who made milltronics knee mills?

[bestrada11]

Here's a dumb question I hope I'm not seeming too ignorant. Who made the heavy duty knee mills of years past for example a partner 3 with a centurion 4 controller from the 80's I believe? Did milltronics actually make the bulk of the machine also or did someone else supply the knee mill to them. My curiosity stems from problems with some of the mechanicals. If this were a bridgeport I'd be able to order rebuild kits and replacement parts very easily but I don't know where to start getting rebuild parts for the head and the table and what not.?

[Brian L]

Good Question, I have a '92 Partner 4 and the iron is from Taiwan, the build sheet even lists the serial number of the basic "iron". I have a friend who has a late 80's vintage Mighty Comet CNC knee mill, it had a Fanuc 10m control on it, but the iron is very close to mine, headstock is identical, I have a rigid ram, his is still movable, but a whole lot more is the same than different.

I contacted them for some parts and they weren't of much help for what I was after, way wipers and such, but they might be able to help in the head stock, I don't know. They were another company buying iron and fitting it with CNC, so who actually built the machines, I don't know for sure.

I do know that in that time frame Yamazen was one of the larger builders of machines that were sold to be fitted with numerous different controls, but they were a Japanese plant and I know this machine was from Taiwan, so I don't know who the Taiwanese counterpart was.

[awerby]

went onto a lot of different machines. My "Ramco RamMill" (aka "the Beast"), which had a Centurion IV control, was made by Leadwell in Taiwan. but I believe that other mill manufacturers also used the Milltronic systems. Your best bet might be to look at lots of pictures of various used machines on the web, and try to identify one that looks like yours.

Andrew Werby
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