Chester 626 mill CNC Conversion

[Rob.Wilson]

  Thanks lads 

Now i have allot of work on  i need to move my shop around to fit my new mill in . This mill would have made a much better CNC conversion , more travel ,faster spindle speeds,larger table , 30int , and a dam site better built .



Comes with DRO , a load of tooling,power feed,  all for allot less than an X3 mill .

Rob

[Stilldrillin]

By 'ek Rob. That's a cracker!

Hope it's condition is as good as it's looks......... 


"This mill would have made a much better CNC conversion".. I think yer timing was a bit off, Rob...... 

David D

[DMIOM]

By 'ek Rob. That's a cracker!

Hope it's condition is as good as it's looks......... 


"This mill would have made a much better CNC conversion".. I think yer timing was a bit off, Rob...... 

David D

no no chaps - Rob has done the rough prototype on the Chester in this thread to gain experience, then he'll go on to do a proper job on the Viceroy ! 

Dave

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi David 

Two things wrong with it , hi/ low lever is stuck in low and the power feed motor needs a re wined ( i am sure i can sneak that into a job at work ) , not to bad as  i have to strip the machine anyway to move it , no marks on the table , the DRO second hand is worth more than what i payed for the machine , the DRO needs re fitting .


  I if only we new what was round the conner   


  Dave , one CNC conversion is enough for now 


Rob

[DMIOM]

....... Dave , one CNC conversion is enough for now .......

But it'll be quicker the second time round because you can machine the parts on your first CNC !

Dave

[NickG]

I am looking out for one of those, we have one at our club - very solid, well built machine. They used to be relatively cheap but think people are cottoning on and they seem to be going up in value.

Nice 1 Rob!

[Rob.Wilson]

....... Dave , one CNC conversion is enough for now .......

But it'll be quicker the second time round because you can machine the parts on your first CNC !

Dave

Hi Dave  ,,, I think IF I were to do another CNC it would not be a conversion  it would be a complete new build .Having one CNC mill (when finished) would make life easier too build a second .


Cheers Nick , yes its a good size solid mill and not too large for the home shop .


Rob

[loply]

Rob, that mill looks like a corker. I wasn't aware of the model. Where'd you find it?

I've just started the journey on converting my Denford Viceroy lathe to CNC, not fancy donating the mill to me so they can keep each other company? 

Lack of a quill will give your right arm a workout when drilling though!

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Richard   

John DB put me onto the mill , lol nope its keeping my other mills company lol ,not having a quill is a good thing in my opinion as its a mill machine not a drilling machine ,much more ridged set up for milling  ,  there is no quill on my Aciera F3  and i manage just fine , i have other machines for drilling 

I've just started the journey on converting my Denford Viceroy lathe to CNC

Interesting , I hope you do a post of your progress 


Rob

[Stilldrillin]

Lack of a quill will give your right arm a workout when drilling though!

Doesn't the table have a vertical power feed? 

David D

[Rob.Wilson]

Sadly not David , but adding one for boring operations would be a nice wee project 

Rob

[doubleboost]

Hi
Rob
I see you managed to get that horrible anti rust grease off the table
That must have been there for years
John

[Stilldrillin]

Sadly not David , but adding one for boring operations would be a nice wee project 

Rob

Ah! That's a surprise Rob...... 

I never worked a grown up mill, that didn't....... I've done a lot of drillin/ boring, with vertical mills. 

David D

[Rob.Wilson]

  Its not that grown up David its just got a power feed on the X axis 


Its still on John , that a photo i took in the factory 


Rob

[doubleboost]

Kerosine works well on oriental grease
I would treat yours with respect and use brake cleaner
That DRO is very similar to mine
John

[micktoon]

Hi Rob, You sure do have a serious machine buying problem lad  ,saying that apart from 'where the hell will you put it'  it looks a cracking buy , nice solid bit of oldish English kit, from the good days. I bet you have suddenly lost interest in the CNC project on the other mill  . I can hear you saying ' no that REALLY is it this time, no matter what , there is No more room lol................... until the next buy that is 

 Cheers Mick.

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Rob, You sure do have a serious machine buying problem lad 

  I do don't I  funny worlass said the very same thing 

saying that apart from 'where the hell will you put it' 

loads of room Mick , I just have to move a few wee things around in the shop , like my workbench 

I bet you have suddenly lost interest in the CNC project on the other mill   

Nope , I will finish the cnc mill project , then do the new mill and die filer  oh then have a bash at the cnc lathe   

any way i still need  TCG 


Rob

[micktoon]

.................... and don't forget your fly press 

[Rob.Wilson]

  i had forgotten about that  , me and John will have to call over for it 

Rob

[krv3000]

a good one rob its a bawt time you fawnd me one

[NeoTech]

If i bring a tent and come over to UK - i can get machining lessons?  *damn* i didnt know a aciera could do those setups. =)

[NickG]

Lovely work on the cabinet Rob  don't know how you do it!

One of these has come up for sale:

Looks to be a 626 with a myford badge on it, the VMC, made in Taiwan. Do you reckon it'll be any better than any other 626? It's not cheap, about 2/3 of the cost of a new one. Lathes.co.uk only has a short paragraph and reckons the only difference is that some myfords were fitted with uk switch gear and motor.

Cheers,

Nick

[9fingers]

Nick, I've had one of these from new in around 1987 and is the target of my CNC conversion thread on the forum.
http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,7345.0.html
It is essentially a 6x26 but without the fine quill feed wheel - a feature that I've not found a problem.

Naturally it will have similar design compromises but in order to earn the Myford label, they were imported into the UK and stripped down by myford and the slideways scraped and generally given a check over. Mine also had a British/eu motor fitted as at the time, Chinese ones had a bad reputation. I had one on a drill press that was badly balanced and soon became a doorstop.
In any case I now run the VMC with a 3 phase motor and inverter.

The machine in the photo looks very clean and has possibly had little use as the paint usually gets stained by oil/coolant etc on hard worked machines.
Provided the feedscrews and nuts are not badly worn, I'd say it is worth getting at 2/3rds new price.
Note that spares will be no more available for it that warco/chester machines.

If you are looking for a target for CNC conversion there won't be much that Rob supplemented by my project experience won't know about the task. Feedscrew condition will then be irrelevant.

hth

Bob

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Nick

I am pleased Bob chipped in on this as he is better placed to give you advice on the build quality of Myford machine , I would expect it too be built to allot  better quality  than the two Chester 626 machines i have  come across .


Rob

[John Stevenson]

Because of it's age the Myford machine would have been a Taiwanese based machine which at that time were of decent quality.
The Chester / Warco machines being made now are Chinese and depending on the factory they are produced at could have differing quality.