Atlas MFC Horizontal Milling Machine - $1,500

[JustaDB]

Atlas MFC Horizontal Milling Machine - tools - by owner - craigslist

Atlas MFC mill in good working condition. The MFC is the more desirable model as it comes with a power feed. As well as using it for milling, I installed a mandrel with a hole saw and used it for...

vancouver.craigslist.org

 

[YYCHM]

 

[canuck750]

Is this a ‘good deal’ at this price with no tooling? It looks to be looked after.

There is a similar machine on EBay, located in Colorado, has a lot of tooling including cutters and saw blades, no bids and taking offers at $1300 US. it needs repair to the cross slide feed but the tooling must be worth a lot?

 

[trevj]

Is this a ‘good deal’ at this price with no tooling? It looks to be looked after.

There is a similar machine on EBay, located in Colorado, has a lot of tooling including cutters and saw blades, no bids and taking offers at $1300 US. it needs repair to the cross slide feed but the tooling must be worth a lot?

Personally, I don't think it's much of a deal at that price, given that there is NOTHING in the way of tools or tooling to go with.

Maybe I'm outta line (happens!), but my 'interest point' on a mill like this, even considering that I have a bunch of suitable tooling that will fit the spindle, etc., is around $500-$600 area, and then, only if it were close, otherwise you can buy a LOT more capability and capacity (and usually more tooled up) for similar money.

 

[Susquatch]

I just don't know enough about horizontal spindle machines to even hazard a guess.

In my stare of ignorance, I'd prolly avoid it just because it's not a conventional machine.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Where the horizontal mills excel is at cutting helical gears. Although now with CNC it's not as hard as it used to be with vertical mills.

 

[Tom O]

We were going to try this but the dividing head didn’t have a swivel base.

 

[Susquatch]

Where the horizontal mills excel is at cutting helical gears. Although now with CNC it's not as hard as it used to be with vertical mills.

It's hard for me to see why that would be. The main difference is a cutter on the same plane as the bed vs one at 90° to the bed aligned with the X-axis. Doesn't a 90° Fixture plate accomplish the same thing?

Any idea what a typical setup looks like?

In any case, I'm not cutting helical gears in my shop anytime soon..... (Insert fingers crossed here).

 

[JustaDB]

In any case, I'm not cutting helical gears in my shop anytime soon..... (Insert fingers crossed here).

Now you've done it! Spit in the face of the gods, why doncha...

 

[jcdammeyer]

It's hard for me to see why that would be. The main difference is a cutter on the same plane as the bed vs one at 90° to the bed aligned with the X-axis. Doesn't a 90° Fixture plate accomplish the same thing?

Any idea what a typical setup looks like?

In any case, I'm not cutting helical gears in my shop anytime soon..... (Insert fingers crossed here).

Yes. You are right that a gear cutter held in the arbour in the normal vertical mill can cut gears. To cut helical the head has to be tilted which most vertical mills can do. Now as the cutter is moved across the face of the gear blank it and the gear blank have to move to create the helical path. And that works for small DP gears.

But imagine the side loads on the spindle cutting a steel gear 1" thick with large teeth.

OTOH, the horizontal mill cutting shaft is at least 1" diameter or more and supported at both ends. The mill table is twisted and the motion of the mill table is mechanically coupled to the rotary axis.

Here's one with an unsupported gear cutter but a good explanation on the how and why

Terrible quality video but then it appears to be from down under so maybe that explains it.

If I had the horizontal mill option (G3617) on my smaller G3616 I can also twist my table like the second video. Now one could use gears from teh X axis over to the rotary indexer or just use LinuxCNC to move the A and X axis to do the appropriate helix angle.

 

[Susquatch]

Now you've done it! Spit in the face of the gods, why doncha...

I was thinkin that as I wrote it..... Hence the fingers crossed. I live too dangerously sometimes and it's my own damn fault!

 

[Jswain]

Now you've done it! Spit in the face of the gods, why doncha...

Little does he know there's a very important helical gear on the brink of destruction.

 

[trevj]

I've done helical milling on a manual milling machine, and I can say with some authority, as neat as it was to do so, the advantages of the digital age show it as EVER so much easier to deal with!

Honestly, the Atlas, without a Universal swiveling table, is NOT the machine for helical cutting either.

As for @Susquatch and his poking at fate, relax, and remember than there are catalogs full of gears and shops that do customs that are far better equipped, and most don't charge worth the time that they save you!

 

[jcdammeyer]

I've always wanted to try cutting gears and for that matter doing helical gears. The gear cutting was to be for some of my planetary drive projects. Not sure what I would have used helical for unless to reduce backlash or noise.