Clarke Mill advice needed.

[busastars]

Clarke Mill advice needed. Update CL500M Lathe

Right hope this is not against the forum rules but could do with some advice on a Clark Mill on ebay:

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200455761980&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

How much roughly would you think its worth, is it any good. Ive not got alot of room availible for a full size mill and dont fancy the Micro Mill.

All comments welcome...

 

[spaffmonkey]

I have used a clarke mill before and it done a good job.

Might be worth looking on the machine mart website see how much they are on there

then you will have somethink to compare it with.

below is the link to the clarke milling machine that machine mart have got.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cmd1225c-mill-drill

 

[yarpap]

seems a bit expensive, had the lathe mill for a week, sold it straight away thought it was horrible..but thats only my oppinion.
for that price you may find old brit mill such as a centec.
one problem is the hobby engineers bidding like crazy and forcing prices up. if your patient then you will get good machine at reasonable cost
Dave

 

[busastars]

Chears, when it first got listed at a start price of £150 I thought to myself ill put a £251.01 bid in last five mins but then it had a few bids and thought well I may go as far as £301.01 (always put the odd pound and penny in ) But now its over the £350 mark I think its just to expensive. Its only 45mins away from me and this side of the border so wouldent cost me much to get but now just that little bit to expensive.

I have been concidering new the Clarke all in one lathe and mill. I know Clarke gets slated here but I want somthing with no play, not worn out and the lathe has enough turning diameter for me also the parts are still avalible. Its quite small though and dont take up to much space.

Problem is Ive read that the mill on the CL500M is rubbish, question, is it just rubbish with steel or still rubbish with ally aswell.

Main thing I would like a mill for is cutting the chambers on ally 2T bike heads with a fly cutter and maybe cutting O'ring slots. The micro mills are mega expensive and way to small but a desk top one would be ideal.

 

[yarpap]

i found the lathe mill rubbish, but others with patience have set them up and done ok.
i work mainly with stainless and have a colchester lathe and two old centec mills.
doesnt matter what metal your cutting really as i find the machine is either acurate or not be it working ally brass or stainless.
ive had some real old machines and all have done a good job ,remember its only my oppinion but the clarke Chester et al stuff isnt up to much especially bike heads!!.
you will need to consider size as once you put a cutter in small mills then often there isnt a lot of room between it and the table.
there may be a pair of Centecs on the for sale board soon!!

 

[rog8811]

I have the same model clarke mill, I have used it for many projects and found it very good to use, I have machined CI and steel as well as ali, plastics and wood.
The only problem I had was that there is unadjustable backlash on the quill, so height setting was a bit hit and miss, I solved the problem with a gas strut mounted to hold the quill back against the thrust bearing.
Mine came from ebay for around £250 it is very good value at that sort of price.

Regards rog8811

 

[Richm]

in my poinion they are ok for model makers but i wouldnt want to do any head work on one as I dont think they are any where near rigid enough..