I saw an add for an "old milling machine" and took a little road trip yesterday. The add was not very descriptive but since I had the day off, it's spring in Florida, and it's a very pretty country drive, I didn't push the seller for many details when I called.
We took the tarps off the mill and it was an old cone head Cincinnati 1 1/2 universal. It looks to be fairly complete and in decent shape. There are a couple of weld repairs, 1 in a spherical gear cover of some sort on the back and 1 in the base. There is 1 chip on the knee way up fairly high on the right. The table rotates, the X and Y axis move stiffly. I could not get the knee handle to engage the splines so I did not try that. I could not get the spindle to rotate. Something is obviously missing on the right side of the table.
The seller had originally listed it at $800, then dropped it to $600. I offered $400. Seller told me if I didn't take it now for $600 he was going to raise the price back to $800 (he has done so in the add). He seemed to think I was desperate because I took a lot of pictures. If I had bought the machine I would not need all the pictures.
Old machines are interesting, but right now I want a mill for my project, not a mill as a project. For $400 I was willing to give it a home under a roof and get to it in the future some time. The seller seems to be of a mood that e will leave it under the tarp indefinitely if he can't get his $600 or maybe now $800. The seller inherited this from his father-in-law 6 months ago, took it out of the shop when they sold that, and had had it under a couple of perforated tarps since. I am tempted to keep my mouth shut and watch this machine to see if he gives in on the price, but I hate to see it rust any more that it already is. pictures in RCM drop box, cinci_1&half.txt, etc.
If he sells it for $400 it should be mine, If it's worth more to any of y'all feel free. it's on craigslist, ocala florida, search for milling. Feel free to tell me I have rocks in my head for walking away from this at $600, I had that much in my pocket.
Carl Boyd