Rockwell Horizontal with Bridgeport head, yes no maybe so?

[Brad125]

Looking at another mill, lost my chance at the previous Van Norman I seen. Anyway I came across this one and it’s about 4 hours away from me. It s Rockwell horizontal with a Bridgeport M head. The fella says it’s a good machine, table travels are smooth and no binding. Both spindles sound good and has some accessories. However the head is mt2 taper, all the tooling I have is R8. It does appear to have been run with coolant and not cleaned very well. It does have a broken knee handle and has some chips on a section of the ways in y axis. I have a price that he counter offered from my original offer but I wanted to get opinions on what it may be worth if it is indeed in good condition?

 

[NCjeeper]

If it was me I would pass on it and hold out for a full sized Bridgeport style mill.

 

[Brad125]

If it was me I would pass on it and hold out for a full sized Bridgeport style mill.

Can’t no room, trust me if I could we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I have a small basement with low head room. I ran plenty of Bridgeport, Acer, and Cincinnati milling machines. That Cincinnati was a beast, it was a #3 or a #5. Nothing like seeing .500 pass on roughing die blocks. Wish I had space and a fork lift.

 

[jwmay]

I know a tool maker who has been using such a machine at his home shop for years. He has no complaints. Although he does still have access to an entire industrial machine shop if he needed.

 

[Choiliefan]

How is the M-head attached to the mill base?
I wonder because the original ram appears to be sitting on the table.
Are you getting the outboard support for horizontal milling arbors as well?
Is the power feed operational? Parts for the feed may be very hard to find.

 

[Aaron_W]

Conversions using a Bridgeport M head seem to be fairly common on small vertical and horizontal mills. Clausing even sold an adaptor for their small mill, Rockwell may have as well.

If the size of the mill suits you, the Bridgeport head shouldn't be a negative, I'd base that on the price and the rest of the mill / tooling. On the west coast the Clausings seem to go for $2000-2500 fairly reliably if in good shape, I'd expect the Rockwells get about the same but I've seen far fewer of them for sale. Only a few options for vertical mills with a knee in this size.

 

[Lo-Fi]

I think it looks like a great machine for a hobby workshop with limited space.

 

[seasicksteve]

If you are restricted with regard to room this machine is a great option.

 

[ConValSam]

I have a similar sized Clausing with an MT2 quill: I have experienced few issues with the taper once I became used to the change from my previous R8 mini mill.

 

[Brad125]

Yes it comes with the overarm and overarm support, I did get a pic of how they attached the mill head. Don’t know if it was factory done or if how it’s mounted would effect rigidity.