Enco mill identification

[thesh111t]

Hello everyone. Yesterday I recived a table top mill machine for christmas from my father. The machine is used but in VERY good shape with the exception of the head return spring being broken (The spring that brings the head back up on it's own...easy fix)
The owner did not have an operation manual. He has had the machine in his garage for almost 9 years and has never used it because of a stroke about 3 or 4 weeks after he got it. He has no tools for it because once again he has not used it. Long story short I need to buy some tooling, and read up on the strong and weak points of the machine so I may be able to address them. The machine has an ENCO name badge on the front. The i.d. plate says:
Model number 91000
manufacturinf date 1984
Serial number - - 107
Can anyone identify the mill? I have been to the Enco web page but that is no help, when I tried to search this site there are no matches for "Enco 91000" and the internet gives me the normal jumble of Enco postings and things with the number 91000. I can't seem to find out what this thing is. Has anyone ever owned one of these? Did you like it? Anything I should be awair of? Thank you for any help you may be able to give me. I really like the machine, but would love to be able to get some information on it. Thanks again.

[Bubba]

tesh111t
for all intesive purposes, it looks very similar to my RF31!
Check out the Rong FU site because it says made in Tiwan! If it is, I think you will find you have one fine machine! :})

You might make some basic measurements such as column size, table size etc and find that the modern parts fit also. I have I think 3 or 4 different manuals that I picked up off the net and excepting minor differences, they are all the same.
Your fine feed housing is a little different than mine, but do you have R8 or ? for the tooling holder in the quill?

I also notice the metal cover over the belt drive which was indictive of the early models. Later ones have a plastic cover.

regardless, enjoy and make chips!!!!

[Runner4404spd]

to me it looks like an RF-25. its the little brother to the RF-31. mine was made right around the same time as yours. although mine was sold through wholesale tool here in michigan and is painted red.

[thesh111t]

Bubba, the mill an R8 in the quill. I have been looking online and taking some measurements and best I can figure this is like the RF-25 like you said Runner4404spd. I'm not upset in any way shape or form to find it is a 25 rather then a 32, I just needed to know what I have (This mill is better then NO mill at all). I'm happy with the purchase, and will be buying some tooling for it soon. Where have you found to be a good place online or otherwise to buy tooling? I just beed the basics at first, a chuck, a collet set and a few end mills. I'll get a rotory table and indexing head later once I have a little time on the machine. Thank for your guys help.

[Runner4404spd]

i would order from KBC tools or wholesale tool

www.kbctools.com
www.wttools.com

[Bubba]

My favorite is Enco www.use-enco.com and if you look in one of the forums on the zone, you will find the code for free shipping on orders over $50 (isn't hard to do with tooling) I have also found that I rarely use an end mill over 3/8" so I wouldn't worry to much about "big" ones. One of the best investments I ever made in that area was to get a straight shank ER collet holder and a set of ER collets to match. I find they hold things a whole lot better than R8 and are adjustible for diameter. I use this rather than a chuck to hold drills and because of the straight shank, I can slide it in or out to compensate for the length of the drill (one trick to keep from moving the head up and down).
Another thing to think about is a decent vice. I got a 6" and find it is a little big for my table and as a result loose some Y travel, on the other hand, I want something to handle 4" stock and have been looking at possibly a 5".

Just some food for thought.

Bubba

[Racerdave3]

Can anyone tell me if they found a manual for the Enco 91000? I have the exact same mill machine, although mine is a 1981 MFG date, but it looks identical. Please let me know if anyone found a manual for this machine. Thanks.

[Halfnutz]

If you go to Grizzley tools website and poke around you should be able to find a couple of RF-XX clone type mills. They have downloadeable PDF's of all the parts lists, manuals, diagrams, etc. Harbor Freight has the same. I have a couple of these things, they are good ole workhorse Mill/Drills and are a great tools in any shop.

[bilinghm]

I have an identical machine that I bought in about 1984. It's a real workhorse. Kinda crude, but capable of doing anything you have the skill to tackle. You can really make the chips fly with this big heavy lump!

I have the original manual. It doesn't have much valuable information beyond the parts explosion.

I added a 2 horse 3 phase motor & VFD, pinned the column, added a collet chuck system, and built an adjustable travel stop set up for the Y axis (X has travel stops from the factory).

Do disassemble the spindle and repack & adjust the head bearings, and tram the column/head. You will then be good to go!

Bill

[Racerdave3]

Originally Posted by bilinghm I have an identical machine that I bought in about 1984. It's a real workhorse. Kinda crude, but capable of doing anything you have the skill to tackle. You can really make the chips fly with this big heavy lump! I have the original manual. It doesn't have much valuable information beyond the parts explosion. I added a 2 horse 3 phase motor & VFD, pinned the column, added a collet chuck system, and built an adjustable travel stop set up for the Y axis (X has travel stops from the factory). Do disassemble the spindle and repack & adjust the head bearings, and tram the column/head. You will then be good to go! Bill

Bill,
Do you have a copy of this manual, say on a PDF file that you could share? Let me know.
Thanks!
Dave

[bilinghm]

I will try and get the manual scanned and post a PDF for all to download.

[Racerdave3]

Originally Posted by bilinghm I will try and get the manual scanned and post a PDF for all to download.

Thanks so much!!