used mill

To score a useable machine in that price range borders on the miraculous. Worth gloating over, in any case. It's not that there are not any around, but it's along the lines of answering an ad that wants to sell "an old chevrolet" and finding a mint 'Vette on blocks in a barn . It has happened, it will happen again, it might happen to you, just don't expect it to happen to you.

Get a machine that you can actually do any work on, with tooling, for that price, and people start throwing rocks at you. :-)

If you buy a bare machine, count on spending pretty much the cost of the machine or more, on tools and tooling to make it do what you need it to.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Yeah, I was beginning to get the impression I wasn't going to grab one for that, unless I was willing to do quite a bit of repair. I am pretty mechanically inclined, and have no question that I could eventually fix an older machine, but I'm thinking that in the time it would take me to do so and with the cost in parts it might actually be cheaper to get a more expensive one in better shape. As far as tooling goes, yeah, I was budgeting about 600 for that- indexing rotary table, involute cutters (what's the deal with hobs? I don't mean to sound stupid but I don't really understand what I'm supposed to do with a hob if I get one), a vise, I already have a pretty nice set of endmills etc, that I picked up for a couple of bucks on ebay... now I just need the mill. There's one on ebay, the HF minimill, that's apparently got a "bad drive gear" and may wind up going for the ~300 range, inc shipping- worth it? I've also just got a response from my craigslist ad, says he has an import 3-in-1 in need of some repair- I'm questioning the whole 3-in-1 thing, but at $200, the price may be right. Am i being stupid? Thank you guys for all your advice, it really is amazing... GCC

I wondered about that too, but keep in mind that the 8540 X-axis travel is only around 15" and the support is longer than that. Chain drilling can be faster than milling through 3/8" flat stock on a part like that if your mill doesn't have much guts. The 8540 probably has the HP and rigidity but the part profile doesn't lend itself to a horizontal milling cutter for the long cuts, at least not for the support flat on the table.

Mike

A hob will cut all tooth counts for the size it is, a set of gear tooth cutters is each good for a range of numbers. Hobs are generally used on gear cutting setups where the blank is geared to the cutting spindle, so that the spacing is proper. The individual cutters do one tooth at a time. Hobbs can be used one tooth at a time as well, but with slightly poorer results.

For $200 the 3-in-1 may be worth a look. Calculate ito the equation that parts will NOT be available. Can you make them? (they may be available, but if you work that into your calculations, you will do better for yourself).

You might consider that for $200 you buy it, clean it up, and sell it for a little more, if it is in a reasonable conition to do so with. Think "upgrade".

LittleMachineshop.com sells belt drive conversions and replacement parts for minimills.

Cheers Trevor Jones

If it were mine I think I'd have looked to a 3/16 or so milling cutter on the horizontal, rough cut the majority off, and then set up for the cleanup, perhaps with an end mill on the H-spindle.

I figures from looking at it, that a well secured part on the edge of the table nearest the spindle, it should be a one pass cut, no? Not too much flex in the machine that close in.

Cheers Trevor Jones

that Abene mill that just went on e-bay for $900 would have been quite the thing for you

True indeed. And most electrical problems on manual machines are easy to fix or find easy work arounds

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Damned straight. It would have set him up for life.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

I need to find a clone of you in Western NY Michigan or Southern Ontario

Someplace where a day trip or a weekend trip with a pickup truck is easy and doable.

Gunner wrote:

I concur also, I had numerous experiences of this sort myself.

According to gcc :

Well ... I got my Nichols horizontal mill from an eBay auction for about $120.00. However -- it cost more than twice that to ship it from Connecticut to Virginia. :-(

Revise your budget -- and also watch all of the sources like eBay and whatever used dealers are local to you, and Craigslist local to you and whatever they call the want ad magazines in your area.

And be prepared to move *quickly* when you spot something, because the odds are that you are not the only one in your area looking for things.

Good Luck, DoN.

you know, sometimes shipping isn't all that bad - when I bought my Abene mill, I decided what I was willing to pay and callled the seller and said, this is what I will pay, total, delivered to my driveway. After a bunch of hemming and hawing that took several days, they said "yes", and I paid them. The mill showed up in due time (though I hired a rigging company to actually receive the mill and deliver it to me, last thing I needed was to drop a

We are rare..but we are out there.

Indeed!

Hell yes.

Right on Dude!

Fursure!

Ok guys..give him a hand will ya?

#32..you live in Canada, doncha?

BC? Damn....

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Hell..Id nearly GIVE away a Nichols I have. But shipping from California..thats the recipients problem...

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but Gunner wrote on Sun, 12 Nov 2006 09:38:35 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Guy I knew got a Cincinnati Mill for less than a couple hundred bucks. Getting it from California to Seattle, off the truck and into his shop, and the power hooked up - that was the expensive part.

tschus pyotr

has changed. They are tools that the original owner has used until its no longer any good or technology is out of date. If it needs no repair- why sell it?

CNC

many reasons, such as:

- owner went bankrupt - owner bought more productive equipment, such as cnc - owner changes line of business.

most equipment that I see sold at liquidations, is in working shape or needs light repair/rewiring/adjustment.