Quick Step Mill

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I had an idle punt on a Quick Step mill that went for £1019.00 on eBay, are they really that desirable?

Mike

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Was it worth it.

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

To the person that bid £1,019 for it, apparently yes!

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by David Standing 1 on 15/10/2017 23:01:51:

To the person that bid £1,019 for it, apparently yes!

That is very true but for me it would be very occasionally useful, maybe they would use it every day so it might be the bargain of the century.

Mike

[egaParticipant @ega]

The QSM is a very useful piece of kit, sold by Hemingway but production temporarily suspended hence, perhaps, what seems like a premium price. See their website.

Drawings are available for DIY builders.

Edited By ega on 15/10/2017 23:58:26

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Issues 52 ( pages 52 to 61 ) and 53 ( pages 52 to 59 ) are the MEWs that feature a comprehensive overview of the Quickstep Mill, together with the requisite drawings, if anyone is interested.

John

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by ega on 15/10/2017 23:57:02:

The QSM is a very useful piece of kit, sold by Hemingway but production temporarily suspended hence, perhaps, what seems like a premium price. See their website.

Drawings are available for DIY builders.

Edited By ega on 15/10/2017 23:58:26

Thanks – I'd never heard of it before, and it does indeed look useful.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

£375 to over a grand (for the last two bids) seems like someone might have got it dropped on their toes, to me. But the obviously wanted it. But I reckon he/she was miffed at being pushed to that price and didn't expect a zero feedback bidder to bid £999.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That seems a lot more than the original price (and they weren't cheap… around £700?)

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

If you are clockmaking using a Myford or similar, it's only a matter of time until you realise that you have considerable use for a tool post spindle type tool such as the QSM….. The actual tool has not been available for at least 5 years now as I remember an aquaintance trying to aquire one, and the site still shows it as currently out of stock.

It's a touch big for the way I work but I would be very interested in making a scaled down version……Are the MEW's still available or are the articles anywhere on line?

[egaParticipant @ega]

I mostly use the QSM on the lathe but, as a demonstration of its versatility, have added a couple of photos to the end of my Miscellaneous album showing it being used to machine the face of the casting on the head of my mill/drill.

I think that if John Payne were designing the machine today recent developments might have made a cheaper result possible; perhaps, eg, avoiding the need for the gearbox.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I made a basic toolpost mill drill from an old drill, put the gearbox inside a lump of EN1a.

You could fit it on a vertical slide.

Neil

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

It's nowhere near as nice as a Quickstep, but here's my lashup:

That's an ER11 spindle motor, which came complete with adjustable power supply and collets for £90. It's bolted to the vertical slide left over from my mini-lathe, and can also be fitted along the lathe axis. That took about 2hours to acheive, most of which was in the mount.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

I made one to John Payne's original drawings in MEW. It has its uses, but, in hind sight, it spends more of its time in its box than in use. But then I do have other equipment as well.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I think the great advantage of the Quickstep is that it is quick to mount and dismount which makes it attractive for doing small jobs in the lathe that would require some setting up on the milling machine. My system is not quite so neat but, nevertheless, I use it pretty often. The red mark on the (non-adjustable) dial shows the reading for true centre height and I use it at this setting for 90% of the time. Power is a 120W sewing machine motor and the spindle is an Arrand unit. I have drilled an additional pair of holes in the base of the vertical slide so that it can be set parallel or perpendicular to the lathe axis. An ER11 chuck lives in the 1MT of the spindle and I use this for milling cutters and drills up to 1/4" or 6mm.

Rod

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