How Hard Is It To Find A Vert Milling Attachment For The #4?

[thenrie]

I've been shopping around for a benchtop mill. I've been impressed with what I have read about the Burke #4 and one has come up in my neighborhood...but not cheap. It appears to be in very nice shape, has the rotating table, all the ways appear to be in nice shape. However, it doesn't have the vert head, nor any other tooling, other than a few milling cutters. I'm wondering how hard it is to come by a vert head for this mill.

 

[Uglydog]

One of our HM members recently posted an ad trying to move parts for a #4. You might want to check it out.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/burke-4-milling-machine-for-sale-or-parts.40239/

Daryl
MN

 

[thenrie]

Checked it. No vertical head.

I recently found one on Google Images with a Rusnok vertical head. How hard are they to come by? Are there other vertical heads that can be adapted?

 

[T Bredehoft]

I would suspect that almost any vertical head could be adapted, from a whole Bridgeport type, to a Right Angle adapter. All you need is determination and help from your friends here.

 

[HMF]

I have been looking for a decent Bridgeport M head for quite a while. Not easy to find in good condition. Rusnok has been harder.
I have the vertical, but, it isn't as good as a Bridgeport or Rusnok head.

 

[thenrie]

Tell you what. It's looking like I'm going to give this fellow a call tomorrow and buy that Burke #4 I've been asking about. If/when you come across a decent Bridgeport M vertical head, how about selling me the Burke vertical head? It would be perfect for me, since my South Bend 9A lathe uses the 3C collets as well.

 

[alloy]

I have been looking for a decent Bridgeport M head for quite a while. Not easy to find in good condition. Rusnok has been harder.
I have the vertical, but, it isn't as good as a Bridgeport or Rusnok head.

There is one on my local CL for $400.

https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/tls/5321632906.html

 

[thenrie]

I seem to recall someone mentioning that they had adapted a Porter Cable milling head to a Burke #4. Was that on this forum? If so, I would love to see pictures and get a description of how you did the adaptation. There is a PC milling head on eBay right now and it looks like it would be adaptable. Not sure it is within my experience and capability envelope, though. I'd like to see how others have done theirs.

 

[thenrie]

Went ahead and bought the Porter Cable Mark II head I was looking at. It has the 2.25" shaft and a MT-2 spindle with a 1/2" collet. I will need to turn down the shaft to 2" to fit in the overarm bores. Looking forward to getting it and trying it out.

 

[thenrie]

Since I bought the Porter Cable vertical milling head, I will not be responding to this thread any further. I'm posting everything on my other thread, "Just Bought a Burke #4" (tthenrie).