Thread: Rossi Universal Mill

Originally Posted by Michael G

It's odd - I bought the mill I did because it had power feed on all 3 axis. Most of the small English (universal) mills I saw at the time only had power feed on one axis. If you want to use a boring head you need that powered axis (I guess the other alternative is a HBM...).

Michael

Methinks you are starting to suffer from HBM acquisition syndrome....

Go on. It's only a small leap. They don't really weigh all that much. You'll wonder how you ever got by without one once you surrender to the urge.

I just moved my 2 tonne No 1 planer today to free up some more space.....

PDW

Originally Posted by PDW

Methinks you are starting to suffer from HBM acquisition syndrome....

Go on. It's only a small leap. They don't really weigh all that much. You'll wonder how you ever got by without one once you surrender to the urge.

I already have a 1.5 tonne lathe and a 1.25 tonne mill (and no more space in the shed). Weird to think that either of them weighs more than the car does.

Actually Toggy, I always thought my mill was a baby - it is only 1.5m high, although I have raised it up another 0.2m so it's easier to work at. My comment was because all the Brit mills I looked at at the time (of a similar age and size) didn't seem to be as well featured as those from the rest of Europe. I usually crank the knee manually to get things in position (although I admit that you know you have done it), but would have thought for a uniform bore power feed would be almost mandatory.

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

I already have a 1.5 tonne lathe and a 1.25 tonne mill (and no more space in the shed). Weird to think that either of them weighs more than the car does.

Actually Toggy, I always thought my mill was a baby - it is only 1.5m high, although I have raised it up another 0.2m so it's easier to work at. My comment was because all the Brit mills I looked at at the time (of a similar age and size) didn't seem to be as well featured as those from the rest of Europe. I usually crank the knee manually to get things in position (although I admit that you know you have done it), but would have thought for a uniform bore power feed would be almost mandatory.

Michael

My U2 mill is only about 1.5m high. No idea on its mass. I bought it because I'd used one at TAFE and quite liked them, also knew it had power feed on all axes. There were a lot of mills made where the only power feed was to the table via telescoping shaft and often separate g/box, direct descendents of the lineshaft machines. I suspect this is more common in the smaller mills; my baby horizontal mill is configured in this manner.

That Rossi looks like a very nice size and with enough mass to handle heavy cuts with ease. Horizontal mills are fantastic for removing metal provided you have the cutters (and then a T&C grinder to keep them sharp).

IME you're right about needing power feed to get a smooth bore. The reason I've never dived into the U2 feed system is that I use the B/port with its J head for boring operations. Now I have a bigger option.....

PDW

Hello just reading the last input with these older mills having no z feed and no power up power down features.when boring with feed this was done horizontally as most of these mills came with a vertical attachment turned at 90 deg the other end of boring bar supported with uni tail stock or steady. Admittedly if the table travel was small there was a limit to the boring job.These old mills are great to work on a hot day they make the gravy run with all movements of axes.To labour save on 1 old denbigh here with a
bridgeport head here that I use for automotive cyl head and block skimming I hooked up one of our old 32 volt drills [a real gut buster] and return the table under power using the old drill.Slow but plenty torque from it On the farm we didnt get mains poewr until 1959 and most of every thing was 32v DC.Lighting appliances mum had mix master an iron and wash machine all 32 volt. for machinery it was driven by line shaft either tractor or stationary diesel Ronaldson Tippet Ballarat abt 8hp.Cheers John the fire siren has just gone off.

Us peasants can't afford horizontal borers; so we have to improvise.

With the table almost at max lift; you can see why I had to dig a tunnel into the floor to house that long single stage lift screw.

Ken
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