So I accidentally bought an Taiwanese milling machine, what should I do?

[Mr Steel]

So I accidentally bought a Taiwanese turret milling machine thinking it was US, I have heard a lot of horror stories about taiwanese machines and am wondering what I should do.

A small plate on the side says "model 1045kv" and "1988", there is no brand name anywhere on the machine itself.

 

[deltap]

Chinese bad, Taiwanese good. Try it out. You might be surprised.

 

[Mr Steel]

Chinese bad, Taiwanese good. Try it out. You might be surprised.

I did ask the owner to do some brief milling on it before I bought it, my concern is more about the potential for failure down the line.

 

[Garwood]

Bad from who?

I've had several real Bridgeports and a couple of Taiwan built clones. The Taiwan machines are better built than the real Bridgeport ones.

 

[Gordon Heaton]

The fact that it is unbranded makes me a tiny bit leery, but as others have said, the Taiwanese machines can be as good as any. If it was built in 1988 and still looks and runs good, you've nothing to worry about regarding basic quality.

 

[Mr Steel]

Thank you all for your replies, I feel a lot more reassured, I had heard a lot of horror stories and feared the worst.

 

[Yan Wo]

So I accidentally bought a Taiwanese turret milling machine thinking it was US, I have heard a lot of horror stories about taiwanese machines and am wondering what I should do.

A small plate on the side says "model 1045kv" and "1988", there is no brand name anywhere on the machine itself.

What you should do is ship it to me immediately.

 

[APD]

Post a picture of it, maybe you will get some more info on what you have bought

 

[EPAIII]

What should you do?

Well, obviously you should immediately resign from this BB and never return. And then, if this is for a commercial shop, the shop should immediately cut their hourly rate by half.

Seriously, try it out and if it serves your purposes, then just use it. And never mention it's country of origin here again.

Happy chips!

 

[Newman109]

Some years ago after looking for a milling machine for for a long time for my little barn shop, my professional machinist friend found a 1987 Taiwan-built Webb 4 VH milling machine. It's no lightweight at 3,500 pounds. It had originally been sold as a CNC from the Webb company with an office in Los Angeles.
When I got it, it was missing its controller computer. There were a lot of parts needed to convert it back to manual control. The Webb company had all of the parts available in stock and after a while it was all nicely refurbished.
Without knowing anything specific about the OP's Taiwan-built mill, I can say that at least it's probably a good start.
Like other posters above say: "Chinese bad, Taiwan good".

 

[Richard King]

Taiwan is not China. I have taught classes in Taiwan. Bridgeport had 2 factories near Taichung. They also had Quasar Machine building their CNC linear way machines. Taiwan in the 1970's made cheap versions of Japanese machines and were called disposable machines. Today I would put up any of their machine to Japanese machines. Ever heard of an Alliant Mill? They were designed by old Bridgeport engineers and made in Taiwan. Search PMC or Precision Machine Research Center . That is sponsored by all the Taiwanese machine builders and where I taught!

 

[Mr Steel]

Post a picture of it, maybe you will get some more info on what you have bought

Sorry for the bad photography.

The machine was built in 1988 and it says "model 1045kv" all other identifying marks have presumable fallen off over the years.

 

[michiganbuck]

So much of mill success is operator skill and using sharp cutters, along with speeds and feeds.
From here it looks like an Ok machine. Maintenance and lubrication are king to a machine. You should have a mill manual and follow care instructions. The lubes should stay clean so to suggest it has not been used for grinding and then it needs a teardown and cleaning. I would not advise tearing down otherwise.
The tabletop should be skimmed with a name-brand flat file for bugs, and then a skim a good stone (Norton 1x2 x 6) just to keep the table flat..
Still, don't come here bragging about how good it is because most modern machines are not as good as the old last forever machines of old.

Perhaps find a good manual mill set-ups and use book, Even if you are skilled that cant hurt.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Nothing to be worried about just because it’s from Taiwan. They make good machines.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[Mr Steel]

The castings are only about 10mm in thickness, is this a problem?

 

[jaguar36]

You've already bought the machine, what are you options? Make some chips, see how well it works. If it does the job for you, who cares where it was made or how thick the castings are? If it doesn't, get rid of it and get something that does.

I'd be more concerned about the condition of a 30 year old mill rather than its country of origin anyway.

 

[Mr Steel]

Is there any test I can perform to confirm rigidity?

 

[Big B]

I have a Taiwanese 18X40 lathe and I'd compare the quality to the Clausing Conchesters that we had in my working days.

 

[Bill D]

The original Bridgeport milling machine came out in 1938. I certainly think 50 years later Tiwian was at least up to that level of machine building.
Bill D

 

[Newman109]

Taiwan machines are excellent. Here's my '87 Webb 4VH. I'm happy that I got it about ten years ago. It's paid for itself early on and still running.