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Maho MH600

jenco

Plastic
Joined
Mar 29, 2019
Hello!

I am new here, I purchased an early maho MH 600 recently.
It was covered in slight rust and it was all dirty, I am slowly cleaning it up.

What I noticed and confused me was that the lubrication "map" says oil almost everyhere but I have funky looking grease fittings all over it. To the horizontal spindle bearings and even to the ways.
do you think those fittings are original? they are authentic looks to be original.
ehat do you think?

Maho – jenco – album na Rajčeti

I will add close ups of the grease fittings to the gallery.
 
Those funky looking grease fittings are used for injecting OIL. The lubricant you put into the fitting is based on what the machine needs, not the type of fitting. YES, those are the original fittings. Get (or make) a proper gun. I use a Reilang oil gun and it is awesome (expensive and worth every penny). I tried a regular squirt can which I made a fitting for - it would not generate enough pressure.

You may be able to modify a push style grease gun (often used for lubricating the roller nose of a power saw bar) for injecting oil. You could also modify a regular grease gun, but it is hard to seal it up enough so it isn't leaking oil all the time. The Reilang does not leak and works at any angle.

Welcome to the Old MH 600 club. Pictures please (and the story of how it came to you). David
 
Thank you for your reply David,


Well thats good and bad news for me, good that I knew for sure that those fittings are for oil, bad that I have found grease underneath them :rolleyes5: So I can take the whole thing apart and clean the parts from grease and oil them...

I got the machine from Switzerland, I am from Slovakia, thru a guy that brings machines here, I dont know much of the history of the machine. but knowing that it didnt run on proper lubricants it not too good :D This is my first mill, I wanted one for a long time. Photos of the machine are here:
Maho – jenco – album na Rajčeti

Could you please send me a photo of the proper oil gun to be used?
 
Maybe those guns have gotten better...have had a number of those (as linked above) and frankly i hate them...they are habitual leakers!
For me , you need to fill them almost every time you go around the machine ...and if there is any left in the gun it will have leaked out by the next time
you want to use the machine.....

I use the German made "Twin-Lock" oil guns......About the size of a cartridge grease gun..so it holds enough oil to be usable for more than a single lube cycle....Has "O" ring seals easily filled by removing the cap and pouring in the oil.
If you pull the spring loaded plunger back and lock it the gun won't just sit there and drool when stored, release the plunger to use......
Gun has an air bleed to remove the trapped air from the pump action after filling.....just works better!

The gun in question is item # G7010...at the bottom of the page.

Grease / Oil Guns << Dyna Power

Cheers Ross
 
Looks like a machine that has been cared for, even if there's been grease used recently rather than oil used. My hunch is that it'll clean up fine. Interesting that the early MH600's used lever gear change rather than dials. I wonder if Maho copied Deckel or vice versa. I'd never noticed that before.

Charles
 
Hi!

After a long research I have found a push type oiler for a nice price, they have various sizes in Czech republic (closest to where I live) up to 250ml.


Yes the machine looks okay maybe it looks a little better in the photos than it is in real life.
The nuts have approx 0,5mm play in them and the ways are stained dark.
One thing I didnt like was the shaft end of the vertical head that goes into a bronze bushing over the back of the horizontal spindle, there is an oil pocket with a sight glass on the side of the machine. well that thing really needed the oil. Ran dry.

This piece I got is a really interesting one. I couldnt find a machine exactly like this, some kind of transition between the maho SK 250 and the MH 600. The serial number is 1661.

I dont have much time for the machine right now but as I progress I will kep you updated.
 
Hi!

Today I have found some goodies at the scrapyard. :) a nice oil gun too 250ccm I only had to clean it from grease (it was usef fo grease)

IMAG0411.jpg

Whats your opinion on this? table cranked all the way up and I have found corrosion on the left way.

IMAG0414.jpg

IMAG0415.jpg

Is that a huge issue for a hobbyist? I would like to use the machine mostly in that area, (vertical milling)

I also sorted out the vertical power feed. I expected something bad because the handle was broken off and I couldnt mesh the gears but luckily it was just a bunch of chips. The only thing left to do with it is to make a new handle from steel instead of the broken cast handle.

