That is a lovely bit of kit. I reckon finding a vertical head for it will be like looking for hens teeth though but with the twin over arm plenty of scope to make something up. You should be able to rip some metal off with that!

Paul.

Instinct led me to search for ‘Archdale machine tools’

You may find things of interest here:

**LINK**

http://www.lathes.co.uk/archdale/

**LINK**

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Archdale_and_Co

MichaelG.

.

Also: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archdale-Machine-Tools-1868-1948/product-reviews/B0000CPDTR

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/04/2020 07:55:25

Ghost

First of all the manufacturers plate starts with HM and in the simple Archdale terminology this stands for Horizontal Milling. Consequently it is highly unlikely you could fit a vertical head without reconfiguring the machine and drive.

Secondly the serial number of 1906 would make it well pre WW2. My serial number reference book has a number of 4096 for 1940. They would appear to have manufactured approx 500 machines of this type per year so that would make your machine to be approx mid thirties..

Hope this helps a little

Jonathan

A friend used to have an Archdale horizontal mill. He claimed that there wasn't such a thing as a vertical head for it. From what I can recall, it would be a major job to graft on some other manufacturers vertical head. Not impossible but you would be better off getting a vertical mill for all the hassle it would entail.

As for the age of your mill, Jonathon Garside is correct. My friends mill was in the low 3000 region and he could trace its history back to the 1930s. It was purchased by his father, direct from the factory in which he worked, when it became redundant. That would be just pre war.

Andrew.

Ghost

I do not have an Archdale mill I was merely advising you of the type and age from my machine tool serial number records.

If you go onto the http://www.vintagemachinery.org website and search for Archdale or James Archdale they have a downloadable pdf of a sales leaflet which includes horizontal milling machines.

As Andrew says above I do not think Archdales ever made a vertical head for these machines as there do not appear to be any attachment points or suitable drive mechanisms.

Just as a matter of interest I was part of the Auction team that sold the Blackpole, Worcester works of James Archdale in 1973/4. Archdales were by this time part of Staveley Industries who had bought a whole tranche of British Machine Tool manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s but managed to close the vast majority by the 1980s.

Jonathan