I'm a retired die sinker and tool maker (40 years) and this mill has done everything I have asked of it, including the "fussy" stuff like connecting rods for my my ten-wheeler.<snip>

No question about it, a mill/drill is capable of good work. They just require more attention, and certainly lighter cuts, especially with the round column.

Art Crisp, a dear friend, built his beautiful Pacific with one. Art, now retired, worked as a die maker. He later seized the opportunity to buy a knee mill.

Harold

[Richard_W]

I am sorry mine is a 30 not a 31. The one I am looking at has a large steel base so I don't know if I would clasify it as bench top. This is a 91007 without the large base 8954A.JPG

You have a a handle on the side that makes me think it has a power down feed. Does it have the power down feed?

[spro]

Please forgive me for interjecting but this is So informative. I see what you are saying RW. It does appear a power down feed of the quill/spindle !

[spro]

This isn't about fighting the same issues as the 1980's but it different with the newer affordable DRO's where you see what is happening on the fly. Then you know what to adjust on the fly or before it.