Manual Mill

Always wear eye protection while using the mill. VHS-specific training / orientation is required. If used improperly, workpieces or pieces of cutting tools can be thrown around the shop at high velocity.

Mill is a Long Chang LC-15A. Very little info for this mill is available online.

Please review this Basic Manual

The following information was measured from the mill and may be inaccurate.

Spindle Taper: MT3 - Morse Taper #3

Drawbar: 3/8“-16

Table: 1/2in T slots

To move mill head up and down (major vertical adjustment); you need to loosen two nuts on the right-hand-side of the head, and use the crank on the left-hand-side of the mill to raise or lower. Retighten securing bolts before use (when loose, crank has huge slop).

X/Y - handwheels on table

Z - large grab handle on right of mill, or handwheel on front of mill. Black locking ring on grab-handle on right of mill engages/disengages handwheel. This axis can be locked via the small black lever on the front-left of the mill head.

Currently setup with 4” wide milling vise, the SB1248 from South Bend. Jaw plates are 4.163“ wide and 1.381” high. Vise can be bolted to the table via T nuts / bolts. Never assume that the vise is aligned correctly; use a dial indicator to check.

We have a set of 1/2in T nuts + fingers + step blocks for the CNC mill that will also fit this mill.

- Drill Chuck - 2x Offset boring heads - Fly cutter. Takes an HSS toolbit, ground to the correct profile - 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 collets. Used to hold end mills, fly cutters, and the small boring head - face mill? - Drift keys to remove the tooling from the spindle. - Set of Milling Vise Parallels from KMS tools, purchased February 2025 - Lots of used carbide endmills.

Cutting speeds can be determined easily by using this cutting speed nomogram. The original cutting speed nomogram came from Ian at the BCSME.

A written tutorial won't suffice! Don't touch the machine unless you've received training!