Becker No 25 Horizontal Mill

[rlsmith58]

I recently purchased a Becker No 25 Mill at auction dirt cheap. It had been fitted with a Bridgeport J vertical head, but I needed the head for another project. Now I'd like to restore the Becker to use as my horizontal mill in my shop. Other than pics I haven't been able to find much info on it and the pics differ I assume because of the mfg date. Does anyone have info or know who may have parts? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[M.B. Naegle]

Made between 1889 and 1922 according to Vintage Machinery. I don't think anyone has made parts for these for 80+ years, so anything you need you'll have to make yourself, or if you're REALLY lucky you might be able to buy a donor machine.

Hang on to the adaptor that mounted your BP head to it. Lots of guys add heads to machines like this so it has some value.

 

[Robert Lang]

This might help a little.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2106/18521.pdf

Rob

 

[rlsmith58]

Thanks for your help. I want to cut some gears for another project, so I need the arbor for my mill. I ordered a BS9 3/4" collet to fit in the mill, but wondered how the original arbor was made. Does anyone know if the taper was built into the arbor or whether a collet was used? From the pics it also looks like a number of spacers were used, either for placement of the cutters or spacing of multiple cutters. Spacers are easy to make, but wondered if I'm interpreting the pictures correctly? There is also a threaded nose for the collet, which I will need to make a nut for it, but wondered if that held the arbor in place or if a draw bar was used? Any insights would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

[Robert Lang]

Thanks for your help. I want to cut some gears for another project, so I need the arbor for my mill. I ordered a BS9 3/4" collet to fit in the mill, but wondered how the original arbor was made. Does anyone know if the taper was built into the arbor or whether a collet was used? From the pics it also looks like a number of spacers were used, either for placement of the cutters or spacing of multiple cutters. Spacers are easy to make, but wondered if I'm interpreting the pictures correctly? There is also a threaded nose for the collet, which I will need to make a nut for it, but wondered if that held the arbor in place or if a draw bar was used? Any insights would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

Based on these questions I would say you are not familiar with horizontal milling machine operations.
I would suggest reading some books on the subject.
Here are a number of ones by Brown & Sharpe that would help.

Catalog Advanced Search Results

There are a lot of different styles of arbors and collets for horizontal milling machines.
For gear cutting it would be best to use an arbor with the taper "built in". I would not use a collet.
Hardened spacers are used on these arbors for both placement of the cutters and spacing multiple cutters.
The threaded nose is used for holding things such as chucks.
There would be a protective collar, that is screwed on when not using the nose threads.
Some milling machines did use the threaded nose to hold the arbor in, but not your mill.
Some used the drawbar. Some just used the taper itself and a driving tang.

The following pictures are from Garvin and Brown & Sharpe.

Rob

 

[animal12]

This may be of some help

Becker Milling Machines

animal

 

[animal12]

Had a chance to read the link I sent earlier . Nice looking machine's , some of their horizontals look like their part plainer . Man I'd love to have a machine like these .
animal

 

[hendeyman]

Thanks for your help. I want to cut some gears for another project, so I need the arbor for my mill. I ordered a BS9 3/4" collet to fit in the mill, but wondered how the original arbor was made. Does anyone know if the taper was built into the arbor or whether a collet was used? From the pics it also looks like a number of spacers were used, either for placement of the cutters or spacing of multiple cutters. Spacers are easy to make, but wondered if I'm interpreting the pictures correctly? There is also a threaded nose for the collet, which I will need to make a nut for it, but wondered if that held the arbor in place or if a draw bar was used? Any insights would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

rismith58:

I have a No.25 Becker Miller that I have used for many years. According to the brochure that was posted for the No.25 miller,
the Spindle taper is a B&S No.9, I believe that is an error. My machine takes a B&S No.10 taper. Check your taper again to
avoid buying any incorrect tooling. Once you know the basics about your miller and can explain what projects you would like
to use it for, members of this forum can suggest the minimum amount of tooling to help you meet your goals.

Hendeyman

 

[rlsmith58]

Based on these questions I would say you are not familiar with horizontal milling machine operations.
I would suggest reading some books on the subject.
Here are a number of ones by Brown & Sharpe that would help.

Catalog Advanced Search Results

There are a lot of different styles of arbors and collets for horizontal milling machines.
For gear cutting it would be best to use an arbor with the taper "built in". I would not use a collet.
Hardened spacers are used on these arbors for both placement of the cutters and spacing multiple cutters.
The threaded nose is used for holding things such as chucks.
There would be a protective collar, that is screwed on when not using the nose threads.
Some milling machines did use the threaded nose to hold the arbor in, but not your mill.
Some used the drawbar. Some just used the taper itself and a driving tang.

The following pictures are from Garvin and Brown & Sharpe.

Rob

Hello and thanks. No, I'm not familiar with horizontal mills other than a couple of you tube videos I've watched where they're cutting gears. The picture of the Becker Mill from their catalog is the only thing I have to go by and the pic doesn't break it down to show the separate parts.

 

[rlsmith58]

rismith58:

I have a No.25 Becker Miller that I have used for many years. According to the brochure that was posted for the No.25 miller,
the Spindle taper is a B&S No.9, I believe that is an error. My machine takes a B&S No.10 taper. Check your taper again to
avoid buying any incorrect tooling. Once you know the basics about your miller and can explain what projects you would like
to use it for, members of this forum can suggest the minimum amount of tooling to help you meet your goals.

Hendeyman

Hi Hendeyman,
It's good to hear from you. Wondered if you had been able to find drawings for the bearings of my Hendey lathe? Work in my shop is slow because of the winter weather here, so my projects have been sitting, but soon I want to try to work out there more.

Also,
I don't have the shaft for my Becker mill and wondered if you could take a couple of pictures of yours so I can see how you have it set up. The first project I'd like to do with it is to repair some and cut some new gears for my Hendey. With the vertical head that was on it when purchased, I believe I can also use it to get my BP Mill up and running too. When that's done I'll probably use the Becker as a backup for it as well as a horizontal mill. Also wondered what you thought of using the 3/4" collet (B&S 9 or 10) to hold the shaft for the cutters? I've never run a horizontal mill and my experience with vertical mills is limited, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.