Advise on buying used mills and lathe

FlaMtnBkr · 2006-07-07T16:19:09+00:00

I have wanted a lathe and mill for awhile and found a older gentlemanpretty desperate to get rid of some stuff before he moves at the end ofthe month. I know this is a long post but I could really use someadvise since this will have to be a quick purchase. I have also beenreading as many old posts as possible trying to find the information Iam asking here and will continue to do so.To start I'll admit I know nothing about this kind of equipment andhave never used a mill or a lathe. Most of my experience is welding andturning wrenches.I was hoping to get some feedback as to the quality of this equipment,some things to check out on the equipment and what a fair price mightbe. The guy said all the stuff is 8 years old and only really usedconsistantly for 2 years. Everything has digital readouts and the millshave servo power feed. Tooling comes with it. The lathe has about 24collets as well as a 3 jaw piece to hold material (cant think of thename for it). There are various collets for the mills and a coupleboxes of cutters for both the mill and lathe. They all have originalpaint which is getting pretty bad but they also have lots of oil onthem which I would assume to be a good sign as to the upkeep.I know many people only like domestic equipment and like to stick withbridgeport and the like. But to be fair I am not a machinist and thisequipment will be used a few times a week and not 10 hours a day. I ammainly looking for something to learn on that will be fairly accurateand trouble free. I am not capable of 0.001 accuracy so the equipmentprobably doesnt need to be either. Both mills are made in Taiwan andnot china if that makes any difference.Larger mill: Alliant (made by Enco?). Knee mill with 10x54 table. Aircollet changer. Variable speed 3 HP motor (no step pullies). Digitalreadout. Power feed.Smaller mill: Turnpro made by Enco. 9x49 table. Variable speed 3 HPmotor (no step pullies). Digital readout. Power feed.Lathe: He says the lathe is made by Nova tool. All the...

Jul 07, 2006 23 Replies

Rate this thread:

Gunner Asch 20 years ago

I have 3 mills, soon to be adding the 4th. Today Im fabing up some assemblies for a buddy. several hundred of them, removable table leg assemblies for his sisters catering service. Ive got two band saws going cutting down the various round, square, L and flat stock, two mills and a drill press doing hole patterns and deburring/champhering and Ill be drilling and tapping on a mill soon as I get the other stuff done. Then welding them together

If you can keep it..keep it. If you need the money..sell it and get another beater later for a heavy dut drill press.

Gunner

Vote

pyotr filipivich 20 years ago

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "FlaMtnBkr" wrote on 9 Jul 2006 10:41:46 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Its one of those things where if you don't have one, you'll wish you did; and if you do have one, you'll wish you didn't. I've looked at some of the mini-multimills (small lathe, with mill attachment & drill press.) rather nifty till you realize that if you have one configuration setup, you'll need the other "for just a moment". Which is when you wish for a separate 'other' machine.

Then there is the "I have one, so I can do that" factor. Buddy of mine was considering buying a leaf shredder/chipper. I asked him "How often did you need one in the past?" and he responded that if he'd had one, he could have taken care of a lot more 'problems' without having the leaves (etc) pile up. You start out with one main and one "spare" and pretty soon, if you're doing any kind of production, you've got a main machine, a second machine, and no spare. So you get a third, and "lather, rinse, repeat." as the saying goes.

Vote

FlaMtnBkr 20 years ago

I guess I will keep both to start with. Hopefully I will be able to put them to good use and they will go hand in hand with my welding shop. If for some reason I am not using it enough to pay for itself or justify the space then I will look at selling it.

Thank you for all the replies. This has been my first interaction with this NG and it has been quite positive!

Ryan

Vote