Looking at a Burke Powermatic Millrite MVN for purchase.

[SPICEMAN]

Finally trying to hunt down a mill for the shop.

Looked at a MVN and it looks very clean, sadly in Phoenix area used mill for fair prices are not found. While they do not sell very well they all seem over priced. But not really wanting the travel and transport of a machine 400 miles away either.

So I spotted this unit it runs well and looks very solid.
It is a 110v motor , I was hoping more for a 220v 3o on a VFD for control

Getting to my questions any one have specs out there to share (owner has no manual). So I amlooking for specs and manual to evaluate it for purchase.

For those who own these are they solid and reliable units. Any areas to check for common degradation items.

Parts still able to be found.

 

[middle.road]

The Go-To place for Old Iron info:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/millrite/

Is that the one you're looking at?

Mike also has one: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/yuriys-toys-touch-dro-for-my-millrite-mvn.67774/

 

[eeler1]

Green stripe?

You can use a VFD with 110v, single ph., just have to do some research to find the right unit. That’s if what you are trying to do is change speed without messing around with belts.

I really like my mvn (circa 1974), not all the fancy stuff and bells/whistles some other makes provide, but probably does everything I’ll ever need to do. I put a power feed on the table, thinking hard about a DRO.

Im not aware of any common problems associated with these machines, just that they are kinda simple, which can actually be a good thing. Verify the spindle taper, they had two versions. If R8 it’s easier to find tooling for it. If not, make sure it comes with a bunch of stuff that fits that spindle.

There’s a burke/mvn yahoo group here;

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BurkeMills/files

You may have to join to get access to the files, there are manuals and stuff in the files section. Actually,there’s some files in the burke forum here, and maybe check the vintagemachinery.org site.

 

[SPICEMAN]

Thank you for the Yahoo group link. I have not been in a Yahoo group for 5 or more years after finding the Stack Exchange so did not think of them.
I had found a good bit of information on the older Burke units (like post in middle.road's reply) but the MVN has less show up in a general net search.

I did confirm it is a R8 (one of the first things I looked at.

If I do make the buy I will also look at the DRO and power feed. Searches show a three axis DRO will run me about $200.
Power feed I can live with out for a while.

I will have to look again a VFD stuff for a 110 single phase, but it kind of defeats the torque and smoothing of three vs single.
So it would be mostly for the easy speed dial up on the 110, in that case I would live by the belt.

 

[Bob Korves]

I am on my second Millrite, a '67 MVN. They are good mills, no bells and whistles, and no silly ideas. They are rigid for their size and weight. Those mills were made with at least four different spindles, R8, B&S 9, NMTB30, and others. There were also a lot of other options. A three phase motor would be good to control spindle speed with (edit: by using a VFD), giving a wider range of infinitely adjusted speeds. Otherwise, the 110 motor and step pulley setup works fine. Some (most?) Millrites came with 3 phase motors, and they typically sell for less money than the 110V machines do. The rubber belt takes up any small amount of motor vibration, and I have never seen any vibration problems like you might see on a lathe. My motor is 3/4 old school HP, and it does not bog down on heavier work. Very nice machines for the home shop.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BurkeMills/files/Vertical Mills/