View on this milling machine please

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

A freind of mine, after using my milling milling machine, has decided he would like his own.

He has seen this for sale on Lathe.co.uk and asked my thoughts but I have never heard of the make so thought I would ask here.

Link to ad: http://www.lathes.co.uk/advertphoto/191030-Van-Norman/VanNorman.pdf

Asking price is £1750

He has a budget of £2-3K but that includes tooling etc

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

At that age : Everything will depend upon condition

Wikipedia has a brief entry about the company, from which I think it reasonable to assume that it was sturdy and well constructed. … But how worn is it now ?

MichaelG.

[ZanParticipant @zan]

Interesting machine with a huge quantity of tooling I’m interested! —- not really! Suggest if it’s purchased to get a three phase vdf to give a bigger range of speed flat belt drive ain’t good and speed range must be limited It may be time consuming to switch between vertical and horizontal mode

very solidly built, looks to have not much travel in y direction from photos, but very solid looking wide dovetails

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

They were sturdy and well constructed. If not badly abused it should be a good machine. I am not certain this has a quill. The absence of quill feed (either manual or mechanical) can make some operations difficult or impossible, like drilling a hole at an angle. The tooling offered with it is truly impressive. 40 taper tooling is relatively inexpensive and widely available.

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

I live in York and the machine is local to me I think. If your friend is serious I am happy to take a look at it for him.

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

I live in York and the machine is local to me I think. If your friend is serious I am happy to take a look at it for him.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

With a budget of £2/3k he is in Bridgeport territory with good spares back up. If he has the space I know which I would prefer to use.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I've always found adds placed on there are priced high.

If you bought the tooling on ebay it would cost you around £700. All the fasteners will be American thread. The size looks to be between that of a Centec 2A and 2B.

Not having a Quill is far from a deal breaker

A 3 " vice would give more daylight if required.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

It’s only £1700 on Gumtree and he is clearly open to offers as well (says so on the ad), so the ‘asking price’ is not certain to be the ‘selling price’. Not a proper ‘universal’, methinks. Or does the table really swivel?

Table might be conveniently covered by the vises and rotary table?

No chance of a good appraisal unless inspected by someone who knows the failings of that make/model.

Angle drilling only needs an adjustable angle plate, or similar, if head space is sufficient.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Here's the middle one of a series of videos about one; looks like the table doesn't swivel, but is quite substantial.

Bill

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