BillSct
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2003
- Location
- Southeastern Connecticut
It is way past time I posted some info and photos about Industro-Lite mills.
These miniature horizontal knee mills were made in Sheridan, Oregon by the Industrial Manufacturing Company from about 1945 until the mid-1970's. They were well made and had a number of nice features including:
A 3 morse taper spindle drivew by a V belt/back gear drive yielding 12 speeds,
Power feed to the mill table via a chain drive, tumbler gearbox and worm & wheel.
A 6 x 22 table with three T-slots and a pair of dogs to disengage the table drive.
A vertical mill head, vertical slotter and die filer attachments were available. There was also a "Lathe Attachment" that fitted a bed to the front of the machine. The bed could hold a tailstock and would allow the mill's arbor to function as a lathe spindle. I'm not at all clear on the details of how that worked in practice.
These mills seem to have been aimed at the high-end home machinist market but that must have been a pretty limited market. The total production run was probably less than three hundred. I own two MF-300 models which had an open stand and a rear mounted motor. Mine are Ser. No. 259 and 256 and probably date from the early 1970's near the end of production. In the mid 1980's the Industrial Manufacturing Company was still in business and I spoke to the owner in hopes of finding a vertical head and possibly other parts but the machines were out of production by then.
There was also an MF-500 model which was the same basic mill but with an enclosed stand that housed the motor and a cast over-arm. A bench model (i.e. just the mill) was also available. In 1977 prices started at $1399 less motor, electricals and arbor.
In terms of size and capacity, I've always thought the Industro-Lite would be a wonderful complement to a Myford Seven or 9" South Bend. Add a small shaper (i.e. Atlas, South Bend, Ammco, etc.) and the home machinist/model engineer of the 1960's would have had a nice little shop. Mine have been keeping a South Bend 10L company for a long time..
One of my machines came from a tool room machinist turned accountant who had a small shop in his home where he took in odd contract jobs, including one where he made mounting rings for the precision mirrors left behind on the moon by the Apollo missions. He told me he bought the mill specifically for one job but I don't think it was that one. So these little machines (or at least one of them) found there way into the commercial world. The second machine came out of a school shop and is pretty beat up,; but it came with the vertical head attachment. I bought the two machines over a decade apart and was amused by how close together the numbers were, but then again, there can’t have been very many shipped to New England.
More photos are located here:
Industro-Lite Mill pictures by billsctphoto - Photobucket
These miniature horizontal knee mills were made in Sheridan, Oregon by the Industrial Manufacturing Company from about 1945 until the mid-1970's. They were well made and had a number of nice features including:
A 3 morse taper spindle drivew by a V belt/back gear drive yielding 12 speeds,
Power feed to the mill table via a chain drive, tumbler gearbox and worm & wheel.
A 6 x 22 table with three T-slots and a pair of dogs to disengage the table drive.
A vertical mill head, vertical slotter and die filer attachments were available. There was also a "Lathe Attachment" that fitted a bed to the front of the machine. The bed could hold a tailstock and would allow the mill's arbor to function as a lathe spindle. I'm not at all clear on the details of how that worked in practice.
These mills seem to have been aimed at the high-end home machinist market but that must have been a pretty limited market. The total production run was probably less than three hundred. I own two MF-300 models which had an open stand and a rear mounted motor. Mine are Ser. No. 259 and 256 and probably date from the early 1970's near the end of production. In the mid 1980's the Industrial Manufacturing Company was still in business and I spoke to the owner in hopes of finding a vertical head and possibly other parts but the machines were out of production by then.
There was also an MF-500 model which was the same basic mill but with an enclosed stand that housed the motor and a cast over-arm. A bench model (i.e. just the mill) was also available. In 1977 prices started at $1399 less motor, electricals and arbor.
In terms of size and capacity, I've always thought the Industro-Lite would be a wonderful complement to a Myford Seven or 9" South Bend. Add a small shaper (i.e. Atlas, South Bend, Ammco, etc.) and the home machinist/model engineer of the 1960's would have had a nice little shop. Mine have been keeping a South Bend 10L company for a long time..
One of my machines came from a tool room machinist turned accountant who had a small shop in his home where he took in odd contract jobs, including one where he made mounting rings for the precision mirrors left behind on the moon by the Apollo missions. He told me he bought the mill specifically for one job but I don't think it was that one. So these little machines (or at least one of them) found there way into the commercial world. The second machine came out of a school shop and is pretty beat up,; but it came with the vertical head attachment. I bought the two machines over a decade apart and was amused by how close together the numbers were, but then again, there can’t have been very many shipped to New England.
More photos are located here:
Industro-Lite Mill pictures by billsctphoto - Photobucket