School me on an Induma mill.

[toolman]

I finally got to go look at a mill that I've been wanting to see for several weeks now. My buddy told me he had a Chinese lathe and mill for sale, but it's actually a Tiawanese San Yuen lathe and an Induma 1/S mill. The mill is missing the gibs (they lost them when they removed the table for the move) and some of the handles and knobs. The table has some surface rust from sitting in a warehouse for 10-12 years, but the quill looks good and the ways looked good from what I could see through the rust and dirt. It has a power feed on the table, but it's not on it right now. From the tag, it was apparently owned by Maserati Corp. in Westbury L.I., NY. I haven't seen any others with the Westbury logo on them, so maybe it was a special order?
Anyway, he wants $2500 for both machines so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the money or not. There aren't a lot of machines in this area, so that makes it worth a little more to me just because I don't have to pay freight or mess with driving to Dallas to pick one up.

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

IMO missing the gibbs is a huge red flag! Do you feel confident replacing these? From reading, it doesn't sound like a beginners job. (I don't know your skill level) Also, missing the dials and knobs another red flag! Have you researched part availability and their prices?

How long has he had it?

Remember, everyone has to start somewhere for a price. The fact that there are key parts missing, I'd lowball it. It's basically worth a few hundred above scrap price right now. IMO...

What condition is the lathe? That might make up for the missing parts with the mill.

The short distance is a big plus!

Would this be your first mill and lathe?

 

[toolman]

Hey Dan, yes, this will be my first mill, but I've got a 12x36 Craftsman lathe already. The handles and knobs along with the power feed are supposed to be somewhere in the warehouse where the mill is located. The gibs aren't too much of a concern to me as I've been an automotive Master Tech for almost 25 years and have used and worked on a few mills for other people, so the nuts and bolts stuff is fairly simple. The gibs were lost when they removed the table for transport from the gentleman's shop listed below and was said to be in good working order when my buddy purchased it. He also bought his dynamometer. I was actually figuring on maybe just fabricating new gibs if I can't find new ones. The parts situation on these two machines is my main concern, especially since they are to be used commercially (gunsmithing), so time is money when something breaks. I did rotate the pulleys by hand and everything felt smooth, the quill is nice and tight with a nice coating of 14 yr. old oil on it, and extends and retracts freely. It sounds like Mr. Wilson took good care of his equipment and was pretty much a stickler for maintenance.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=293

 

[xalky]

Price is everything on these things. If you feel confident that you can fix them up, $1500 or less is what I'd be comfortable paying for both the lathe and the mill combined.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

Hey Dan, yes, this will be my first mill, but I've got a 12x36 Craftsman lathe already. The handles and knobs along with the power feed are supposed to be somewhere in the warehouse where the mill is located. The gibs aren't too much of a concern to me as I've been an automotive Master Tech for almost 25 years and have used and worked on a few mills for other people, so the nuts and bolts stuff is fairly simple. The gibs were lost when they removed the table for transport from the gentleman's shop listed below and was said to be in good working order when my buddy purchased it. He also bought his dynamometer. I was actually figuring on maybe just fabricating new gibs if I can't find new ones. The parts situation on these two machines is my main concern, especially since they are to be used commercially (gunsmithing), so time is money when something breaks. I did rotate the pulleys by hand and everything felt smooth, the quill is nice and tight with a nice coating of 14 yr. old oil on it, and extends and retracts freely. It sounds like Mr. Wilson took good care of his equipment and was pretty much a stickler for maintenance.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=293

Buy it!

 

[toolman]

Price is everything on these things. If you feel confident that you can fix them up, $1500 or less is what I'd be comfortable paying for both the lathe and the mill combined.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Seriously doubt that he'll go that low on them, he's got $3600 in them plus the transport fees to get them here from Ft. Worth. Machinery is really hard to come by down here for some reason, and good stuff is pricey. I envy you guys that have plenty of machines to choose from! :jester:

 

[Senna]

In a virtual machinery desert like where you are $2500 for both doesn't seem bad to me.

You may wish to investigate whether B'port gibs would work or could be modified to work on that Induma rather than make some from scratch. Tapered gibs don't seem to be the easiest thing to make with two angled surfaces diverging at a given rate. I'd think they'd need to be ground after rough milling too. A good scraping could be required too.

 

[8ntsane]

Don't expect any BP part to fit the Induma. The Induma is a totally different machine. They are branded as clones, but parts will not interchange. Induma has built them for westbury, masseratti, and some are just branded Induma. Missing enough parts , I would keep looking. Induma still shows a web site induma.it but closed up years ago.

 

[keithmifflin]

I finally got to go look at a mill that I've been wanting to see for several weeks now. My buddy told me he had a Chinese lathe and mill for sale, but it's actually a Tiawanese San Yuen lathe and an Induma 1/S mill. The mill is missing the gibs (they lost them when they removed the table for the move) and some of the handles and knobs. The table has some surface rust from sitting in a warehouse for 10-12 years, but the quill looks good and the ways looked good from what I could see through the rust and dirt. It has a power feed on the table, but it's not on it right now. From the tag, it was apparently owned by Maserati Corp. in Westbury L.I., NY. I haven't seen any others with the Westbury logo on them, so maybe it was a special order?
Anyway, he wants $2500 for both machines so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the money or not. There aren't a lot of machines in this area, so that makes it worth a little more to me just because I don't have to pay freight or mess with driving to Dallas to pick one up.

Trust me making new gibs is not a job for the faint of heart this is one of the most difficult jobs one can do on most any machine. They can warp and twist like a snake, need to be scraped and take a very experienced machinist to pull it of plus from what I see he table is really short. I'd stay far away from the mill!

My 2 cents worth
Keith

 

[Pacer]

Induma is a bit of an oddball mill and there doesnt seem to be all that many around - and parts are scarce as hens teeth. I bought one in bad shape and it was the most difficult build I have ever tackled. As Paul said, they are quite different from a Bridgy, with the head being fairly close. After dealing with the one I had, I could not recommend one at all, especially at the money you are talking about - I paid $500 for mine and definitely paid too much.

I also agree on the gibs being an extremely difficult thing to make - those alone would kill the deal for me.

Another little tidbit of info on the Induma - the knee crank only moves .100 per revolution as opposed to most (all?) other Bridgy type mills moving .200 - I thought I'd wear my arm out getting the thing all dialed in. As a selling point I made one of those adapters to use a 1/2" drill to raise and lower the table.

It did clean up nicely and performed well enough that I sold it for $2000 2 years ago.