Old Iron- Small Mill?

wildo

wildo

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The thing that attracts me with the bench mills like Precision Matthews or Grizzly is that they seem beginner friendly. The tolerances should be pretty tight since they're new.

But honestly- I really do love the look of the older iron machines. I've searched around quite a bit and I have yet to come across a square column benchtop vintage mill. Can anyone let me know if such a thing exists? Are these super rare?
 
I don't remember ever seeing any "old iron" square post mill.

Keep an eye out for Rockwell, Clausing and Millrite mills. There's some other smaller ones that are escaping me right now.
 
jmarkwolf said:
I don't remember ever seeing any "old iron" square post mill.
Click to expand...

Searching around a bit more, I can see I'm conflating how import models work with how the older stuff works. I suppose an "old iron" small mill would still be a knee mill, thus no need for a square column like the imports use. Thanks for pointing that out! :)
 
Hmmm... interestingly, the Rotex (seen above) actually is quite a bit smaller than the PM bench mills.

15” throat size w/ radial milling head
5” x 20” milling table w/ hand wheels to move table
Approx. 10 ½” distance from milling table to milling spindle
R&L and in & out crank handle for up & down movement
Spindle speeds: 390, 710, 1200, 2500, 5200 rpms
Approx ½ hp motor

The 10.5" distance from table to spindle is concerning to me compared to the 18" distance on the PM 727. Maybe I should just stick with a new mill for the conveniences...
 
Don't forget Benchmaster, Burke, and Hardinge mills as far as older bench machines go.
 
Wow! That Rotex sold for $888 plus a few other charges. Quite the deal.
 
I'll tell you- the more I find of these old bench mills, and compare their specs to the new PM 727- the newer one looks SUPER hard to beat, even though I do prefer the aesthetics of the old mills.

Just based on vertical capacity alone, the 727 is quite hard to beat!
Max Distance Spindle To Table 18-1/4"

Perhaps I've already convinced myself of the "right" answer here for my first mill...
 
Pratt & Whitney also made a small bench mill, they are rare but there was one on ebay awhile back $$$$
 
Rusnok.

But, in fact, PM (heck, Sherline!) is a better choice. Sometimes old iron is just that- old, iron. Depends on what your hobby is.
 
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