Would this be useful to a knifemaker?

Phillip Patton

Phillip Patton

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
5,362
I have no experience with mills, but I'd like to have one. This one is for sale in my area. Could you guys who know about these things help me? I'd like to be able to use it for milling guard slots, but I'm not sure it will do that. Will it? :confused:
Thanks for any input,

Here's the description:
This is a 6-SA Nichols Semi-Automatic Miller complete with a 4.5 inch travel rise and fall spindle head, a 6-3/4 X 21inch table working surface, a hydraulically governed 9 inch table stroke, and a 1-1/2 HP motor for five spindle speeds (200 to 2800 RPM). It is complete with automatic lubrication of table ways, all air control accessories, built-in vertical head adapter on the spindle nose, depth stop for sliding head, adjustable micrometer dials on cross and vertical feed screws, arbor draw bolt for spindle, head feed lever, over arm and needle bearing arbor support, belt, guard, and wrenches. The table feed has a 9 inch total travel and cutting stroke arranged for rapid approach, variable cutting feed and rapid table return. This mill is in good working condition and a must have! Manuals Included!!
Click to expand...

Here's a photo:

mill.jpg
 
I don't think it would be useless, but for the floorspace, you'd get a lot more use out of a vertical Bridgeport-style. I've seen these around too and had to come to that conclusion.
 
sure you could use it , it has its limitations in that it uses saw type cutters rather then easy to get and fairly cheap end mills . it is mainly used for putting grooves in metal.A normal milling machine would be more usefull to you i think
shaker
 
A Bridgeport style is much more versatile than the horizontal...I've a 9x42 but ya don't need that big for knife work I don't think...Grizzly has some dandy smaller versions! Bill A.
 
Phillip Patton said:
Thanks for the comments. I agree, if it's just a horizontal mill, that wouldn't be the best.
Here's a picture of a different machine, but the same model. This one has the vertical milling attachment. Would that improve the usefulness?

http://www.industrialsurplus.com/photos/073-125_2.jpg
Click to expand...

It would be more useful, but I think you'd be better off going with a bridgeport-style mill. It'll be more stout and easier to get parts for.
If it was me, I wouldn't take it for free, but I don't have much space.;)
 
Hello Phillip Patton:

You would need to up date that one to work for you. And you do not know what needs to be done to get it working right. I see that you are from Indiana like me. You can get one that will do the job Brand New at Wholesaletool in Indianapolis, Indiana that is where I got mine. You can check this mill out on my website. Just go to my site and click on the Knife Shop Area. You can see it there. If you need to know more I am just a email away or you can call. Hope this was of help to you. God bless and have a safe day out in the shop.

Barkes :)
http://my.hsonline.net/wizard
1.812.526.6390
 
Whether it would be useful depends on several things such as what kind of knives you make, how much space you have and what teh price is relative to your pain threshold.

A horizontal mill is very useful for some tasks and a machine like this would be very useful for certain tasks, like slotting a U shaped guard. When I was a tMr. Loveless shop a couple weeks ago, I saw sweet little swiss horizontal mill setup for just that task. It's all it gets used for from what I can tell as there's several other mills around, but it seems well suited to that task.

Although probably not quite as flexible as a vertical mill, a horizontal can still do a lot of great work. They are very good at removing good chunks of material and would also be good for milling integral frames for both fixed and folding knives.

Horizontal mills big and small are generally available really cheap as demand is VERY low. You can buy curplus cutters cheaply and the machines are capable of precise work if setup correctly.

You can learn more about that machine here:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/nichols/

If you've got the space and can get it for a couple hundred bucks, and build knives that often require cutting some sort of slot, it might be worth it. The three phase electric issue shouldn't be an issue as phase converters or VFDs are relatively cheap these days.
 
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