Discussion on all milling machines vertical & horizontal, including but not limited to Bridgeports, Hardinge, South Bend, Clausing, Van Norman, including imports.
Jaxian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:56 am
Well, I wasn't going to post a picture of my mill as it looks like junk compared to some of the restored beauty's in this thread but I figured if after 3+ years and 18 pages of posts I didn't see one Lagun I should put it in here.
It's not pretty but it works really, really well. Surprised there aren't more on here since the company is still around and making them. Granted they are kinda pricey, but you can get great deals on used ones now. They are one of the few 'clone' mills that I have seen that in my opinion exceed normal Bridgeport's in quality and functionality (please don't flame, just my opinion, not trying to make anyone mad).
Mine isn't anything special it's a FTV-1 with powerfeeds on the X and Y axis. It has a 4 axis DRO X,Y,Z,Q. I know the quill one is weird but I got so used to having one on a previous machine I felt lost without it. Also, yes there is a Bridgeport Cherrying head hanging on the back awaiting restoration. Or at least being made good enough so I can use it. I can't wait to cut convex and concave shapes, should be fun.
Any chance you could post or send me some detail pictures of your quill DRO scale mounting?
I have a Lagun FT-1 and I am looking to put a 3-axis DRO on the machine and I am thinking of putting the Z scale on the quill vs. the knee. That is unless someone on here can tell me why it would be better to have it on the knee??
FKreider:
Search for and look at this discussion thread in the Milling Machine subject:
"Inexpensive DRO"
Especially on Page 2.
I posted some pics of the installation of a 4-axis DRO Pros system on my South Bend 1027 milling machine, including on the quill.
I can send you more pics as needed. Let me know your needs.
~RussN
Your videos are great and examples of choosing the right machinery to be rebuilt. Very nice work and instructional for decades. We are fortunate to have great men, as you, here.
Last edited by spro on Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Anything Pratt & Whitney made was precision. There was a reason for this mill. The bearings are high speed and a 3C arbor is small-for smaller milling wheels. It was larger in stature to be rigid and could zip through banks of smaller items. I probably should have read about it first but that is what I see.
Before, well your Frejoth is really neat. Power feeds all over and variable speed.
I need to clean up about 3C . The Pratt & Whitney#3C milling machine used 3PW collets I think. They would be different from regular 3C .?
I suppose I ought to upload some pics of mine, who knows, someone might recognise it!
I'm led to believe it's an Italian "Test 2U" from the early 60's, someone on PM had a later model with slightly different motor and electricals, more info' would be good!
A couple of weeks after buying, I robbed a guy on Ebay - nobody else bid, starting at £25
And I raided the World's Best Skip - mostly sharp, a lot carbide
And the workshop manager knows I give Old Tools a good home - 15" Hoffmann rotary table! Actually not WAY too big for the mill!
Dave H. (the other one)
Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of Wise Men - Douglas Bader
Wasn't too shabby Pat, £470 UK, plus about £150 to hire trailer and Hilux to tow it home - it had a couple of faults, one I've fixed (knee elevation screw had lost its keeper, quick fix) and one still to do (electrics need sorting out, main motor contactor seems to be stuck closed so it starts up when plugged in) - had to build an RPC to power it, three separate 3-phase motors (spindle, XYZ power feeds, coolant pump) so VFD wouldn't be cheap or easy ):(
Dave H. (the other one)
Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of Wise Men - Douglas Bader