Central Machinery Mill Drill specs? Worth $2k?

If you could find an 8520 with tooling you will be your best friend.
I agree with all the above, just say no kids.
 
Karl_T said:
If you are close enough to the twin cities, my son will be selling his 2J Bridgeport in a few weeks. About 10X the mill over this one.
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Unfortunately not that much room or need for a full size mill.
I mostly want it for drilling, slotting and facing off small parts.
 
Sparkynutz said:
Unfortunately not that much room or need for a full size mill.
I mostly want it for drilling, slotting and facing off small parts.
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This is always the crux of the biscuit for me. My RF30 does what I want without being a logistical/financial nightmare. Bigger is not always better if there is no need and if you know your work envelope you can get a lot of work done with it. I’ve had opportunities for a Bridgeport style(Maxmill) for $500 and when everything was said and done passed on it. I could not justify the huge problem of moving, installing it, amount of precious shop real estate and overkill for my needs. There are several of us here who have RF’s and do just fine and don’t give into peer pressure of only a Bridgeport is worthy. YMMV.
 
C-Bag said:
This is always the crux of the biscuit for me. My RF30 does what I want without being a logistical/financial nightmare. Bigger is not always better if there is no need and if you know your work envelope you can get a lot of work done with it. I’ve had opportunities for a Bridgeport style(Maxmill) for $500 and when everything was said and done passed on it. I could not justify the huge problem of moving, installing it, amount of precious shop real estate and overkill for my needs. There are several of us here who have RF’s and do just fine and don’t give into peer pressure of only a Bridgeport is worthy. YMMV.
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Agreed, but the price of 2k for a used one is not worth the price.
I see them at 500 to 700... for a RF.. A central machine is on the low end of the quality curve.
Also a brand new one from HF is 2499, a guy says it was 1800 in Feb 2021.. so really, 2000 for the old model... NO way to much.
but it now has a knee .. still a benchtop model, but the knee goes up and down.
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Got mine for $600 and it had a load of tooling with it. The result of being in the right place at the right time.
 
I agree with that price being way too high. There's currently one listed out here in SoCal for $1K, with a vise. But, like another poster stated, it's all about location. Go look at it, if that's possible. See what it comes with. Look at what else is for sale in a 100-mile or so radius (or whatever is realistic where you are). I think people are using the pandemic and the global shortages to jack up the price of everything.

For reference, I bought an RF-30 clone (Rutland Tool, built around 2009) with a Kurt vise for $975 in Oct of 2020. They loaded it in my truck for me, too (it weighs around 660 lbs). I've spent about $650 or so on tooling, which is on the low end. I needed a stand, so I paid a welder $325 to make a stand, plus another $100 or so for paint, a wood top with sheet metal on top of that, misc. hardware, etc.

I would say it's worth about $200 more with the table is appears to be sitting on, depending on how well-built it is. See if you can get a tool chest under it. You will probably have to spend some time going thru it and making sure everything works well, since HF is notorious for low QC. It will be a nice machine once you have it sorted out. I really like mine.

Hopefully, you have enough info to negotiate a more realistic price.
 
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