Looking to buy a used verticle knee mill, need suggestions

Here, an 8 hour drive, it shows it's a hybrid China Taiwan make.
www.hobby-machinist.com

Precision Matthews Pm-950V

The Milling Machine is almost brand new with over $2500 of add on plus lots of tooling. Please check on the Northern Virginia Craigslist. For some reason I am not able to post a link
www.hobby-machinist.com www.hobby-machinist.com
 
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ksp said:
Thanks for all the replies, keep them coming as it is all good advice. I want a larger mill, not a bench top style as I have had the chance to buy one, but I could see it was just not large enough for my anticipated needs which would be to machine larger parts.
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"Larger parts" doesn't really mean anything without a point of reference. For some that's the cylinder head from a big block Chevy and for others it's something 4x4x4".

Budget is also a factor to consider. If the budget is unlimited, just find one of the machine rebuilders and get either a Bridgeport or clone that has been returned to new tolerances and opt for at least a DRO and power feeds on X & Y. That's $10-12K or so, but it'll last a lifetime.
 
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You are close enough to buy used mills out of the twin cities. Keep checking here:

right now lot 50 is a series II bridgeport. box ways, big power head, power knee power X power Y. Looks to be a very nice machine.

Machines Used | Bridgeport Series II with 2J 1-1/2 HPHead & Series II-4 HP Head, MTech DROII-2M 2-Axis DRO, 11"x58" Table, Power Knee - Longitudinal and Cross Feeds

Bridgeport Series II for sale at online auction. Large inventory of industrial equipment. We buy and sell manufacturing machinery. Auctions, liquidations, appraisals.
www.machinesused.com

These guys run a good clean auction. Just the opposite of fram fram => scammers

PM me on each machine that comes up. My son is in that shop often and knows all the workers by first name. he'd give you a condition report on any machine for a few bucks.

You also got a bunch of used machine jockeys in Hopkins, MN to check out.
 
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Some of the clones from Taiwan are quite good, but some are no so much. Clausing Kondia should be avoided. Apparently there’s some unobtainable parts in the head for the quill that tend to grenade themselves. Other Clausing are ok, just not the Spanish ones. Avoid the Chinese clones. I agree with G-manbart, if budget is available a rebuilt machine from a reputable builder will last you a lifetime and will perform. DRO is a must, power feeds are nice but can be added whenever you get to it. Lots of people scoff at the step pulley models, they are fine especially if you are running a VFD and are usually a good bit cheaper. I can’t stress condition enough. I rebuilt a 1958 BP step pulley model that was pretty worn, but good head. A full rescrape of all the ways including the column, planed and flaked table back to specs was pricy. It’s a great machine again now. Luckily I paid almost nothing for it and the professional rebuilder was slow and gave me a big break on price if he could have it for 4 months to use as fill work. I wish I would have just bought a better machine and spent more time making chips.

another thought…. If you have the budget.
‘find a mill with a cat 40 spindle. I have a SWI Trak bed mill that just millls circles around a knee mill. 5 hp, far more rigid, 3 axis CNC, great conversational programming, easy to program 2D, 2.5D, 3D from Fusion, a little more expensive but not that much when looking at a fully equipped knee mill. With trak stay with SMX controllers or newer. You can still turn the hand wheels too. Not a VMC for sure but it has its place in my shop. If I could have only 1 mill it would be the DPMSX3 Trak. Milltronics falls into the category too. Shop at work has several older tool room mills the guys love.

Be picky, good machines are out there. There is lots of fun in the hunt too.
 
I'd say a Kent USA or Sharp or Acer. All made in a Free Taiwan. Other brands find out where the castings were made. I would stay away from some off brand name or castings made in China. Some machine say made in the USA, but the castings were made in China and assembled in the USA. Briidgeport's were once made in the USA, I heard they are now made in Spain and assembled in the USA.
 
I bought a used Wells-Index 9"x42" mill from a machinery dealer. They are very stout, USA made knee mills and they are still in business. Parts and even factory repairs are available. Every bit as good as a Bridgeport, just less well known so they often sell for a bit less. I am very happy with mine. Enjoy the hunt!
 
Don't sweat the brand name. Develop a list of features that are important for what you want to do with the machine.

For example: - R8 spindle because tooling is very available and not so pricey, or #40 taper because it is pretty robust
- what size table do you need? How much head room do you need?
- many knee mills you can crank the head ram outward for plenty of room infront of the column - but maybe you don't need that feature.
- do you want X & Y power feeds? Some machines it is easy to add power feeds (others it is more difficult).
- do you need quill feed (or even a Z feed)?
- do you need a high top end speed (small end mills)? How high?
- do you need tilt and nod (I don't have the nod feature on my Cinci ToolMaster - haven't needed it).
- do you have constraints on size / weight / power / location?
- how comfortable are you at repairing machines?

Forget the brand, when you a see a machine that meets your needs / wants, if the condition is acceptable - then you are set. The point being that there are soooooo many brands out there. If budget is no issue, obviously you can get all the features in whatever brand you want and can have it tomorrow - most of us here are not in that category, so need to buy what is available.
 
All good advice here. I really don't know what I want as I am a newbie to the milling world. I do small metal manufacture and want to get into the ability to make parts and repair things. I am 64 and learning the lathe right now and I now realize I should have had one years ago. Amazing what you can find to do on the lathe.
I am learning a lot by reading everyones suggestions.
 
Where do you need to put the mill? Moving a full sized Bridgeport into a basement can be done, but its takes some planning. You can take off the head, ram, table and knee, but the main casting is one large heavy piece. When I decided to replace my round column mill with a knee mill I knew I didn't need a full size Bridgeport I looked for Clausing 8520's and Delta/Rockwell 21-100 or 21-120's, but these are rare and go fast when they come up for sale. I did look at allot of Bridgeports and BP clones, they ran from fair to very, very, very poor in condition with only one not needing something repaired. I eventually decided on a new import knee mill which is based on the Clausing 8520. Part of my decision was I could move it into the basement Johnny Cash style "One Piece at a Time". Good luck on your search.
 
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