Thread: Van Norman Mill
View Single Post
Old 03-28-2015, 12:03 PM   #6
russcc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,871
Default Re: Van Norman Mill

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Trainguy is right on target. The Van Norman machine is a great milling machine. I ran one in the early '60s at my first job in the Old Waltham Watch Building in Waltham MA where the company was originally founded in the late 1800's. The Van Norman machine declined in popularity with the emergence of the Bridgeport, a very versatile vertical mill. When CNC emerged, Van Normal became obsolete, and to some degree, the Bridgeport. The Bridgeport can be fitted with digital controls, and you will find it, or foreign knock offs, in use in almost any machine shop that is not strictly production CNC. Bridgeport was acquired by Hardinge in NY. Last I knew, Hardinge supplied most of the parts for them. There are rebuilding services for the Bridgeport, work can generally be done at your location or the vendors. Good suggestion to consider a different machine than the Van Norman for boring. If you are going to invest in equipment for boring, you should be looking into a machine that bores off the centerline, not the deck. They are not cheap. For all around milling work, the vertical Bridgeport is the way was to go. I bought a 1978 model in a junk yard for $750., (scrap value). Spent some time cleaning it up, and have been using ever since. Keep in mind that many of the machines are 3 phase, so you will need a phase converter in you only have 2 phase 250V.
russcc is offline   Reply With Quote