High quality, small geared head milling machine made in Sweden. Arboga is famous for their geared head machines. The geared head allows speed changes to be made by moving levers. 2 levers on the left side of the head change the gears. A lever on the front of the head changes the motor speed. There are 8 speeds, from 125 to 2500 RPM. With a geared head, speed change is fast, there is no belt slippage, no danger of getting something like your fingers caught up in the belt/pulley system, no belts to go bad, etc. Belts and pulleys take up a lot of space; the geared head is a major reason that the Arboga is a very compact and lightweight machine. The Arboga stands 65.5" tall, is 31" from front to rear and 30" wide, and weighs 530#. The Arboga base is thick cast iron, making it very stable with a small footprint of only 17X18". The spindle is 10.5" from the column. There is at least 15" maximum distance between the spindle nose and the table.
The downfeed is most convenient on the Arboga. The spindle has both fine down-feed with graduations of 1/1000" and a rapid-action drilling quill with 4.5" of travel. You switch over from one to the other by pushing in or pulling out the hub of the rapid-action drilling quill. There is an adjustable stop on the downfeed. There is a lock on the downfeed. Click on these images to enlarge them. The brownish color you see in hard to get at places is congealed oil. The mill was covered with congealed oil when I bought it. The congealed oil kept it grom getting rusty. The mill has never been rusty all over. The previous owner of this machine had it for decades, but virtually did not use it. He bought it at a business auction.
The head height adjustment is via a geared ratcheting lever-operated mechanism (fitted at the back of the 4" diameter column); this requires little effort. There is an adjustable brass gib that rides against the gear rack to maintain alignment. You use the head height adjustment for the initial setup. There are 2 locking levers at the base of the column for stabilizing the column. You feed the milling cutter downward using the fine feed hand crank at the front of the machine.The Arboga head swivels, has an accurate angle scale and is locked in the 90 degree position with a tapered pin.
The motor is powerful at 1.1 HP. See the photo of the motor and gearbox brass plate for complete details. There will be no belt slippage with the geared drive. The motor is an efficient 3 phase motor. The mill also has a converter box on it for use with single phase power. I have 3 phase power and I power it with 3 phase. There are 3 phase and single phase convenience outlets and a reversing switch added to the base of the machine near the original on/off switch. I wired it as it would have been wired by the factory. Those added electricals are not presently wired for use. There are instructions inside the phase converter box.
If you Google this machine the only useful reference to it you will find is at lathes.co.uk. A caveat concerning the milling adapter is emphasized in that listing. And it is indeed something for you to be aware of. The milling adapter that Arboga supplied with the machine was composed of multiple parts that are easily separated from the machine. The Arboga mill has a threaded spindle nose. A nose cap threaded onto that threaded spindle with 2 C-washers under it that retained the milling cutter holder. The original nose cap only worked with the original milling cutter holder. The milling accessories did not come with the Arboga I bought. Finding a full set of used original parts would be nearly impossible unless found together with a machine. I did not even attempt to contact Arboga for those parts because they are too expensive and better milling cutter holders are available today. However, today's milling cutter holders need adapters to work with the Arboga. I designed and built my own adapters that work well. Neither the milling machine nor the milling cutter holder needed to be adapted. I could have made a set of parts similar to the original if I was willing to accept a smaller milling cutter capacity. Instead, I researched available milling cutter holders and chose an ER25 milling cutter holder with a 5/8" or 16mm capacity milling cutter shank. My adaptation is composed of 2 custom made parts: a tang adapter with a set screw retainer. The tang adapter is threaded into the end of the milling cutter holder. A threaded hole is put through the tang adapter. A set screw is screwed into the tang adapter and screwed out after the milling cutter holder is put into the spindle. The set screw is wedged against the tang knockout window surrounding the spindle shaft. The ER collets I chose are of an excellent design. Hinged at each end of the collet, they hold the milling cutter shaft better and they accept a greater range of shaft sizes. The collets are marked in millimeters and inch fractional sizes. There is at least 12.5" maximum distance between the ER25 milling cutter holder nose and the table. If you have an Arboga mill that needs this setup and are too busy to make your own, this lot of equipment is available for $450.
#3 MORSE TAPER 1/2" SHANK END MILL HOLDER is included. I 1st made this in order to test my set screw retainer system before investing in the ER25 system. If you have an Arboga mill that needs this setup and are too busy to make your own, this is available for $200. You may use smaller diameter shank milling cutters in this end mill holder by using split sleeves.
JACOBS CHUCK. The Jacobs 3/16" to 3/4" (5-19mm) drill chuck came with the machine and is included. That is a high capacity chuck for such a small machine. It is also a high capacity for such a small chuck; I have another Jacobs 3/4" drill chuck that is about twice the size and weight. Boring operations do not exert the same forces on the tool as do milling operations; as with drill presses........no tool retainer is required. Included with machine, $275 separately.
The milling table is about 9.75X22.25". The Arboga hand cranks are exceptionally smooth operating, with a great feel and little backlash. The table has over 11" of longitudinal feed and over 6" of cross feed. The table has some milling marks on it. The longitudinal feed screw is where the center T-slot is usually found in order to give more clearance between the table and the spindle nose. The feed screws on this table are beefy. The top of the cast iron base is machined where the table sits. There are adjustable gibs and locks on the longitudinal and crossfeed ways.
LONGITUDINAL AND CROSS FEED STOPS. The longitudinal feed stops came in with the machine. I made the cross feed stops; they had to be L-shaped in order to accommodate the 6.5" cross feed travel.
4 QUICK ACTING 1/2" T-BOLTS with nuts and washers are included.
LARGE 2-PART VISE is included; it has custom made keys on the bottom. The vise allows you to hold a workpiece that is virtually the maximum size the mill will allow you to machine without having to reposition anything. The 4 T-bolts that hold the 2 part chuck are included. 2X6.25" jaw faces. Overall height 3.125". The movable jaw travels .875". Key slot in bottom of vise parts is .7" wide. Although the vise is included with the Arboga mill, it is also available separately for $150. The custom made .55" wide keys will be kept with the Arboga Mill, but are available for $75 extra. The 4 T-bolts will be kept with the Arboga Mill.
POWER FEED for ARBOGA 825EM MILL. This came in mounted on and is included with the Arboga mill; it is also available separately for $200. I removed the power feed because it limits the longitudinal table travel by about 2". The power feed is not made by Arboga. The helical gear that connects with the Arboga helical gear on the longitudinal feed screw is fairly special as is the balance of the power feed setup. The Bodine motor is high quality. The last photo is of the power feed components removed from the mill. Note: In order to mount this, holes need to be located, drilled and tapped in the Arboga table. I am open to accepting your Arboga table in trade towards my table + power feed. Note: I saw one of these tables advertised on Ebay. The seller included a photo of the underneath side, which did not include the helical gear at the end of the X-feed screw. Therefore, that helical gear, shaft extension, spring, etc. will be included with the power feed. It is probable that the hole in the end of the table that the helical gear extension to the X-feed screw goes into was also not originally in the table. Therefore, I strongly suggest that you trade in your Arboga table. There is just too much work involved in locating, drilling and tapping holes, and setting up this power feed on the Arboga table to make it worth your while. The price will be the same with the trade in of your table if your table is as clean or cleaner than mine with little backlash.
The Arboga Milling Machine with accessories is $2500.