I have been following this thread with great interest, since I own the
same mill (http://www.abrasha.com/studio.htm).

I wonder, if I'll ever get to doing the same thing that you are doing.
Your mill is going to be as close to "new" as possible when you are
done. You even took the Clausing name plates on the side of the column
off. Now that is dedication!

And the added work you did by putting it all online is nothing to scoff
at either. What a great job you're doing.

BTW, I noticed in your images of the mill, that it does not have a motor
mounted. If you are thinking of getting a new motor for it, I strongly
recommend a new Baldor motor.

Get a 3 phase, 3/4HP with RIGID base. Whatever motor you may get, do
not get a resilient base motor for this mill. When I got my mill, it
had some crappy Sears 1/2HP resilient base motor on it (the one in the
picture on my site), and the mill was always dancing around the floor at
the higher rpm's. Let me know, and I'll post the model number of my
motor.

Clausing still sells the rubber washers that go between the NEMA frame
and the motor for mounting. Now, with my new motor properly mounted the
machine is as rigid as it should be.

If you are interested, I have a parts list with prices from Clausing of
parts that are still available for this mill. The list is from the time
that I got my mill, so it is most likely at least be partially outdated.
I think that booklet also contained "exploded view" assembly drawings
of the mill. At the time I got my mill I bought this list with drawings
from Clausing for $10.00 after which I ordered several new parts. Among
other things I got two new nuts for the lead screws for the X and Y
axes, which brought the backlash down from around .020" to a more
manageable .010". Still not great, but then again I am not machining
parts for NASA. At the time new lead screws were also available, but
they cost more than I paid for the entire mill, so I did not get those.

And finally, I have printouts of the original owner's manual, that
someone emailed me when I got this mill. That might have been Mike
Henry, but I am not sure about that. I can no longer find the original
digital files that were sent to me. But I think, that I still have
those printouts somewhere, so if nothing else I can scan those and send
them to you.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Thanks for the kind words, I've have two buddies that have this mill and
know what it's capable of. When shopping I looked hard at the "china
mills", including the RF45 but just couldn't do it, even though I would have
paid about the same as for this 1963 Clausing. It's going to be pretty as
well as functional soon.

I've got a new Leeson 1/2 HP to go on it, woulda used a 3/4 HP but this one
came cheap, not sure what you mean by a RIGID base but it has the standard
mounting frame.

Thanks for the offers on the parts lists but I ordered a manual and parts
lists as soon as I got the machine. I'm replacing all the bearings, the
gears for the knee and the "y" nut, plus a few other odds and ends. The
dealer I bought it from (Dick Treimstra in Detroit) even supplied an
original inspection report from another machine (might be Mike's) so I can
check mine when I'm done.