Picked up a Barker PM

W

welderr

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Well after a few years of patience a clean little Barker PM finally came up at a descent price on Craigslist and nobody beat me to it. I have access to heavy machines at work but wanted something small for in the basement mainly for cleaning up materials to use in my Atlas lathe and with its milling Attachment. Eventually I am going to fab up a horizontal arbor and support. First thing first is to go through the machine it's a 1954 clean it up check the spindle bearings and seals, get a vice for it and make some chips.
T J
 
Congratulations on your purchase T J. I'm very curious about this particular machine as there is one within striking distance but at $700 seems kind of high for my use. As a unrepentant tool junkie I've toyed with the idea of a small surface grinder. And even though this says it's a mill, it appears to be more suitable as a surface grinder. The effective travel of 3"x5" is also a worry as I don't think there are many mag vises that small.

Care to expand on what you have in mind for your PM and why you decided on the Barker over other machines? Right now I have a RF-30 mill/drill and an Atlas 7b shaper so I feel I've mostly got things covered except for a surface grinder. I have very limited space and need things to be portable so the Barker would fit the bill that way.
 
welderr said:
Well after a few years of patience a clean little Barker PM finally came up at a descent price on Craigslist and nobody beat me to it. I have access to heavy machines at work but wanted something small for in the basement mainly for cleaning up materials to use in my Atlas lathe and with its milling Attachment. Eventually I am going to fab up a horizontal arbor and support. First thing first is to go through the machine it's a 1954 clean it up check the spindle bearings and seals, get a vice for it and make some chips.
T J
Click to expand...
Pics?
 
woodtickgreg said:
Pics?
Click to expand...
Sorry for the delay I haven't been online lately I have been moving my shop from where I was setup to my basement . I have a milling attachment on my Atlas 10 inch and it can handle a lot of the things I do, I can also adapt the Atlas milling attachment to the Barker very easily for more options . I have the Barker disassembled right now for a thorough cleaning and to make it easier to move. I have started beefing up the stand that it was mounted on and have a 3 phase motor I am going to put on and set up with a VFD for variable speeds. I plan on using an angle plate and have a nice heavy piece of 3/4 x 7 to attach it to the bed I just have to get some time to countersink some holes in it for mounting . I might make an arbor set up for it for horizontal milling but it has been used is whole life with collet held cutters. The reason I went with the Barker was its very rigid the castings are very beefy for its size, it breaks down pretty easily to move around, its very simple no hard to get parts, and its still in production, and I got a very good deal on it. I am moving everything right now and getting set up at home, No more 3 phase :( I cut down a nice heavy industrial work bench to mount the Atlas on and have it just about done, And went thru my old Delta-Rockwell drill press with new spindle bearings and a nice Rohm chuck I got a deal on at a flea market, I also am putting a 3 phase on that with a VFD for variable speed. The other project is an old Craftsman horizontal band saw, I have to make a stand up for that and I should be good to go. T J
 
welderr said:
Sorry for the delay I haven't been online lately I have been moving my shop from where I was setup to my basement . I have a milling attachment on my Atlas 10 inch and it can handle a lot of the things I do, I can also adapt the Atlas milling attachment to the Barker very easily for more options . I have the Barker disassembled right now for a thorough cleaning and to make it easier to move. I have started beefing up the stand that it was mounted on and have a 3 phase motor I am going to put on and set up with a VFD for variable speeds. I plan on using an angle plate and have a nice heavy piece of 3/4 x 7 to attach it to the bed I just have to get some time to countersink some holes in it for mounting . I might make an arbor set up for it for horizontal milling but it has been used is whole life with collet held cutters. The reason I went with the Barker was its very rigid the castings are very beefy for its size, it breaks down pretty easily to move around, its very simple no hard to get parts, and its still in production, and I got a very good deal on it. I am moving everything right now and getting set up at home, No more 3 phase :( I cut down a nice heavy industrial work bench to mount the Atlas on and have it just about done, And went thru my old Delta-Rockwell drill press with new spindle bearings and a nice Rohm chuck I got a deal on at a flea market, I also am putting a 3 phase on that with a VFD for variable speed. The other project is an old Craftsman horizontal band saw, I have to make a stand up for that and I should be good to go. T J
Click to expand...
woodtickgreg said:
Cant wait to see some pics of all this!
Click to expand...
Welderr--

I also ended up with a Barker Mill which I have gotten up and running, although I don't have a specific use for it as yet. The price was right (free) and aside from needing a motor (reasonably priced on Craig's List) and belts and a lot of cleaning up it seems to be in decent working condition (there is some wear on the ways which makes them looser in the middle than on the ends). It has the slow speed pulley setup which gives it (according to my cheap laser tachometer) speeds of 294, 487, and 772 RPM. It came with a long arbor which had never been used due to the lack of an arbor support, and I've been accumulating the materials needed to make an arbor support (although who knows if I'll ever use it that way). The X axis is operated with a lever, and I've been surprised to see how much control you can actually have feeding that way.

For such a tiny (but heavy--over 200# with motor) machine it is pretty robust and doesn't seem to have any trouble chewing through mild steel. I picked up a set of used 3C collets for it, but the single 1/2" collet that came with it would probably have sufficed. The vise that's on it in the photograph is from my Atlas Mill. It works but is a little large for the Barker. I really like the simplicity of the machine and I'm sure I'll find some uses for it, but as with most of my machines I enjoy working ON them--bringing them back to life--almost as much as working WITH them. I look forward to seeing pictures of your Barker Mill.

Bill Burton

20171208_141342.jpg
 
Well it's the story of my life , just when I start getting caught up my commuter truck (2002 Chevy s-10) blew a head gasket so there won't be much shop time for a while :( TJ
 
wlburton said:
Welderr--

I also ended up with a Barker Mill which I have gotten up and running, although I don't have a specific use for it as yet. The price was right (free) and aside from needing a motor (reasonably priced on Craig's List) and belts and a lot of cleaning up it seems to be in decent working condition (there is some wear on the ways which makes them looser in the middle than on the ends). It has the slow speed pulley setup which gives it (according to my cheap laser tachometer) speeds of 294, 487, and 772 RPM. It came with a long arbor which had never been used due to the lack of an arbor support, and I've been accumulating the materials needed to make an arbor support (although who knows if I'll ever use it that way). The X axis is operated with a lever, and I've been surprised to see how much control you can actually have feeding that way.

For such a tiny (but heavy--over 200# with motor) machine it is pretty robust and doesn't seem to have any trouble chewing through mild steel. I picked up a set of used 3C collets for it, but the single 1/2" collet that came with it would probably have sufficed. The vise that's on it in the photograph is from my Atlas Mill. It works but is a little large for the Barker. I really like the simplicity of the machine and I'm sure I'll find some uses for it, but as with most of my machines I enjoy working ON them--bringing them back to life--almost as much as working WITH them. I look forward to seeing pictures of your Barker Mill.

Bill Burton
View attachment 249200
Click to expand...
Bill your machine is newer than mine it has the raised mounts for arbor support, my machine also has levers on all three axis' I am going to make some screw feeds for it eventually.T J
 
Well I dismantled the machine for a much needed cleaning and started with the base and the upright, I can't believe how many chips there were inside stuck on with old dried grease it took two washes in a tub of kerosene to get it to come clean, progress slowly but surely. T J
 
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