"Jeff" wrote in message
news:hJEfb.676119$YN5.534444@sccrnsc01...
I am looking at an old Burke belt driven vertical /horizontal milling
machine. Can some one give me a lead where I can find more information
about
this machine. E-mail me at .
Great machine. Love it. I just used it all last week to make some fancy
brass pedestals for my ship models. I had the 6" Phase II rotary table on
it -- which is really 6.75 and much too big for the machine. I bought the
new, Phase II 4" table. Perfect size for this mill. Last week I got the
Phase II tailstock, which really expands one's machining options. I also
have a little Centec 2A horizontal/vertical mill. I use that almost always
in the vertical mode. Also have the vertical attachment for the Burke,
which I used before I got the Centec. Anyhow, I've had the Burke for over
20 years. It was my first mill, and I love it as much as I did when I first
got it. Here are some points:
1. Be sure to check the gibs out. If any are broken, they will cost you a
small fortune to replace. Scott Logan will probably do them for as good a
price as you're likely to get. I was lucky. Mine had a broken knee gib,
but Burke was still in business at the time -- paid a fortune for it.
2. Good chance you'll have to replace the main spindle bearings. No big
deal. Standard kind of tapered roller bearings -- don't buy a Burke unless
it has the tapered bearings.
3. Motor and gearbox. The 4 speed gearbox is great. Especially if you put
a speed reducer in front of it to lower the the lowest speed. The motor and
the gearbox can be separated and a replacement motor fitted on (with some
couplings, etc.) figure the motor is shot anyhow. Thing is to get the speed
down. The only way the Burke could have been used with the "native" speeds
is with plenty of coolant. It was hopeless for slitting saws till I slowed
it down.
4. Nothing exotic about tearing down and rebuilding. Goes together in a
rational way. There are no manuals worth the price. So keep careful notes
as you tear down.
5. Be aware that there were many, many, many variants of the #4 Burke. It
was often set up as part of special-purpose milling set up in production
work. Some of those variants would be useless to a hobbyist.
6. Most spindles were B&S #9. That means expensive collets and arbors made
out of unobtainium. I had a good 1" arbor and that did me fine for 18
years. Last year I picked up a 7/8" arbor. I'm still looking for a 3/4" in
good condition -- any out there?
7. The collets will cost you about $30-$35 each. Don't bother with used
collets. They are usually too beat up to bother with (your end mill winds
out of the collet at the least excuse. But decent end mill holders are
usually available at shows, used tool dealers, etc.
8. Some #4 Burkes were made with B&S #7 spindles. I think those are
useless and I would pass it up.
Some were made with MT#3 spindles -- okay, but not as good as B&S #9.
9. A few, relatively rare, late models had R-8 Spindles. Those are the
most valuable. With an R8 spindle,
there's no end to the supply of cheap, new and used tooling. A couple
of the Burke owners in the newsgroup have successfully remachined their
spindles to R8. I would have done that if I had not previously invested in
all the collets and other tooling. If you buy it and have not invested in
tooling, that would be the way to go. But be sure you are dealing with a
machine shop that can do the job correctly -- including precision grinding
the spindle hole as needed.
Good luck
Boris
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Boris Beizer Ph.D. Seminars and Consulting
1232 Glenbrook Road on Software Testing and
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Quality Assurance
TEL: 215-572-5580
FAX: 215-886-0144
Email
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