Centec 2A milling machine horizontal / vertical mill.

This topic has 13 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 1 December 2025 at 19:49 by Nigel Graham 2.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

Author

Posts
29 November 2025 at 22:09 #826939
howardb
Participant
@howardb
Found this when looking on RDG’s web shop for something else.

I understand that they were highly regarded and versatile being horizontal/vertical capable.

*Clearance / end of line stock*

Centec 2A milling machine horizontal / vertical on cabinet 2mt head

£1,625.00 (exc VAT) – £1,950.00 (inc VAT)
Advert

29 November 2025 at 23:57 #826952
Dave Halford
Participant
@davehalford22513
I’m rich!!!!
30 November 2025 at 08:22 #826967
Andrew Tinsley
Participant
@andrewtinsley63637
Add in the delivery charge and it is a bargain.

Andrew.
30 November 2025 at 10:18 #826980
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
Even more so if with the Raising Block, a long casting with dovetails top and bottom to raise the ram by about three inches.

They are good machines though.
30 November 2025 at 11:56 #826994
noel shelley
Participant
@noelshelley55608
Is it new ? Remember it’s a 2A not the 2B.
30 November 2025 at 12:24 #826995
duncan webster 1
Participant
@duncanwebster1
2B has better table traverse
30 November 2025 at 14:23 #827002
not done it yet
Participant
@notdoneityet
It does have a riser block, but a short one (probably CI or steel?) – but does not appear to have any parts for horizontal operation.

As Dave says, it makes a 2B look valuable Especially with the long ally riser (made by Gary), power feed (on the long travel) and three phase motor with VFD.
30 November 2025 at 17:57 #827015
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
The riser block needs be only the length of the top of the column.

I don’t think it would be too difficult to find a suitable arbor, nor to make a drop-bracket for it. I had to do that for a Centec I owned for a while.

To finish-bore the bearing hole to size and alignment I clamped it rigidly to the table with an angle-plate, slackened the ram clamps and fed the lot inwards against a boring-head.

A 3ph conversion? Maybe nice to have but not really essential.
30 November 2025 at 22:47 #827047
not done it yet
Participant
@notdoneityet
Agreed, the normal short riser (like the one advertised) is all that is needed, but the long riser can allow horizontal operation without removal of the vertical head.

I don’t think three phase “conversion” was mentioned? Many machines were supplied with 3 phase motors and later “converted” to single phase.

A 3 phase drive is far better (IMO) than the single phase on that machine. Variable table feed rate and a smoother motor, with less vibration (there were issues with induced vibrations within the stands with single phase machines) must mean an improvement elsewhere. I know which I prefer.
1 December 2025 at 11:52 #827126
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
I did indeed notice the immediate improvement when I changed the original single-phase motor on my Myford lathe to 3ph, and I have treated my Myford milling-machine and Harrison lathe (all elderly 2nd-hand machines) similarly, but for a relatively small machine-tool it’s not an absolute priority.

My Centec had a 1ph motor and it ran perfectly well, whatever may have been on it originally.

What I think matters more in this case is restoring its horizontal-milling ability.
1 December 2025 at 12:08 #827127
Michael Callaghan
Participant
@michaelcallaghan68621
Having owned a centec milling machine, yes they take up little space. However they are very limited in what they can machine. For the money there are far better machines available. I paid £500 for mine with the rising block and lots of extras, and that was only two years ago. Sold it for the same money after needing more bed space, and power.
1 December 2025 at 12:15 #827128
duncan webster 1
Participant
@duncanwebster1
A single phase motor mounted in the cabinet makes it very noisy, the sides vibrate (don’t ask how I know). This one has timber bolted in to try to mitigate it. When the centrifugal switch on my single phase motor died (they don’t like being switched on and off all the time) I switched mine to a 3 phase motor the change was dramatic.
1 December 2025 at 16:18 #827172
Michael Callaghan
Participant
@michaelcallaghan68621
Duncan, I found that drilling two holes in the cabinet sides and then passing some 10mm threaded bar through the holes and then adding nuts and washers and compressing the cabinet sides a bit put an end to the noise issue.
1 December 2025 at 19:49 #827205
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
That was the first happy discovery with “three-phasing” my Myford lathe: no more very loud cabinet resonance; but the cabinet is of folded sheet-steel so quite likely to vibrate.

I am slowly recommissioning an ancient Denbigh horizontal mill not much larger than the Centec B, and decided it was not worth a lot of ££ for three-phase drive for an old horizontal-only machine on a massive cast-iron stand, and with a spindle speed somewhere around 70rpm.
Author

Posts