New Addition to the Shop

Mike Morehouse

Mike Morehouse

Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Messages
473
A couple of weeks ago I saw a mill sitting outside a machine shop by their scrap bin. I could not turn the car around fast enough. :eek::eek::eek: The owner of the shop was getting rid of it because CNC parts were no good and he already had a couple of manual mills. He said that it is in good woking condition and that he would take scrap value for it. My offer was below scrap value and he accepted it.

It is a Lagun FTV-2 with a 4 Hp motor and variable speed pulleys. It is very tight with about .005 to .010" of backlash on all screws.

It weighs almost 3,000 lbs. and we rolled it off of the trailer with a pallet jack. The move went easier than I had expected. :thumbup:

The only problem is it is going to sit for a while until I can get 220 wired into the garage.

This is an awsome piece of equipment and I am giddier than a school girl. :D:D

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Why can't we get stuff like that in the trash around here? I am moving to Akron! :D
I am happy for you, cool find.
 
This is my second mill that I have found being thrown out. The first one I gave to a friend because of the cost of moving it.

I had hopes of getting a mini-mill like yous but I could not pass this one up.
 
Great find! I got my mill out of Akron, there must be a hive of them somewhere abouts town.

This one had an old Robotool 3 axis control on it. We switched it out for a MacMotion system which consisted of all new motors and Windows 7 based control system.

Post some more pics after you get it set in place and cleaned up. Who says junkin isn't worth while.

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Hey......... That's just awesome....

my dad went to akron high and I still have a lot of family out there...

its been a long time, I think its time for a visit......:)

excellent score... if you want to just run it temporary just change out a circuit breaker to 20amp and you're good to go, just mark the recept 220v as it will still look like a regular plug, if the mill has a plug already and is the goofy sorts just change out your recept also..

this way you can run it... until you pull some heavier 10gauge to the source...
 
Rob, let me know when you are coming out and you can stop by.

I have seen this trick be done on 300 hp motors. Unfortunatley the motor is three phase. I think it will be easier to hook up VFD because of the special motor shaft used on the varriable pulley system.

Battle Creek Knives said:
Hey......... That's just awesome....

my dad went to akron high and I still have a lot of family out there...

its been a long time, I think its time for a visit......:)

excellent score... if you want to just run it temporary just change out a circuit breaker to 20amp and you're good to go, just mark the recept 220v as it will still look like a regular plug, if the mill has a plug already and is the goofy sorts just change out your recept also..

this way you can run it... until you pull some heavier 10gauge to the source...
Click to expand...
 
WOW... Lagun makes a very beefy mill. Color me jealous! Do you mind sharing what below scrap value is? Just so I can hate you more! ;) LOL

You can go with a rotary phase converter and be able to power several three phase machines, or a VFD. I see it as sort of a "6 of one, half-dozen of the other" type of thing.

Awesome score!!!! :) :thumbup: :cool:
 
NickWheeler said:
WOW... Lagun makes a very beefy mill. Color me jealous! Do you mind sharing what below scrap value is? Just so I can hate you more! ;) LOL

You can go with a rotary phase converter and be able to power several three phase machines, or a VFD. I see it as sort of a "6 of one, half-dozen of the other" type of thing.

Awesome score!!!! :) :thumbup: :cool:
Click to expand...

I believe it would be around 10-15 cents a lb. At least thats what a "scrapyard" would give you.
 
Zanderman said:
Rob, let me know when you are coming out and you can stop by.

I have seen this trick be done on 300 hp motors. Unfortunatley the motor is three phase. I think it will be easier to hook up VFD because of the special motor shaft used on the varriable pulley system.
Click to expand...

Wow!!! Thanks for the invite I may take you up on that, matter of fact I'm positive I will !!! I have many kin also buried at the Green Lawn cemetery including my late Father, we were suppose to make a trip out there this summer but got derailed. I may see you sooner then you think:p

time fly's:D
 
Great find. I worked on a Lagun CNC for a few years. The boss bought it for $1200 and the first job I did on it paid for it 3x over. Not bad for an older CNC format. If you can upgrade it it would be worth it. If not a good tight manual mill will be the cats meow.
 
Chuck, I am taking all of the CNC stuff off of it and plan on using it in manual mode. We will see what the future holds; if a CNC is in the cards I would go out and find one that works in lieu of a retrofit. ;):D

A C Richards said:
Great find. I worked on a Lagun CNC for a few years. The boss bought it for $1200 and the first job I did on it paid for it 3x over. Not bad for an older CNC format. If you can upgrade it it would be worth it. If not a good tight manual mill will be the cats meow.
Click to expand...
 
Zanderman said:
Chuck, I am taking all of the CNC stuff off of it and plan on using it in manual mode. We will see what the future holds; if a CNC in the cards I would go out and find one that works in lieu of a retrofit. ;):D
Click to expand...

If you want to look at retros for that mill; take a look at these folks.
They are, for the most part, plug and play and are pc based. They run Windows 7 Ultimate.
We looked at most of the retros and finally decided on this company. A lot of the ones that are offered are proprietary and cost in the mid range 12,000 range, we put about 5,500 to refit this Bridgeport from new motors all the way back to the control system. Good tech support also.

Good luck with your new toy, Fred
 
Very nice!

Sounds like you have some experience with mills.

Nonetheless, you might find some of the guys over at Home Shop Machinist very helpful in getting it set up and working out the kinks.

Tait
 
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