Barker horizontal mill

[DangerZone]

Barker Horizontal Mill - tools - by owner - sale

Barker horizontal milling machine. Model PM. On stand. Nice small size. 3C collet size. 1/3 hp...

minneapolis.craigslist.org

Somebody near me is selling this Barker horizontal mill. I know it won't make a great beginner mill, but he's been trying to sell it for at least a month, and I kinda think he keeps dropping his price, but I forget for sure.

How cheap would this need to get before I consider picking it up, knowing that I have no other mill and this would be my first?

 

[DAT510]

Looks like it's more of a Second Op mill, given I don't see Lead Screw driven axises. For me, it would make it much more limited in use, over a traditional horizontal mill with lead screw driven axises.

 

[Aaron_W]

That is a neat little mill, but I agree with DAT. I think that this is a production mill version of the PM made for a specific task and would be quite limited for a hobby mill.

The standard PM mills have an overarm support for use with an arbor, which this is not just missing, but appears to have been made without provision for using. What ever task it was made for, it appears that the work was done only with whatever tooling could be held in a collet.

Compare the one in the ad with these photos from Vintage Machinery and I think you will see there are significant differences.

Vintage Machinery Barker PM mill

Many of the small mills of the 1940s and 50s could be bought as very simplified machines with rack and pinion handles for quick operation, vs the slower but much more precise control of a lead screw and hand wheel. I think that is what the machine in the ad is.

 

[wlburton]

The mill shown on Vintage Machinery is actually a PMO (with the O standing for overarm). The one on Craig's list is one of several versions of the PM. I own a PM that has two hand wheels and one hand lever--some have three hand wheels. Mine was basically thrown in when I bought a Clausing 8520. It needed a motor and a few other things and I got it running just for the fun of it, but I haven't actually found a use for it. If you're like me, though, and just enjoy making old machines functional--useful or not--I'd say go for it! They're useful if you need to precisely cut off a thousand pieces of tubing or something like that. I'm in south Minneapolis if you would like to take a look at one and try it out.

 

[John TV]

Hi Bill,

Think this op is our very tall young friend who just got the mongo lathe.

Not sure but just a hunch!

Hope to see you soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wlburton]

Hi Bill,

Think this op is our very tall young friend who just got the mongo lathe.

Not sure but just a hunch!

Hope to see you soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was my guess too. That's one reason I prefer it if people put at least enough of their name in their "user name" so you can identify them. I assume the breakfast meeting is still on (I haven't seen anything about it for a while) so I would guess we might see him there.

 

[middle.road]

That was my guess too. That's one reason I prefer it if people put at least enough of their name in their "user name" so you can identify them. I assume the breakfast meeting is still on (I haven't seen anything about it for a while) so I would guess we might see him there.

Or at least in the sig like some of us...

 

[OTmachine]

The PM is missing the low speed option.

 

[wlburton]

I think OTmachine is right that the one in the ad doesn't have the low speed option with three pulleys so it would probably turn too fast for a lot of things like larger cutters or slotting saws. Smaller end mills should work. My PM has the three pulleys and I found a two speed (1140 and 1725) motor for it which gives me six spindle speeds, 200 RPM to 775 RPM. The one in the ad would turn much faster (according to specs in a sales flyer 863 to 3450 RPM using a 1725 RPM motor). These mills also only have 5" X, 3" Y, and 3" Z travel so they can only be used for very small work. In their favor, they are VERY stout little machines. I believe they are still being made and used in industrial settings.