Quote:
Originally Posted by ahartnet
I've found a used milling machine that the seller is asking for $3k for. It's an Acra LS-2S (bridgeport knee-milling machine clone). It's got a power feed in the horizontal travel (and Z I think too), and as far as DRO goes, it's wired in the X and Y so it's just missing the DRO display. I also have a contact that will sponsor us with up to $5k in milling machine tooling if I can get a milling machine - which is hugely awesome and I don't know how long that offer will stand.
I was able to get ahold of Acra, and the factory that used to handle this machine is closed. This I imagine would make it difficult to do any repairs, find replacement parts, and difficult to find a manual.
Looking for advice on if this is a good purchase or not. We have a mentor with milling machine experience that I checked it out with. It's in pretty good shape - a little bit of knock when it runs, but not much. Table travels smoothly, handles work well, table is in good shape, etc. He also has one at home that he did a lot of the machining that we needed last year. I'd of course love to get our students that experience though.
|
Virtually all the bridgeport clones should have fairly interchangeable parts. Even if the factory is closed, if it closed recently Acra/their dealers may still have access to some spare parts inventory.
Hard to say if it's a good purchase without pictures. If there is minimal backlash and spindle runout and everything sounds OK it will probably do a good job for you.
Before buying you should check and see what DRO scale types it's wired with. It may not actually be a bonus that those are present. Depending on the age they may be considered obsolete by the manufacturer and you may not be able to buy an actual readout for it (though ebay/CL might be an option). We were looking to add a scale to the Y axis on our old mill and due to the age of the scales we'd have been forced to remove the existing X axis scale and buy two new scales plus the readout unit.