Unusual small Rambaudi small knee mill

I just picked this machine up today. It's a Rambaudi, perhaps '50s, but all I can find about them is reference to copy mills and Bridgeport style universals. The machine is cute, about 5 feet tall. Spindle is R8. Table has 4 slots, a step up from one on my Burke. Ram slides in and out on the original riser block, and swivels at the flange. Anyone know anything about these mills? Seems to be an oddity.

Oops, totally forgo to post a picture. Water bottle for size comaprison.

Cute little machine fore sure.

that is a cute little mill. most raumbaudi i know are 5-10hp mills. a;ways wanted a vrs-3... oh well. nothing on tonys site, pretty neat, any markings or tags on it?

Where did you dig this up? Nice looking little mill. You tried lathes.co.uk for info right?

Paul

sandiapaul said:

Where did you dig this up? Nice looking little mill. You tried lathes.co.uk for info right?

Paul

Click to expand...

Hi, Paul. You'll be happy to know that although I had to move the Burke along, she went to a good home. Fella wanted to teach his son some milling on a small machine. Thanks again. I found this thing on CL, lucked out with the usual misspellings in the title. It was in Clifton. The woman said it came with the house when she bought it. Supposedly the (former?) owner of Rambaudi contacted her to try to buy it, but didn't end up following through.

Tony's site is my default go-to on any machinery investigation, but had zero info for this little machine. For that matter, there's not a single mention of a half-scale Rambaudi knee mill anywhere on the internet. I know that rare doesn't typically mean valuable when it comes to old machine tools, but this thing seems to be extremely rare. If i told you it came home for under 400 bucks, would'ja be jealous?

Could be the only one there is.

That is a cute little mill. Since there's nothing on the internet on it, you should snap a few more photos and post them. If there is another one out there, someone will come across this thread eventually.

Wayne

I will try to get down to the shop and snap some more pics this week. After I get the mess down there cleaned up, the mill will get a simple cleaning and a paint job. The riser block is of peculiar design, as it is almost a 'C' shape, the rear being open. As this is my only mill, and will be used regularly, I'm going to throw caution to the wind and bore it for a brazed in piece of upright solid bar, should rigidity prove to be an issue. All around, the machine is in excellent shape, no battle scars in the table, and unworn ways all around. Spindle feels good, although the old dried up lube is a bit 'draggy'.

It really is WAY too low to the ground, even for my 5'10" build. I think a welded up stand of angle iron, about 18" tall should help, and provide a place to store tooling. It came with a newer 3/4hp 1ph 115v motor cobbled on up top, although it does retain a dual stepped pulley arrangement. The speed chart lists spindle speeds in excess of 4k RPM, originally with a 1/2hp motor. This should prove satisfactory for any work I do with it. My Burke, although Lima equipped, only had a max of 1/2hp on tap with the VFD, and still put a J1 head Bridgey to shame in the endmilling department.

There are a few build tags on the machine, but at a glance none provided a model number. One does say Rambaudi Utensili (or something of that nature), Torino. I assume this is the same Rambaudi that built the bigger mills. All in all, I'll call it a good score. Should do well for the prototyping and Hot Rod work I do. Again, more pics to follow.

I scrubbed it a bit, and slathered on some of the usual machinery gray. Couldnt stand looking at it. I think Rustoleum is called Glyptal in Canada...I've dubbed it 'Glopped-All'

Had to move to the PC to get these pics up properly. I like the table, 4 slots are nice. Knee screw has a neat telescoping cover on it. Tried to get some pics of the makers' plates. It would seem it used to be column drive with a 90 degree twist in the belt.