Thread: Centec2A - a (small) piece of history

I am interested in getting into model engineering and have been buying small machine tools as they have become available. I bought this little Centec 2a mill just before going away have just now had a really good look at it. It has disclosed an interesting history.

The machine was reclining in a dirt floored shed in the Adelaide hills where (there was no power) it had never been used. It was being sold as part of a property cleanup and no one knew how it had come to be in shed that was otherwise full of total rubbish.

Getting it, mounted on a very heavy stand into the ute with a tractor that had little in the way of brakes and then up a steep slippery track was great fun as was the very wet drive home.

The Centec was made in the 1950s and is well documented on Lathes UK, see http://www.lathes.co.uk/centec/index.html There are plenty of references to then in British model engineering sources, they seem to have a good name.

I know that there is at least one other in Australia and would be very interested to hear from anyone else who has one?

When I saw it it was a couple of inches deep in a mixture of cast iron filings and oil, these proved to be a remarkable preservative and there was little rust. Once all the crap was removed it has turned out to be very tidy and I wont bother painting it.

Cleaning it up disclosed a WRE (Weapons Research Establishment) asset number. The WRE was formed in 1955, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence...y_Organisation

and the Centec seems to be exactly the sort of laboratory/proofing machine that would be purchased for such an organization.

It came with a really useful range of accessories, sadly few of them genuine Centec. I imagine that it was separated from the original vise and dividing head etc when it was auctioned by the WRE. It came with a chinese K vice with horizontal swivels where the fixed jaw should be - it may work...? There is also a dividing head with a chuck that has never been mounted. The full horizontal head and all of the shafting and a selection of cutters are with it. It has a churchill chuck and a full set of collets. The is also a very nice key less chuck for drilling with it but in a machine with limited clearance over the table it seems to me to be the wrong chuck as it is quite long. I will probably use the one from the lathe with it.

The stand is a monster, dwarfing such a small machine, it is 700mm sq with a 1/2" plate top and 1/4" sides. If anyone wants such a monster let me know. My next step is to make up something smaller and easier to handle.

The original 3ph motor had been ripped off in the roughest possible way and a 1.5hp 1 ph cap start cap run motor tacked on. This seems to be quite a good motor but was installed without any switching. It is a reversible motor but I am not sure if it is worth going to the trouble of getting the switching - is this a useful feature?

If people are interested I will put up some pictures as I get it sorted?

Regards

Ian


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Ian,

That's a great find, and it looks to be in remarkably good condition considering the storage conditions.
There was a Centec mill on ebay - last year I think- located near Sydney.
More photos would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Bill

Hi,

I seen that mill on Gumtree earlier this year? Adelaide was too far for me to knick off over the weekend and reappear with a new piece of unexplained machinery.

I think that stand is the original. I'd keep it. It came up looking really good. Great find. Looks really solid.

Ben

That is a great looking little Mill, should be a nice asset to your shed.

Nice find!! How did you find it and approx how much did you pay for it? Reason I ask is that I'm looking for something similar.
Kryn

Hi All

Thanks for the comments!

After never seeing one of these before a production version (horizontal only) is presently on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Centec-Au...item3a973c9290

Ben - It was a big week end on Gumtree in Adelaide that week with the Centec, another small mill, probably a Hercus and what appeared to be a Douglas shaper. By the time that I got the Centec sorted and home the shaper had gone. Oh well, decisions have to be made. The stand is a fabricated one, I would guess that it was made by the WRE. The one that is on ebay is I think the genuine stand. I have cut some steel and will fabricate something much smaller and lighter, I am going to use the door of the supplied stand as the top.

Kryn - I paid $1,100 for the whole lot which was a fair bit for a machine that I couldn't run as there was no power to the shed. It seems to have turned out very well but I had a nervous moment when I stripped the head yesterday and found that in the process of replacing the spindle bearings someone had cross threaded the locking ring and when they couldn't get it on left it loose on the spindle. I had several hours carefully filing out the damaged portion of the thread on the locking ring and then reshaping it with a sharp tool. No damage seems to have been done but I look forward to running it under power.


