cincinnati 207mk info

[dodgy roge]

hello my name is roger , im a machinist living and working on the channel island of jersey (uk), me and my partner are buying a cincinnati milling machine of ebay.co.uk ,item no 300045973653 for approx £1600 (around $2500 ish), were taking a gamble and just getting it shipped to us without prior viewing from the mainland.
i was wondering if anyone reading this has any experience of operating or owning one of these machines, ie are they a good machine compared to say a milwauki or gambin 3m???
Are there any weaknesses i should be wary of?
Were going to use the machine for general ,ad hock, kind of work we get over here such as machining parts for fabrication work, general machine modifications and repairs, also im planning to set up a fly cutter for cylinder head skimming as we been asked a lot for this service. one of my concerns is the lack of hand wheels on the main table, just the geared link to the front wheel, is this ok in use?
Weve seen a similar machine at a dealer nearly £6000 so im hoping its all going to be ok. Weve also bought a j&s 540 surface grinder in with thefc deal

 

[Brian@VersaMil]

I have TWO 207MK, one a horizontal with a universal head, and a CNC 207MK Vertical mill, that I turned into a push buttom operated manual mill. These aren't Cincinnati's finer machines. I have a #2 and a #5 Cincinnati vertical mill, and they don't compare. The hydraulic system needs to be kept clean, with some filters that you have to KNOW where they are at. I've replaced a few gears in the knee, as well as the clutch packs. My horizontal mill has had the knee removed more than I've run it. The base of these machines is FABRICATED- nothing like the older all cast machines. I look at my Cinci #5 with awe- the 207MK's really went backwards.

I hate using the vertical mill, because the head casting is TOOOOO square. You've got this big BOX right in front of your head with the spindle buried in the middle of it. The older #2 and #5 Verticals, your tools right out where you can see it. I like my 207MK horizontal when it's working, which is seldom. I've got the knee out of it now, as I completely lost the rapids, and was losing the feeds. I figure this go around, I'm replacing the main drive bearings, as it's gotten pretty noisy. This time around I found the hydraulic inlet filter which looked horrible. I suspect my rapids problem was this inlet filter was mucked up. The filter cartridge that you change looked good.The CNC Vertical 207MK is mechanically pretty sound, because I have a feeling the machine was dead half it's life, from the control not working. My problems are the remnants of the CNC controls that I had to leave intact to get the machine to work. The relays are getting to be really problematic, as well as all the pushbuttons not making reliable contact. At some point I'm going to completely gut the relay panel, and put all new allen-bradley relays in. Currently it uses these obscure English relays, as both of these machines were made in England. I think both machines are fairly heavy duty, but not in par with the really nice older mills. Certainly a step up in the ability to take a cut from a Bridgeport. Electrically they may give the average guy fits, with their spindle pulsing set up used to allow for gears to engage. I have loads of manuals for these mills if you need information.

The one handwheel to control both the saddle and table movement is kind of dumb but it works fine. It's pretty simple to flick the lever back and forth to choose which way you want movement. With the backlash compensator on, the table is a bear to move. If you try and move the table without having the hydraulics on, you will barely be able to move it by hand, as the backlash compensator is turned OFF by hydraulic power, leaving it on at all other times.