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Raglan Milling Machine
Raglan lathes
A simple handbook and drive belts can be provided for this machine. Please email for details

Built during from the late 1950s until the late 1960s, the Raglan vertical miller was an especially well-made, beautifully finished and compact machine. It was usually supplied on the maker's braced sheet-steel cabinet stand (with a shallow, welded-on chip tray), that required a floor space of around 24" x 18". The motor, either a single or 3-phase 1425 r.p.m., or 2-speed 710-1425 r.p.m. 3-phase unit, was built into the body of the machine and drove the spindle though a variable-speed system of a type also used on the Company's "Little John" lathes. A push-button starter was built into the right-hand face of the main column. Spindle speeds ranged from 380 to 2250 with the 1-speed motor and 180 to 2250 rpm with the 2-speed.
Running in Timken taper roller bearings, the high carbon steel spindle had a No. 2 Morse taper in its nose - but no down feed, instead the knee, as on a proper, full-sized machine, could be elevated. The 21" x 5.5" table carried three T-slots with a coolant trough at each end (though, usefully, the T-slots ran on past them to maximise the clamping area). Both square and Acme-form feed screws appear to have been used during the production cycle, running through the same design of bronze nut as used on the Raglan "Five-inch" lathe. The Company's usual large and clear friction-setting micrometer dials finished in satin-chrome were fitted - though unfortunately only one (rather fine, chrome-plated) handwheel was provided for the longitudinal feed, at the right-hand end of the table. The table travel was 12" longitudinally, 4" in traverse and around 8.5 inches vertically - the latter figure also being the maximum clearance between spindle nose and table. Rather lighter than it looked, the miller weighed just 140 kg  - caused in part by the main column being in cast aluminium, an unusual choice for a miller, but in this case completely effective.
Selling in 1967 at almost exactly the same price as a Myford Super 7 with screwcutting gearbox and cabinet stand, the Raglan miller, at £199 was an expensive proposition. Adding the parts necessary to make a functioning machine - a Clarkson collet chuck (£13 : 0s : 0d), swivelling-base machine vice (£16 : 7s : 0d), coolant unit and pipes (£27 : 6s : 0d) and Low-volt lighting (£9 : 10s : 0d) - brought the total to £258 : 3s : 0d.
As most of these machines were fitted, when new, with a 3-phase motor changing them for home use on 1-phase (whilst accommodating the awkward requirements of the variable-speed drive) used to be a difficult undertaking. However, with the advent of electronic 3-phase to 1-phase variable-speed inverters, this problem has been overcome - and even if the mechanical system is worn or damaged, it's a relatively simple matter to rig up a one-to-one drive and use the electronics to vary the speed.

Catalogue illustration Raglan vertical milling machine

Section through the variable-speed drive

Section through knee elevation screw top bevel gear assembly

A remarkably original and fine  Raglan miller--even to the maker's stickers

If your speed-indicator markings are missing, this is what they would have looked like when new

Clearly engraved, satin-chrome finished micrometer dials of a decent size