The misadventures of a Wells-Index 860C

[ScrapMetal]

(05-20-2012, 01:06 PM)doubleboost Wrote: Hi
Ron
That is a propper looking mill
Be a bit on the heavy side for a engine crane
John

I did have to use the engine crane on it though! Of course the only thing I used the crane for was to help get the head back to an upright position. The adjuster works fine 'til about 45 degrees but after that it's useless. Put a strap around the top of the motor and cranked it up, turned the adjuster to get a couple of degrees and repeat.

(05-20-2012, 08:05 PM)PixMan Wrote: That's a GREAT machine, and you are going to love it!

Had you measured inside dimensions to know it would stand upright in there before you bought it?

I'd love to find such a machine in that condition. It really looks to be near mint. You may have lost the knob off the spindle brake in transit, but otherwise the bug guts are 100% removable. ;)

How much tooling do you have for such a machine? Got a good vise?

Which of the 3 options for tool adaptation does it have, the #9 Brown & Sharpe, the R8 or the #30 MMT?

Yep, measured twice, or three times even. Probably paced back and forth over a dozen times as well.

Here it is in it's new "home"...


I still need to spin it 90 degrees and center it on the back wall but believe or not, by the tape measure, I should have enough space to be fully functional. Also have to move my other machines back in as soon as I figure just how I'm going to arrange it all.

Didn't lose any knobs, I took them off before transport. I can't take credit for the idea though as it was suggested by one of the guys at the equipment sales place.

I got a little tooling with it and what I have appears to be R8. I think the horizontal takes #40 though. It's missing the arbor support and arbor for the horizontal mill but I'll contact Wells-Index and see if they can provide them.

Here's most of the tooling I got.

You can even see a couple of the "missing" knobs.

I didn't get a vise with it though. I'm thinking about looking for a used 6" Kurt for it. Any thing to look out for on the "used" market?

Thanks guys,

-Ron