Milling M/C

[Jack Foreman 1Participant @jackforeman1]

Does anyone have any experience of an Elliott Omni mill?
Good, bad, or conjectural?

This one is a turret and horizontal machine. Four motors. Power feed to the bed. Looks in good condition from what I can see. Price £800. I have no idea of the YoM, but it appears well looked after

Comments would be appreciated.

I had no intention of purchasing a mill just yet, but >>>>>

I love the Bantam – I really feel that it belongs to me now.
I've made lots of pieces – some for the Bantam; some for the wood lathe; some items for around the workshop.
My friend across the road, keeps coming over, wanting to use it.

TIA
Jack

[Jack Foreman 1Participant @jackforeman1]

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Jack, I had one of these for at least 20 years, a very good machine, the turret head means you have plenty of clearance over the bed when using it as a vertical, much more than some other small millers. I had a Tom Senior before the Omnimill, and the Omnimill is a lot better. It is industrial quality too, I guess it may be 3Ph as mine was, so you may need a phase converter to run it so all 4 motors can be run at the same time. The price seems good too, much less than I sold mine for 4 or 5 years ago, check the overarm, all arbors and the steady is with it, and if you are lucky you may have a full set of feed change gears. I only sold mine as I brought a Bridgeport with DRO. Any other questions please ask. The lathe I have had for probably 25 years now is a Bantam, again streets ahead of most of the other lathes that find their way into the home workshop. I have built a lot of models on the Omnimill and the Bantam.

Chris Gunn

[Jack Foreman 1Participant @jackforeman1]

Chris, thank you for your response. Very positive. Much appreciated.

I wasn't planning on buying a mill for maybe another year. My thought was to become totally familiar with the Bantam first. But …….
Whilst I still have much to learn in terms of turning expertise, I find the Bantam to be so user friendly and versatile that I am happily engaging upon work which I never imagined that I would be even contemplating at this stage. So …… When the Elliott appeared on the horizon, I was immediately drawn toward it.

This particular machine is single phase -240V – but apparently does allow all four motors to operate, Whether they will all do so at the same time is something I do not know. And will be one of the first questions when I view it.
The seller has also acquired a Bridgeport, hence the reason for the sale of the Elliott.
I confess that I know absolutely nothing (even less than I knew about metal lathes) about milling machines
So I will be taking my friend from across the road with me, to view it. Whilst not a qualified engineer, he has been involved in the engineering fraternity for something approaching 30 years, so knows considerably more than I do.

As to "overarm, all arbors and the steady is with it, and if you are lucky you may have a full set of feed change gears", I have no idea what else is available. There was certainly no photographs of anything other than the turret mill.
Are parts for the Omnimill still available? Or can they be made?

My thought was to dispose of (sell) my floor standing radial arm drill, and replace it with the mill. I do use the radial dril quite a lot in the course of my woodturning, but hope that I will be able to adapt the mill to do what the drill presently does. Is that a feasible scenario?

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Jack, if the machine is single phase that makes life easier, each motor has its own starter built into the base, so you will just select what you need, for example the turret head and the feed motor if you want to engage that, or the coolant. The horizontal spindle has its own starter. I cannot answer the question regarding parts, I never needed any, but one does see used parts offered on this and other web sites. Cutter arbors for horizontal use should be available on the second hand market, it would not be too difficult to make an over arm and support. It is difficult to comment on the suitability of the mill to do what you do now, without having a little more information of what you do in the course of your wood turning.

Chris

[Jack Foreman 1Participant @jackforeman1]

Thanks Chris.

The present radial arm drill just does very fundamental drilling operations. Mostly through timber. Occasionally through ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Very seldom, through plastics, nylon etc

[BikepeteParticipant @bikepete]

As nobody has done so yet I feel obliged to provide the obligatory link to the machine in question on lathes.co.uk

[VicParticipant @vic]

I had an Omnimill, very nice machine although mine had seen better days. I found being able to swing the head around and move it backwards and forwards very useful. I only ran the vertical head for the few years that I had it and rewired the three phase motor so I could run it on 240V single phase.

[Jack Foreman 1Participant @jackforeman1]

Posted by Bikepete on 26/08/2014 09:51:41:

As nobody has done so yet I feel obliged to provide the obligatory link to the machine in question on lathes.co.uk

A useful source of information Pete. I did read this carefully before posing the question.
What these articles do not provide, valuable though they are, is experiential wisdom. Hence the question.
Also read the Victoria offering at the the same source.

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