$25 Horizontal mill - any idea who made this?

[SEK_22Hornet]

Well, I went to an auction today that had a milling machine and lathe listed - the lathe was a fairly nice Atlas and the milling machine was Harbor Freight gear head mill - then there was the other mill listed as a Horizontal Milling Machine. Well, no one else wanted this poor old thing so I purt a starting bid of $25 on it and ended up with it! I can't find any names or name plates on it. Here are some photos - Any one know anything about this little beast?

 

[Andre]

http://www.lathes.co.uk/pools/page4.html

http://www.lathes.co.uk/duro/

http://www.lathes.co.uk/lewis/index.html

http://www.lathes.co.uk/prattwhitneymiller/

(not yours but cute) http://www.lathes.co.uk/rusnok/index.html

http://www.lathes.co.uk/starkmiller/

 

[Bellwether]

That looks a whole lot like a bastardized benchmaster/duro.

 

[JimDawson]

Pretty sure that is a Lewis 109 horizontal, seems to be late 40's

 

[Kevin J]

I am almost certain that is a Lewis bench mill. They were available in kit form and were popular as projects in vo-tech classes. I haven't found a lot of information on their line of equipment. There were other machine tool kits available including a small shaper. There is no connection with the current Lewis Machine Tool company who produces an upscale AR-15.

Nice find, Kevin J.

 

[tractorman44]

The table and knee look suspiciously close to my little Benchmaster as well as the overarm bearing. I'll not make a judgement though.....

...forgot to add that it was a verrrry nice find. Wish I was there.

 

[Kevin J]

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1854/2807.pdf

Here is a link to an old Lewis Machine Tool catalog.

Regards, Kevin J.

 

[SEK_22Hornet]

After comparing the photos I took to the one provided by JimDawson, I'm pretty sure it is a Lewis. I got it unloaded and took the overarm bearing loose. It looked like it has a drawbar, based on the threaded stub sticking out of the spindle, so I took it loose and gave it a tap. The arbor came right out. At first look, I would say it is probably MT3, but I need to try a couple MT3 tools to confirm that. It will be a spare time project for sure, but I am intrigued by it. Thanks for all the feedback from everyone. I'll post more on it as I have time. I'll have to take a good look at that old catalog that Kevin posted the link to....

 

[cjtoombs]

My vote is for Lewis as well. Nice find and a steal of a deal.

 

[Cactus Farmer]

Care to double your money?