Daniel,

I have had a super major for the last 2.5 years. I am very pleased with it. I have had problems aligning the column square to the table and then getting the quill true to the column but eventually got it all satisfactory. The key in the R8 spindle disappeared ages ago but I have not bothered to replace it as it seems to make little difference.

Vic is correct in that the top speed of 1600 is a bit limiting especially if you want to use small diameter carbide cutters. At the beginning of this year I replaced the motor with a 2 pole motor and inverter control from transwave so now have over double the speed available. At normal speeds the gearbox is fairly quite, certainly no worse than any other mill I have used. At 3000 rpm plus it is a bit loud but it was not really designed for that. I intend one day to fit better quality bearing to the spindle. I notice the latest model at Warco has a digital scale on the quill which is a mod I did some time ago.

I bought mine with a 3 axis DRO fitted and I thoroughly recommend this. I have used this for all the parts of 3 x 5" gauge locos and lots of bits of tooling etc. I would certainly purchase another one if the need ever arose as it is a well built sturdy mill with a good capacity.

Michael

There are on the UK market several 'makes' of a similar size of mill, all with differences which might be better (or worse) than the one you are looking at. Things like table length, if that is relevant for you, as well as different collet and taper sizes, for example. So, my advice would be to look at as many as you can find. Perhaps at a Show (there's one near Warwick next weekend*), or trawl the web and ask for full specifications.

A further factor is 'How near is the supplier?' as you will need advice, spares, help, etc, and you don't want to be stuck too far from assistance, especially to start with.

* Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition – 13 to 16 October – CV31 1XN

Cheers, Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 08/10/2016 17:31:27

They probably limit speed due to bearing sizes and gear wear. I very much doubt if this one uses plastic gears but I would have liked to see the comment hardened and ground gears as per the gear head lathes.

I've looked that these machines idly in the past and have always noticed this one

**LINK**

Tapered gib strips are big boon when sorting that aspect out. It also has the same drill mill capacity as the other. It might work out at the same cost with dro and power feed fitted.

The super is a lot heavier though, usually a very good point.

If it was me I would be buying the belt drive model but that's just me and when I saw how the speeds were changed to avoid having a back gear I probably wouldn't be very happy about it.

John

–

I thought I had seen similar machines that did higher speeds

**LINK**

That one with an inverter. Another with a dual speed motor. Both with test reports

John

–

Edited By Ajohnw on 08/10/2016 18:48:48

I have a VMC. They do have quite a following and not just on here. I looked at several machines but decided I wanted a knee mill as that was what I'd used before. I've been well pleased with mine.

One of the things that surprised me was the number of folks that lower the quill when milling rather than raising the knee. I was taught never to do this as it's obviously less rigid. I mention this as how do folks with a mill with a movable head like the super above work? Do you constantly lower the head or move the quill. Both options don't seem as good to me as using a knee mill.

Both the VMC (and the Chester 626 equivalent) are very good robust machines, which suffer from headroom limitations. I helped a friend make a 5" raising block for his VMC which totally transformed it. That, plus DRO and variable speeds make a very useful machine.

I have a VMC and have not run out of headroom yet. What are the tasks being undertaken when headroom becomes an issue?

Mike