Lathe paid off now searching for a mill

D

drs23

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Hope this is the correct forum for this.

I know this is quite the open ended question and hopefully doesn't just open a can of worms. As the title states my G4003G is paid off and now I'm seriously looking for a mill. While I would love to have an American old heavy iron mill there just aren't many/any around my area that I've been able to find. Seems like with a city like Houston less than an hour away it would be a buyer's market but that's been proven to be far from the truth. That and I need something to work with, not on.

I also need to let you know I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the different designations. I see X this or XX that and it is an alien language as far as I'm concerned. Another limiting factor is my budget. I need to stay around the 5k mark. I'm not opposed to purchasing out of state and shipping if I can find someone on that end who knows what they're looking at/for to inspect it prior to funding.

I don't have 3ph power but after endless hours reading here that should not be a deal breaker. I've mentioned my good buddy Tom in a few of my posts here. He's a 40+ year machinist who will assist me in whatever needs to happen once it's in my shop. He's been invaluable with helping me with setting up the lathe and DRO. Not to mention learning how to operate it.

I'm open to any and all comments, suggestions, leads or ideas.

Thanks for reading,

Dale
 
It is invaluable to have a machinist friend like Tom who is willing to assist you. The milling machines seem to be a little more available in this area than lathes.

Dale I have seen a few come up for auction in SE Texas from shops that are closing. If you could twist Tom's arm and take him with you to some of these auctions and evaluate some of the equipment you may just find a great deal.

There was an auction in Dallas yesterday that had several mills plus tons of other stuff!
December is usually slow for auctions,but you never know.

Good luck with the hunt!

David
 
5k isn't much if a limitation as far as I have seen- you can get pretty much plug and play from new or old vintage iron for that price.

Really just a matter of determining the style if machine that would be best for you.

Tell us a little more about what you might want to be doing, how much room you have etc

Bernie

Bernie
 
David said:
It is invaluable to have a machinist friend like Tom who is willing to assist you. The milling machines seem to be a little more available in this area than lathes.

Dale I have seen a few come up for auction in SE Texas from shops that are closing. If you could twist Tom's arm and take him with you to some of these auctions and evaluate some of the equipment you may just find a great deal.

There was an auction in Dallas yesterday that had several mills plus tons of other stuff!
December is usually slow for auctions,but you never know.

Good luck with the hunt!

David
Click to expand...

David,

Thanks for the reply. I've been searching but I guess incorrectly. I keep a close eye on setexas.com and very seldom see anything there. Where are you seeing these auction listings?

Tom is indeed a great buddy to have all around but invaluable when it comes to machining. He's all about going with me to inspect the mill when we find it.

I knew about the auction in Dallas but that was in the middle of the week and about a 7 hour drive. Couldn't make it.

DAN_IN_MN said:
Dale

You know TX better than I do. I found this listing. Anything work for you? http://www.locatoronline.com/machines/dealerbystate_TX.cfm

Any around you?
Click to expand...

Dan,

Thank You! That's an astounding list. Guess that exposes my searching abilities.:whistle:

A few in Houston on that list I have bookmarked. I've found that most of the mills several of them represent are in reality shipped from CA so are not on premises for inspection but there are several that I was not aware of.

Thanks much again.

itsme_Bernie said:
5k isn't much if a limitation as far as I have seen- you can get pretty much plug and play from new or old vintage iron for that price.

Really just a matter of determining the style if machine that would be best for you.

Tell us a little more about what you might want to be doing, how much room you have etc

Bernie

Bernie
Click to expand...

Yes 5k should get me pretty close to where I need to be. I'd ideally like to keep the purchase price of the machine down because we all know that's the cheapest part to buy after considering all the tooling needed. Of which I have nada, zero, zilch.

As far as what I'll be doing? Mainly boring HD cases for Big Bore kits, reclaiming 0-ring receiver rings, decking heads & jugs, resurfacing cases, making one-off and obsolete parts, etc.

Room isn't an issue. I've got a 45 x 36 machine shop/dyno room. I'm waiting on things to slow down a little on the MC Shop side of things so I can get it partitioned off and get some walls around the bead blaster as well as getting a couple of 1.5 ton heat pumps hooked up.
 
You should be able to find a nice Bridgeport including tooling for that much..
 
brucer said:
You should be able to find a nice Bridgeport including tooling for that much..
Click to expand...

One would think and I agree especially seeing what other guys have scored. It just seems dry around here at the moment. I spent all afternoon checking out Dan's link and it ended up being pretty much what I've looked at in the past.

I'll be patient. Done without this far.
 
drs23 said:
Hope this is the correct forum for this.

I know this is quite the open ended question and hopefully doesn't just open a can of worms. As the title states my G4003G is paid off and now I'm seriously looking for a mill. While I would love to have an American old heavy iron mill there just aren't many/any around my area that I've been able to find. Seems like with a city like Houston less than an hour away it would be a buyer's market but that's been proven to be far from the truth. That and I need something to work with, not on.

I also need to let you know I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the different designations. I see X this or XX that and it is an alien language as far as I'm concerned. Another limiting factor is my budget. I need to stay around the 5k mark. I'm not opposed to purchasing out of state and shipping if I can find someone on that end who knows what they're looking at/for to inspect it prior to funding.

I don't have 3ph power but after endless hours reading here that should not be a deal breaker. I've mentioned my good buddy Tom in a few of my posts here. He's a 40+ year machinist who will assist me in whatever needs to happen once it's in my shop. He's been invaluable with helping me with setting up the lathe and DRO. Not to mention learning how to operate it.

I'm open to any and all comments, suggestions, leads or ideas.

Thanks for reading,

Dale
Click to expand...

Perhaps Tom knows where a machine might be. Shops around you.
 
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