Regards

Ian

well bought ian i seen it when i went to collect a clarkson t@c grinder from there similar condition except it was scattered all over the place but we found it all.
i was tempted but had just finished restoring an old horizontal mill( pallas) and then with the clarkson in the boy toy shed i was short on funds then damn it
enjoy your new found purchase

oh i know where theres a douglas shaper thats not needed any more needs a motor
john

Hi Ian, If you would like me to make a new locking ring just let me know. I'm not that far from you & I can't see it being a problem at all.
tinkera

Tinkera - Thanks very much for your kind offer but I have got it back on now. I probably should have made one up myself it would have been easier.

John - The T&C grinder sounds like a great buy. I am fascinated to know that there was another machine in that shed. Apart from the Centec, all that was left when I got there was a small drill press lying in the dirt. The accessories for the Centec were all over the place and like you I had to scramble around to find them. I would be interested in finding out more about the shaper, I have a very suitable motor in my collection! Thanks for the thought. I will send you a PM.

Regards

Ian

What a great find.. being from a research establishment, rather than a production environment should mean it's likely to be in pretty good nick, certainly looks the goods.

Ray

Hi all

I have made some progress with the Centec

This is the stand that I have made, the legs aren't as spindly as they look, they are thick walled tube that I bought for another job. I have installed the motor under the bench rather that on the side mounts. Having a a motor up there looks like a right pain. The back of the single phase motor, which I imagine is a lot longer that the original 3 phase motor would end up very close to the table. The top is the door of the original stand and over that a cheap auto drip tray. I cut the tray to length and sweated on a drain made from a brass hose fitting. I made a dip for the drain using the two socket method that I saw somewhere on the net, may well have been on here.
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On she goes, yes this is the lazy persons way of moving a machine.

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Getting the belt path down to the motor right was a major pain. I had to put a spacer into the motor mount that I had made. Where the motor spindle is in relation to the driven pulley matters a great deal. I had to take a nick out of the edge of machine base and the mount for the middle belt guard to get the edges of the belt to clear. From the pictures I have seen on the net I think that the genuine stand (which is designed for mounting the motor underneath) has a slot cast in for the belt. Mine is the bench mount model.

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I ran it up under power and everything seem smooth and quiet. The 6 speed gearbox (app 50 - 1400rpm) works really well. When I had run it for a bit I changed the gearbox oil for some new hydraulic oil. The next step is to sort out the belt guards, the middle one is there, somewhat bent, but there is no upper or lower guard.

I have ordered switching.

Regards

Ian



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Hi all

I have just put the finishing touches to the belt guards.


This is the starting point, the genuine mid guard with the dents taken out and waiting for paint and a cover for the hole that has been hacked in the side of it to allow the single phase motor to be fitted above the bench that it came with. This guard stays with the machine at all times but pivots out from the base to allow access to the belts when the vertical head is being removed to setup for horizontal milling.

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I made up the top guard, this sits on the mounts for the mid guard but comes right off to allow for horizontal milling. I also made up a tin box as a bottom guard.

The stand that I made ended up a little low so I have added a couple of timber skids.

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This is the finished view.

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Now just waiting for switching.

Regards

Ian



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Ian, nice work on the guards. Moving the mill with a front end loader is not a lazy mans way of doing things, it's the smart mans way, as he's not going to injure himself.
Kryn

Hi All

I now finished the Centec with the addition of a switch that allows the direction of rotation to be selected, wiring that up did my head in.


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I converted the original light to 12volt LED and made up a mounting plate that attaches to the unused motor mounts.

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Here it is in all its glory!

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I have a few small jobs lined up that will let me get to grips with running it.

Regards

Ian

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Looks really nice now that it's all cleaned up. Only one problem that I can think of, it's not at my address
Kryn