Milwaukee Mill

[hrhoades]

I bought a Milwaukee 2bs universal horizontal mill this evening after seeing a ad in a local shopper paper. I came with a chest full of tooling, a horizontal and vertical head and folder full of the original manual and sales literature. Does anyone have any experiance with these mills?

[Al Messer]

Good brand name. Can't help with your request, though.

[crypto]

I operated many Milwaukees during my service in a naval shipyard. Just let us know what specific questions you have.

[PolskiFran]

I ran 2 Milwaukee horizontal mills when I first started in the shop after high school. I don't remember the models though. I ran a lot of parts on those, and did some things that would make a machinist cringe. If I can be of any help (as far as I can remember) e-mail me.
Frank

[hrhoades]

Thanks for the responses, I have the mill home cleaned up and running. I don't have any specific questions at the moment I was just wondering what experiances people have had with these machines and any thing that I need to watch for or do when running it, such as lubrication problems or quirks that it might have. I notice that since I cleaned it up is still is seeping oil in several places around the gear cases. is this normal or should I start taking them loose and resealing.

[Rustybolt]

It's probobly stupid for me to mention this,but.... When your hogging a lot of material off a piece, set the vice jaws perpendicular to the weys. that way your hunk of metal does not become ballistic and launch itself into valuble pieces of yourself, other people, or a new Thompson suface grinder. Breaking the shield and putting a big nick in the table, like I did when I was very young. Ahem.

[PolskiFran]

When you are operating and using the auto feed shut off, make sure the nut is tight on the trip block. This came loose while my friend was operating it and cut through the 12" index head with a 3/16x10 milling cutter (full depth of course). Did he have a time explaining that one to the boss!

[gamachinist]

I'm looking at a Mill on eBay now.I'll try to remember that tidbit Fran in case I buy it or another one.
Rusty,I'll remember that mistake too.I'm glad no one was in the flight path.
Robert

[crypto]

I'm not familiar with that model. What is the table size of your mill and its spindle taper, 40 or 50?. I'm just curious to know how large it is. As I recall we had one small horizontal in our shop and it must have weighed at least 3,000#. All the Milwaukees that we had seemed to be indestructible; marvelous examples of American tool building, accurate and powerful.

Did your purchase include the Kearney Trecker dividing head and the power takeoff attachment?

Oscar

[hrhoades]

The table size on my mill is 45 1/2 x 11. It weighs 4200lbs without the verticle head and vise. I got the banjo and drive gears with the mill but not the dividing head. My mill has a Brown and Sharpe 10 taper, which could be a problem except I had a complete set of end mill holders fron 3/8" to 1 1/4" by eights and the machine came with an additional 20 arbors including 5 horizontal with spacers and more end mill and shell mill arbors.
Hal

[crypto]

Not familiar with that model. A B&S taper indicates that it is an old timer. I'll bet its solid as a rock. I would like to know what it looks like. A bit of research might turn up a picture.

Does it have rapid traverse. What are its speeds and feeds. Makes me ill to think of all the cutters for a mill such as yours that were thrown away when the navy yard closed down. Used milling cutters should not be too difficult or expensive to obtain. Not many persons are using these old beauties any more.

Good luck with your mill, I imagine moving it was a bit of a chore.

Oscar

[hrhoades]

Oscar,
Your right it is old the literature I got with it says 1928. It not only is solid as a rock it also is heavy as a rock,. 4200 lbs. I lucked out in getting it home, I found a person with a roll back truck that moved it for me for $40.00. It took him less than an hour to load it drive the 10 miles to my home and lower it onto pipes on the concrete slab in front of my shop.The move inside after I cleaned it up was a different story, I spent the better part of an afternoon getting it in and positioned.
In answer to your questions it does not have rapid transverse. The feeds are 12 from 1/2 to 16 the speeds are 18 from 15 to 354.
I posted a photo at http://photo.yahoo.com/ludwiggack2000

[crypto]

Yahoo was unable to locate your photos. 4200 lbs. ! I hope you had a looong crowbar to move it into place.
The models that I am acquainted with must have been of '40, WW2 vintage. Attaching the vertical head required the use of a chainfall. I believe our
vertical heads must have weighed 300#/500# at least. It can be done by making a wooden cradle for the head that sits on the table and then employing the table elevating and in and out controls to maneuver it into positiion.
Do you have any particular projects planned for its use?

Oscar

[hrhoades]

Oscar,
I think I left a letter out in the address for the photos. Try http://photos.yahoo.com/ludwiggack2000. The vertical head on my machine looks to be pretty heavy too. I will have to think long and hard before attempting to change the machine over to use the horizontal mode. The vertical head on this machine rotates on to axis so for lighter duty horizontal work I can just rotate the head and work that way. I don't have any immediate projects planned but will just put it into use as the need comes up. The beauty of being a hobiest is that I don't have to try and make a living at it.
Hal

[crypto]

Hal,

I opened the website, there are hundreds of items listed. What is the number of your posting?

I agree with your decision to leave the mill in its vertical format. The only reason I would ever contemplate as worthy of the changeover would be if you picked up some work facing engine blocks or similar work. Your mill in its horizontal format with a husky, massive flycutting or facing head would be perfect for that job. Oscar