Clausing 8520 Restoration

[lazylathe]

Hi all,

Finally got all my pictures organized...

Well after having bought a Sieg SX2L for my primary milling machine and using it for a few months i decided i would like something more sturdy.
The Sieg is okay but has it's limitations.

So i went on the hunt for something larger.
The stipulations were that it had to be small enough to disassemble and move down into the basement.
Headroom was not really an issue as i had about 8 feet to play with.

After months of searching i found a Clausing 8520 that was about 15 minutes from home!
And the guy was willing to deliver it to me for no extra cost.
On the downside it had been sitting in his unheated garage for about 2 years and it had a 3 phase 220V motor.
There was a nasty old vise on the table that turned out to be a Palmgren that i was also able to restore. Still looking for new jaw inserts for it.

These were the original pictures that the guy e mailed to me before i went to have a look.















I decided to go and have a look to see what kind of rust and condition i would have to deal with.
The controls were a bit stiff but moved smoothly so that was a good sign
The rust on the table was surface rust that was easily removed and there was very minimal pit tin.
Another plus was that there were no marks on the table from cutters etc.

A deal was reached and delivery was organized for a snowy and cold day!

Here it is sitting in the garage waiting to be taken apart and moved into the basement.



The heater that tried it's best to keep me warm when the weather was -15 degrees C outside...
And no the garage is not insulated. :-[



What i always find strange is that if it takes you an hour to take something apart, the time for re-assembly is inversely proportional.
I must have about 100 hours or more logged on the restoration of this guy...

So a few hours later it is all in the basement in bits and pieces.



Now the real work has to start...
All the paint needs to be stripped off, rust removal, polishing, parts replaced and found and a VFD for powering the mill.

More to come soon!

Andrew

[dallen]

I know were there is an 8540 at tempted to buy it. It doesn't have a vertical head on it thou

[krv3000]

hi good job waiting to see it all up and working once more

[Mayhem]

Nice looking mill. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress Andrew.

[Bill Gruby]

Andrew;

Looks like I got mine just in time. I will be following this thread real close.

"Billy G"

[lazylathe]

Hi guys,

I will try and do another update tonight...
Have to take the car in and not sure what time i will be home tonight.

I am sure i will be able to sneak into the man cave for a bit!

Andrew[/align]

[lazylathe]

And moving right along...

This mill has lots of small bits that needed to be cleaned/replaced





I decided to replace all the bearings in the mill. A lot of them were gritty feeling and not smooth at all.



Bearings were bought from VXB bearings, Great guys to deal with and they shipped pretty quick too.

Unfortunately i need to improve my memory skills...
Once i get going on a project i do not stop often enough to take pictures...
So i do not have many of the individual parts being stripped and primed.
I used a simple gel paint on stripper that seemed to work pretty well.
Afterwards all parts were cleaned with T.S.P prior to priming with red oxide.

The main pillar stripped and the name tag painted gloss black.
I sanded the paint off the raid lettering and polished it.
Looks quite good to me! :)



And then primed with red oxide



All the bearings in the leads crews were replaced and the leadscrews cleaned up




Table all cleaned and coated in a wax to prevent it from rusting again before assembly.
I decided to leave the head in it's original condition as a reminder to what it used to look like.




And some miscellaneous bits and pieces...

The riser



Motor mount



Belt and pulley cover



Table riser and polished leadscrew nut



Top mount



More to follow!

Andrew

[lazylathe]

All the bits have been painted and it was finally time to start assembling the mill again! :whoohoo:

The cabinet all painted



Luckily to original wooden holder was still in the cabinet along with the MT sleeves!
You can see the old oil stains on the wood that i left.





And this is the final outcome of the cabinet



Pillar mounted onto the cabinet, it is starting to look like a mill again!



Part of the table installed.
These old cast iron machines are heavy!!!



A whole row of gib adjustment screws...




The main tables leadscrew nut was worn and very loose and not very accurate anymore.
They cannot be purchased anymore and i do not have the talent to make a new one, yet.
So for now i coated the leadscrew in vaseline and used some JB weld to form new threads inside the old nut.
Once it was all set up i gently heated it with a torch and was easily able to remove the leadscrew.
It is not nice and tight again with minimal play!



Then the main table was installed and all the handles adjusted.



Still in very good condition for it's age!



The head and motor mount was then installed and set to the marked zero.



Lastly the cleaned up vise was installed on the table to complete the mill



The last bit to buy was the VFD to power the mills 3 phase 220V motor.

Andrew

[lazylathe]

The VFD finally arrived!

A Teco JNEV-101-H1
Standard household voltage input (110V single phase) with 220V 3 phase output, all in a nice compact unit!



After a bit of fiddling and numerous questions it is all hooked up and working like a dream!

And finally the completed mill ready to work again for another unknown number of years!





I still need to take some updated pics of it all wired up and in it's final resting place.

Hope you enjoyed the journey!
It was a lot of time and effort to get it back to running condition but it was definitely worth it!

:cheers:
Andrew

[DaveH]

Andrew,

Wow - what a fabulous job - fantastic
It sure does look good


DaveH