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Abene VHF3 machine

dominus164

Aluminum
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Location
Greece Atheens
Ok you have to excuse me about this tool gloat but it's more like a dream come true for me.
Before this mill i had a horizontal Malick & Walkows and a Lagun vertical milling machine.
Problem was that the first was MK4 and the other NT40. A real pain to keep tooling for both.
Plus a lot of times i found myself wishing for a horizontal mill with quill.
So the Abene was the only solution if you include the tight space on workshop.

I just had to find the best machine on a good price preferably close to my workshop...

So this Christmas i score 2 of 3.

A 1983 Abene VHF3 with a lot of tooling in super condition on a LOW price but 3500km away...

Distance can't tear us apart so a couple weeks later the machine was on my door.

The REAL bonus came after i had a discussion with ABENE.
On 2010 the machine was sent back to factory for a ground up rebuild. Not just new paint. We talk about new screws, bearings, gears...

You can imagine my surprise and... OH what a joy...

So happy new year to every one. I know it will be for me...
 

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The quill was a "must have" for me.
I can drill and tap on a horizontal position.

Quote" TDegenhart
This always happens to the other guy...."Quote

TDegenhart have faith and patient... Until now i was thinking the same for you guys. Bigger market more options.
 

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Ok some action photos.
The blade for the rotor was 2mm thick stainless and the feed was like 0.02/sec. I love the Siemens drive.
Regards
Kyriakos
 

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Yeah, that D'Andrea boring head jumped out at me as well. As someone who has wanted an Abene for some time, I'm pleased for you! I can imagine how happy you are with that particular machine, and it looks right at home in your space. Thanks for sharing the photos - I'd love to see more, and hear more about your experiences with that machine.
 
Pretty well like the basic design of the Abene......
No seat time so no real informed opinion as to how it is to run every day...
Perhaps not an issue but i really do not like the electrical box stuck on the side of the machine where you want to stand when doing any work with the quill...

Just clutters up the side of a nice machine...would rather it have been on the back or on the opposite side of the main casting....Stupid i guess , but it bothers me some.

That is an interesting head...never seen one quite like that. Good luck.

Cheers Ross
 
If you do a search on PM there should be a little info or at least some posts about it. I think there was at least two versions of that head. I also think that a PM member has one but he wouldn't post info or photos for some reason (very odd). I would like to get one also as well as the shaper / slotter head. I wonder if they still make the shaper / slotter head? I don't have the quill on my Abene but I know they were still making that head recently.
I have an old Tree vertical mill head that I plan to some day mount to the over arm. I love the Abene but since I started using the Deckel fp3nc I haven't used it much.





dominus164 Do you have any other catalogue pages with info about the Abene attachments? Please post if you do. Great looking mill.



Ross both Cincinnati and Van Norman made a similar style head.

Andy
 
Hi Ross
You will lough when i will show you how empty is that box...
No stupid at all. I have done some work with Huron machines and i LOVE the double control ( front and side) levers.
On the Abene even the control box is not ergonomically seated on the front of the machine.. To tell you the truth i already have some thoughts to relocate the cabin and the control panel.
FWIW i believe Abene wasn't expecting to much work to be done from the side.

Andy
I didn't knew that there was even existed a slotting head. If you have any picture please feel free to share.
Sorry this in the only brochure i managed to find.
I got the answer last Friday so i m pretty sure that is out of production.
Also they informed me not to change the pulley ratio (for higher speeds). 2000 is top speed.
Best regards
Kyriakos
 
Maintenance day

Today was maintenance day.
Look what i have found on the gear box. It's insane... 9cm 3.3mm diameter drill.
Why on earth someone will throw something like that inside the gear box?
The oil was dirty and on the manual says "change every other year".

On the feeds things were worse. I had to change the oil and rinse the box with cheap 20-50w oil.
After that was time for the Tonna 68. Very expensive and only on 20L bucket.

Kind regards
Kyriakos
 

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You only found one drill? I've found whole sets worth of allen keys, screwdrivers, wrenches, drive keys, picks, setscrews, o-rings, rags, and even a watch (cheap one) in the bottom of gear cases before. My guess is someone was doing a little field repair and dropped it, looked over their shoulder to see if anyone noticed and put the cover back on. It's really quite normal for the oil in those machines to get black. I use to work with 2 of them (one older and one brand new) and both had black oil within 6 months, not total sure why. I would be more concerned with how much metal is in the oil, hopefully very little. Was there any slug in the bottom of the case? That is a sign of neglect.
 








 
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