We picked up a '95 Partner 1 H for my son to run some parts and get his own thing going... I've had the Partner 4 for years now so felt comfortable with the Milltronics machine even though it's older. Given my machine never had a tool changer, I do have a few questions though.

First, does the machine have air blow thru the spindle when it's changing tools? We don't have it home yet, but when I saw it under power it seemed to be having a lot of air noise when the tool was out of the spindle during the tool change... don't know if that is intentional air blow or leaks during the tool change process. It seems to be pissing air from quite a few places in the back, so first project will be to put new airlines on and check the solenoid valves.

It has the 10,000 rpm spindle, haven't had the cover off yet, appears to have two pulleys for a high and low ratio, what's the top speed in low, 6000 rpm? I don't know yet if it has the encoder on the spindle for rigid tapping, if not, is that something that can be added? From the parts list, it looks rather simple mechanically.

In regards to tapping, if it doesn't have rigid tapping, I've used Tension and Compression holder on my machine, but that can get a bit pricey for all the different quick change heads to hold the various sized taps. Back in the day I had a Fadal in the shop and we used Tapmatic or Procunier tapping heads with a special bracket that kept the housing still while the spindle ran. Does or did Milltronics ever use something along that line? Any other options other than thread milling, which is fine for larger holes, don't really want to be doing it on 10-32 though...

We will hopefully be moving it yet this week, depends on the rigger's schedule, and then Chris will have a week or two at least of cleaning (it's filthy) and getting ready. Then we will probably have lots more questions to come.

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