IMAG0417.jpg

IMAG0419.jpg
 
Whats your opinion on this? table cranked all the way up and I have found corrosion on the left way.

View attachment 254025View attachment 254026

Is that a huge issue for a hobbyist? I would like to use the machine mostly in that area, (vertical milling)
How do the discolored area feel to the touch? I have machines with similar discoloration on the ways, but I cannot feel any difference compared to the silvery areas. If the areas are relatively smooth, I'd just oil the thing up with way oil and use it. If you try to take off the corrosion product, you risk losing material you cannot put back.
 
The right way feels smooth to the touch I cant feel difference there.
The left darkest part of the left way isnt smooth its almost lightly pitted there. The right part of the left way is smooth to the touch.
All I did was that I hit it with a worn out fine scotchbrite soaked into engine cleaner.
 
IMAG0643.jpg

A little proress. Took apart the vertical head, cleaned up the grease, changed one bad bearing, painted the thing. feels and looks sweet. :)
 
Hello!

I have finally had an opportunity to make a huge progress on the machine

Maho MH 600 1661 – jenco – album na Rajčeti

you can chceck out in the link

That's a lot of work, taking it all apart. Personally I didn't consider the paintwork bad enough to repaint - but I rarely do!

Also I'd reposition the scale for the X axis so that you can still mount larger pieces directly to the knee. It will fit if you mill up an angled block to fit the reader head. After all, you may want to use your mill like this:

20200202_135519_resized.jpg
 
Maybe those guns have gotten better...have had a number of those (as linked above) and frankly i hate them...they are habitual leakers!
For me , you need to fill them almost every time you go around the machine ...and if there is any left in the gun it will have leaked out by the next time
you want to use the machine.....

I use the German made "Twin-Lock" oil guns......About the size of a cartridge grease gun..so it holds enough oil to be usable for more than a single lube cycle....Has "O" ring seals easily filled by removing the cap and pouring in the oil.
If you pull the spring loaded plunger back and lock it the gun won't just sit there and drool when stored, release the plunger to use......
Gun has an air bleed to remove the trapped air from the pump action after filling.....just works better!

The gun in question is item # G7010...at the bottom of the page.

Grease / Oil Guns << Dyna Power

Cheers Ross

I have that one too and it's also a leaker... Which is why I now have a one shot lube pump. Not yet installed but soon.

It's a cheap chinese model so I wasn't going to use it as is. I've had it apart and cleaned it out (needs to be cleaned out unless you wanna push in grit into the oil channels). It was painted on the inside so I glass bead blasted it and deburred it and cleaned it a few times, then again in the ultrasonic cleaner. I repainted the outside though.
 
Yes it was a lot of work indeed, The orginal paint has rotten away completely on the lower portion of the machine and once I had it apart I decided to give it a new paintjob although I hate to paint.
and yes the X scale is not too fortunate, It would be better to have it out of the plain of the mounting surface. These old maho mills have different mounting surface than deckels do, The surface and the T slots looks more like dedicated for using tables rather than for free fixturing so a job you posted I would more likely do by pulling the vertical head and machine it horizontally rather than pulling the heavy table.
Do you have DRO on your machine? I would be interested in seeing how is your scale mounted.
 
Do you have DRO on your machine? I would be interested in seeing how is your scale mounted.

Yes, a Heidenhain DRO.
I don't have any decent pictures but you can see the end of the scale in the picture above. It's mounted onto a 6mm strip that is fixed to the angled face on the front of the machine. A block of aluminium, milled to suit the angles, connects the reading head to the moving part of the knee.

If you google hard there are some better pictures of another PM member's MH600 and his installation of a DRO that he posted on another machining board.

Charles
 
Yes, I posted it in the form for downloading manuals (link doesn’t work anymore). I also posted it on Hobby Machinist in the download section there (you’ll need to become a member - make a donation).
 
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