Help me find a good used mill.

P

PEI Rob

Guest
Need a mill fellas, seen any around? Big table, DRO, X&Y powerfeeds would be nice, going to keep it so I don't really want something to upgrade later. Don't have any tooling yet either. Been looking forever but everything I find fairly local is badly worn or a tad bit overpriced :rolleyes: There is a few in the Toronto area classifieds but I have no way of inspecting them and TO is over 20 hours away.

What wears exactly? If I were to grab onto a tool by hand and force it around while measuring, what am I finding out? Is it the quill or the bearings? Concerning the table, nuts and leadscrews, and the gibs, is it a big deal to repair if necessary? I was told its better to use a phase converter for smoother running and not loosing low speed, any advise on that?

I don't want a new chinese mill although I did get a very good price on one. Any advise is welcome.

Cheers,
Rob

Almost forgot, the right mill shipped a long ways such as Texas will still be a good deal by the time it lands here compared to the other choices I've found so far.
 
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Keep a close watch on your local 'For Sale' resources. I found my SuperMax on craigslist about 15 mins from my house [ I musta had some good karma built up]. The thing was always used in a home shop by a perfectionist so it is in awesome condition. It also came with enough new spares to replace every bearing in the machine and any other even remotely potential wear item. No DRO or powerfeeds but upgrading would be simple and cost effective since I didn't need to spend any money refurbing the machine.

Since buying the mill and a 4003G I HAVE killed my old shop vac though :D
 
Opps, edited my profile. Way up and East Butch, not much around my area.
 
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Does PEI, mean Prince Edward Island?

I would contact this fellow from his web-site link and ask him if he knows of any mills for sale.

http://www.lautard.com/

It's a shot in the dark, but he is closer to you than some of us, and knows a lot more folks that might have and idea where to find a suitable machine that might fill your needs. :D
 
Thanks fellas, and yes its Prince Edward Island, which would be on the right not the left :eek: I'm sure I have seen some good one's but there is no way to tell from pics. I think I'll take any good sized mill that isn't worn, which is much more important than DRO's or power feeds I could always add on later.

No panic yet but advise is never ignored.

Cheers,
Rob
 
I have owned many mills, bought them at auction and sold them on Ebay full time for 7 years. I was co-located with a company which rebuilt Bridgeports. I bought them out when they failed. I know mills, new, used, and rebuilt. If it were me I would buy Grizzley Model G9904 with the DRO and power feed and never look back. These are way better than you think they are. And remember, Bridgeport was putting clone parts in their product before they failed. You just don't know what you are getting. 5 or 6 years ago Enco sent out an "overstock special" flyer for a 9x42 belt drive clone for $2,395 delivered. At the time I had 5 Bridgeports on the floor. I ordered one immediately. I wish I had ordered three. Anyway, the Bridgeport rebuild guys checked it out with their squares and techniques. They were trying to find something wrong and couldn't. It was better than anything either of us had on hand. I used it myself and sold it to a friend a couple years later. It is in daily use making quality parts. My mill is an Enco 10x54.
 
Jerry,
The guy does a good job and is reasonable. That one does not have enough table travel. You need at least a 42" table for some barrel work, fluting and octagon work, and for some stock work.
Butch
 
papapaul, I am a little more than surprised. Goes against everything we learn about the day to day chi-com junk we normally see. I did buy a new 14x40 heavy duty lathe, made in China. Many things about it are impressive but many things are not. It has impressed some older lathe operators but I can't figure out why? PM sent

Guys, I was checking the PM forum until 2am last night and did see that guy's add. I was planning to phone him this afternoon actually. Managed to send the email Butch, thanks.

42"... that's what I have jammed in my head somewhere. One of you guys must have mentioned that before and that little voice told me to not to get a small mill.
 
Pete,
He does do a good job, but the pictured one is a 32" table and no power feed or DRO. He may have something like that though from time to time though.
Butch
 
A couple of thoughts. The older lathes which are so highly spoken of were the counterparts to #2 type mills or larger. Not Bridgeports. Bridgeports were light duty toolmakers machines and didn't hold up like the old lathes. Also, watch out for the spindles on the old machines. Hendy, Norton, Cincinnati, Tree, etc. all made vertical mills (most of them way better than Bridgeports) but they usually had proprietary spindles. I saw a guy buy a Cincinnati toolmaster at auction for practically nothing, take the spindle collets, and leave the machine. Without the tooling these machines are worth their weight. (a toolmaster is set up like a Bridgeport, but far superior to one. 3 axis power feed for example). Some of the early Bridgeports had Morse, Brown and Sharpe, or Jarno tapers. Customers were often large industrial toolrooms and they ordered the mill spindles to match the tooling they already had on hand. Finally: Parts, repairs. On many of the used mills parts are unobtainable or exceedingly expensive, and the guys who know how to fix e'm are dead, or charge $100 plus per hour.
 
P.S. Cincinnati was the machine tool capital of the world. The last Bridgeport repairman in Cincinnati went out of business 5-6 years ago. He charged more than the price of a new clone for a rebuild. Everybody in industry was finding out how good the clones were. out there in the plant's maintenance departments you see clones and OLD clones operating. Out in the job machine shops you see old clones and new clones with CNC attachments. These guys are making their livings on the clones. The Bridgeports sit off to the sides unused, and then get traded. Bridgeports are now most common in home shops and on dealer's floors.
 
papapaul said:
I have owned many mills, bought them at auction and sold them on Ebay full time for 7 years. I was co-located with a company which rebuilt Bridgeports. I bought them out when they failed. I know mills, new, used, and rebuilt. If it were me I would buy Grizzley Model G9904 with the DRO and power feed and never look back. These are way better than you think they are. And remember, Bridgeport was putting clone parts in their product before they failed. You just don't know what you are getting. 5 or 6 years ago Enco sent out an "overstock special" flyer for a 9x42 belt drive clone for $2,395 delivered. At the time I had 5 Bridgeports on the floor. I ordered one immediately. I wish I had ordered three. Anyway, the Bridgeport rebuild guys checked it out with their squares and techniques. They were trying to find something wrong and couldn't. It was better than anything either of us had on hand. I used it myself and sold it to a friend a couple years later. It is in daily use making quality parts. My mill is an Enco 10x54.
Click to expand...




Bridgeport was made in Singapore for the last few years of it's life. Clearly seen on the tool heads of the machines, in large letters.
 
A little historical perspective on machine tools: Lots of people now have mills, mill/drills, lathes etc in their garages and basements. This is fairly recent. In, say 1938, buying a machine tool for home was for the rich and famous. The machines were in plants. Many smaller shops got by on undersized machines. If somebody had a SB benchtop nine or an atlas 10 everybody in town knew about it, and he was busy with it. A good heavy lathe was the price of a couple of new homes. A shop was rated by the machines they had. You submitted a bid and a machinery list. Things picked up a little in the 50s when Atlas, Southbend, and Clausing targeted the home shop market, but again for the fortunate few. It has been the evolution of the CNC machines, combined with shrinking industry, and asian imports, which has put so many machine tools in the hands of hobbyists and small shops.
 
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