Round columns can have issues if you need to move the head to change tooling and get it back in the same place, there are ways around it but it can be time consuming.

Have a look at the quill feed thread thats based on a similar machine.

I have had two of these, one of which I still own. Mine have been Taiwanese made & they appear to be an accurate copy of the Emco FB2 – the first machine came with a "handbook" that was a photocopy of the Emco booklet with the "Emco" badges shown in the illustrations obscured with a black marker ! ( I still have this booklet & could scan it if required). Axminster Power Tools also used to sell them, as the "VHM"

My first machine was imported by Mercer's of Cleckheaton – I bought it from it's original owner via a postcard advert on Blackgate's shop notice board. The original owner had stripped a couple of the fibre gears in the headstock during his time with the machine & had eventually had a friend make a couple of replacements in phospor bronze. I had to make a new vertical leadscrew nut when the original item stripped. The worst alignment error was X-Y squareness at around .003" error over the full 5 1/2" Y axis travel. Fitting a "digital vernier" style readout to the X axis ahowed a lead screw error of 0.003" per rev. of the handwheel. Apart from a shallow 1/16" hole in the table, the machine was in almost as-new condition. I sold this machine to a friend when I got my current machine up and running.

My current machine is a "bitsa" – the base & column mount is Ajax & Imperial, with the metric head/column being supplied by Mercer's & being allegedly ex-Denford. The head unit came with the lathe mounting "foot" (stiil tripping up over it, if anyone wants one !). Both sections were new & unused. The XY squareness on this one is 0.002" over the full Y travel – have not checked the lead error as the scale was transferred from the first machine. A bit of time at installation got the column set square in both planes & the spindle trammel was close enough not to worry about (I forget the numbers). The machine sits on a fabricated base made from 40mm box section made to my design by the fabricator where I used to work.

I have fitted a Chester Champion power feed to the table – an easy task as the Champion base appears to be an Emco copy, though with a very inferior head/column. This 3 speed unit looks very like the unit shown on the FB2 brochure. IIRC even the feedrates are the same – though a stopwatch & the scale shows that the feedrates shown are for a 60Hz motor. This unit came from a Chester Open Day – the motor fan cover was dented (transit damage), but it was otherwise un-damaged.

Downsides ? The gearbox is not the world's quietest, with a pronounced whine (this head is still running it's original fibre gear – the other machine with the PB gear was not noticably louder). As mentioned in the earlier thread, the lack of a fine control on the quill can be a bit frustrating, but I seem to manage to work round it – at 40mm the quill stroke is a bit short too. The head swivel arrangement only clamps with two tee-nuts & I have had the head move – I take smaller cuts since that happened.

Nice features ? The captive drawbar means no pounding the spindle bearings to release tools. The ability to set the spindle horizontal along X or Y axes, as well as any angle in between. The keyed column. Easy speed changes & an increase in spindle torque at low speeds (the exact opposite to the increasingly popular variable speed machines). A well proportioned Y axis – much wider than the current crop of budget mills – and robust base casting (110kg machine weight according to the Emco brochure).

I tend to use 2MT collets to hold milling cutters, to minimise cutter extension below the spindle bearings.

I have no hesitation in recommending one of these – if you are happy with the price, I would go for it. To make transport easier, the head/column unit lifts out of the base by slackening two clamp bolts – I can just manage to lift the two parts on my own (though I don't recommend trying to carry either for any distance !).

HTH

Nigel B.

What do you think is a reasonable price

Difficult to say. As I got both my machines in the mid '90s, my purchase prices would not be relevant. I have seen a few of these go on Ebay for around £500-£600 in the last couple of years. They seem to fetch a lot less than Emco machines, which seem to go for £1500 – £2000. IIRC I paid £325 for my first one & sold it for £350 a few years later – both prices for a bare machine with no tooling. On the current machine the base was FOC (right place -right time !) & the (415V 3 phase) head/column was £200 – having the motor rewound to 240V 3phase cost another £60.

As ever, it depends on the machine condition, what "extras" are included in the sale & how close it is – I would be wanting to pay less for a machine I had to make a 400 mile round trip to collect.

You know how much the new machines with a similar envelope cost, you suggested initially that the machine you had seen was "a very good price" – if it comes up to expectations when inspected, it sounds like a good purchase. But that is, ultimately, a decision only you can make.

Have look, twiddle the handwheels, run the spindle in all gears, make an offer !

Edited to add "don't follow this link until you have done something useful in the shed today. grrr wasting time on the 'net again ".

For alternatives to clamping kits have a look at this:
**LINK**
Should use up a fair bit of your bank holiday internet allowance.

Graham, what is the idea if the round items in your picture? Are they just stops or 'buttons' or is there some cunning ideas behind them?

Edited By Bazyle on 29/03/2013 10:09:26

My X2 came with an M10 clamping kit. I use some of it (the smaller bits) quite a lot and modified two studs to be very short for the vice.

I have a number of other t-nuts and matching clamops I have made just using M8 which work fine and even a pair of M6 t-nuts which go with long blts to hold down my rotary table. It's never slipped with these, the two hold-down points are nearly 5" apart, which helps.

Neil