email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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Senior E-Type Milling Machine
With S-Type vertical Head

Instruction Books and Catalogues are available for the Senior range

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Senior's only small vertical miller, the "E-Type", used the No. 2 Morse taper, quill-feed S-Type head on a table and base unique to the model. Now a greatly sought-after machine it was, in Senior tradition, both beautifully made and finely finished - and took up a minimum amount of room. Although advertised as a "low-cost" machine, each was assembled and tested by one skilled toolmaker and, upon collecting a machine from the factory (after a cup of tea with Tom Senior himself) the customer was invited to meet the worker responsible. However, it was, in fact, a relatively expensive item and retailed, in 1985, at £1,783 complete with full electrical equipment and mounted on the maker's stand.
Flange-mounted at the top, the 0.5 h.p. motor (1-phase or 3-phase) drove forwards by a Z-section V-belt to a spindle whose 2.5-inch travel quill was equipped with both fine and quick-action drilling feeds - the former being engaged through a cone clutch, exactly in the manner used on the Centec vertical head.. The spindle ran in precision-class Timken taper roller bearings (with a needle roller bearing at the tail) with early machines having four speeds from 480 to 2760 r.p.m. on a 3-phase supply and from 500 to 2,800 on 1-phase. Later versions had six speeds (though with the same speed range) - or a very effective electronic infinitely-variable speed drive unit. However, the option was available of a slower-running motor - 950 r.p.m. - though few can have been sold. Simple but effective snap-on covers at each side of the head guarded the belt run - though simple the mechanism was far from cheaply constructed, with spring-loaded balls held within bronze housings.
Fixed at the base of the 3-inch diameter main column, the 26" x 6" (635 mm x 152 mm) table - which was an especially fine piece of work - had a longitudinal travel of 15 inches (381 mm); 6 inches (152 mm) across while the swivelling head (keyed to the column to retain its alignment) was raised and lowered by the handwheel at the back to give an effective vertical travel of 14.5 inches (368 mm). For an extra - breathtakingly expensive - £1037 the table could be fitted with power feeds driven by a motor controlled by an electronically-variable speed control. Superbly engraved - and plated  in satin chrome - simple and reliable zeroing micrometer dials were fitted to all feeds.
By using special adaptors the S-Type head could also be mounted on other Senior miller - and became a popular fitting in small workshops where its handy size and sensitive movements allowed fine work to be carried out that would otherwise have been too large and unwieldy machine.
Overall dimensions (with the motor extended fully upwards) were: height 80 inches (2030 mm) and the base (measured at floor level)  27.5 inches by 21.5 inches (699 mm x 546 mm). The weight was approximately 360 lbs ( 164 kg)..

S-Type vertical head equipped with an adaptor bracket for mounting on a Senior M1 milling machine

4-speed V-belt drive of the early Tom Senior S-Type vertical head. Simple snap-on covers, retained by spring-loaded balls held within bronze housings, guarded the mechanism

The chrome-plated, twin-handled boss on the right-hand side was turned to engage and disengage the fine-feed drive. At the top of the unit two plates were fitted which snapped into spring-loaded clips and covered the belt drive - see the illustration below

Superbly engraved - and plated  in satin chrome - simple and reliable zeroing micrometer dials were fitted to all the feed screws - and in the case of this particular head ,with an unusual "3-ball" balanced handle.

Swivel degree graduations

Senior E-Type Milling Machine
With S-Type vertical Head

Instruction Books and Catalogues are available for the Senior range

Senior Home Page   Senior Lathes   

Senior Shapers & Planers  Prices 

E Type   Junior Horizontal/Vertical   Light Vertical   

VS   Major ELT   

Older Millers

email: tony@lathes.co.uk
Home   Machine Tool Archive   Machine-tools Sale & Wanted
Machine Tool Manuals   Catalogues   Belts   Books  Accessories