Bought a burke #4

[woodtickgreg]

These burke mills seem to be very popular here and elsewhere. I found one in pretty good condition by accident. I went with a friend to look at a mill I found for him on craigslist, it was a rong fu with a vice, 2hp rotary phase converter, and r8 collet set for $750, he bought it and we took it apart and loaded it up. While we where there I saw this old burke #4 horizontal mill, I have been looking for a dovetail column vertical mill. The guy said he had the vertical attachment for it. So he pulls out a couple of boxes and sure enough it had the vertical attachment and a bunch of other stuff like parts for the power feed and an original owners manual. The machine is date stamped on the dovetail column 7-12-42. He asked $750 for it also and I bought it. The rong fu was a way better buy but this machine will fit in my shop better and it will be a great companion to my 49 south bend heavy ten lathe. I am pretty excited about this find, I will have to see if all the parts are there for the power table feed, most of it is there. The belt cover is missing but I think I can find or make one. I will pick this machine up next week and will post pic's when I get it. It is in very good condition, still has scrape marks on the table and ways, handles all turn smoothly and no rust at all, well oiled and cared for. And as a bonus the seller gave me a set of collets for it and a bunch of hss cutters that I can use for my lathe and a handfull of boring bars also, a turret style tool holder that may work with my lathe until I get a qc post. And a buch of other stuff in a bucket that I have not even sorted through yet. I think it was my turn for a craigslist find, LOL. Do you guys think this was a fair price for it? It doesn't really matter though as I am happy with the find, just kinda wondered what it was really worth, the paint is good and just needs some minor cleaning and tweaking, I won't have to do a full restore on it like I did on my south bend.

 

[stevecmo]

Greg,

Man, that is really a shame. You got taken to the cleaners my man. That thing is at best worth a couple hundred plus maybe a hundred for the vertical head. What a shame.

However, I am in the need of some ballast for a certain project and would be willing to offer what you paid for it just to take it off your hands. :whistle:

Seriously, I think the price you paid was fair. Did you get the original cast base for it? Pic's are definitely in line here. Nice score. And oh, by the way, YOU SUCK! )

Steve

 

[woodtickgreg]

Yup, got the cast base too, all original paint. I suck? Oh boy I am honored that I suck! That means I did good. LOL I will definitely post pics when I pic it up.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I found the craigslist posting for the mill, lets see if I can get the pics to post here.

 

[stevecmo]

Oh, be still my heart! That is a thing of beauty!! Why can't I ever SUCK like that????!!!!!

 

[Jeff in Pa]

That looks great :thumbsup:

Running a horizontal mill takes a different thinking approach than a vertical but it's not a negative at all. Does the vertical attachment have a quill? ( like a bridgeport)

Let me see what I have in extra mill tooling around here. ( it's just "fair" not "great")

Congrats
Jeff

 

[woodtickgreg]

That looks great :thumbsup:

Running a horizontal mill takes a different thinking approach than a vertical but it's not a negative at all. Does the vertical attachment have a quill? ( like a bridgeport)

Let me see what I have in extra mill tooling around here. ( it's just "fair" not "great")

Congrats
Jeff

I think so but I'm not really sure, it does take collets though, I think 3c ? I will have to wait till I get it home and get to play with it and check it out. It was a quick check over and then made the deal, then took apart a machine from the same seller that my friend purchased and moved it. Man those rong fu's are heavy.

 

[atwatterkent]

I went to look at a similar machine the other day and the guy wanted $2000 with the original vise, vertical head and 80 cutters.
You did reeeeeeeeeeeealy good and yes,"YOU SUCK"
Oh, the vertical head, I believe, if an original Burke, has a fixed spindle.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I went and picked up the mill today, very easy to take apart and move, no problem for 2 guys and a dolly. I took a few pics before I took it apart, they came out better with my camera even with crappy light. What a cool machine, notice the size of the motor, it's huge for a 110v! Gotta be about a 100lbs. In the pics it's set up for horizontal milling. The p.o. had several quick change type cutter holders for it too. Also notice the motor tag says 1720 rpm but 280 shaft rpm, think it will make some torque? LOL Also a pretty cool tag that states it has Timken bearings. I looked at it a little closer today and can see that it has been painted but it's not horrible. Maybe someday I'll give it the full restore treatment. Right now I just want to get it set up in my basement and use it.
Here's a few pics, I'll get some more when I get her set up with the vertical head. gotta get a vise too, I'm thinking 4" swivel vise would be nice size for this mill. And I need to see if all the parts are there for the table feed.

 

[Jeff in Pa]

OK Greg, YOU SUCK :lmao:

That's freaking nice. Let me know what size arbor(s) it has and I'll look thru my tooling.

Vise, if you can find a used KURT vise, grab it. A good vise makes a big difference. You mentioned a swivel base, nice to have but if it were mine, I'd only use the swivel base when actually needed. It will be more rigid mounted directly to the table. What ever flavor vise you get, make sure it has removable jaws. Soft jaws make it easy to hold irregular pieces securely.