Talk me into or out of purchasing a mill

Yes, this is one you just buy over the phone. Power feed, Lagun, if it’s worn a bit, wear it out a bit more, sell it for $2.5K and with your new mill evaluation skills, get one you like.
 
tjb said:
The more I learned, the more frustrated I became. Fast forward a couple of years. After doing a boatload of searching, studying, and patient waiting, I found a very nice Vectrax made in Taiwan that had been very lightly used in a home environment. It probably took a year of searching, but it was out there.
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It's always the way. I learn everything about the machine AFTER I buy it. Even if it looks good(fresh paint and somebody who "restored" it a red flag) there is always problems or it probably wouldn't be for sale.
 
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Full size mill with R8 spin , and a step pulley head . Vairi speed heads are an expensive pain to fix . Ask me how I know . Electrics have changed , in the 80's I had a mill in my garage . I ran it on a rotary phase converter , that rpc never did run right . Finally I moved into a 220 3 phase shop .
Closed that down in 2010 . Now I'm in a tiny space with a Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 lathe and a Atlas 1060 drill press .
Mark .
 
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cross thread said:
Full size mill with R8 spin , and a belt head . Vairi speed heads are an expensive pain to fix . Ask me how I know . Electrics have changed , in the 80's I had a mill in my garage . I ran it on a rotary phase converter , that rpc never did run right . Finally I moved into a 220 3 phase shop .
Closed that down in 2010 . Now I'm in a tiny space with a Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 lathe and a Atlas 1060 drill press .
Mark .
Click to expand...
But in a beautiful place, we all make trade-offs in life....

John
 
C-Bag said:
It's always the way. I learn everything about the machine AFTER I buy it. Even if it looks good(fresh paint and somebody who "restored" it a red flag) there is always problems or it probably wouldn't be for sale.
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I agree 99.999999999% of the time. The Vectrax was one of those rare exceptions. It was ten years old when I bought it. I have a contact at MSC Direct who told me it's likely better than a brand new one because these days 'Made in Taiwan' to a large extent means 'assembled' in Taiwan. They are the US Vectrax distributor, and I was told quite often they don't even know where some of the parts are manufactured on the Taiwanese machines.

I bought mine from the guy who bought it new. He used it one year in a hobby environment, and then stored it for the next nine indoors. The machine was literally in like new condition except for some sloppy wiring he did. He was an electrical engineer, so everything he did was right. Just sloppy. I rewired all of it.

Got that machine for about a third of what a new one would cost. It helps to be patient and to be in the right place at the right time.

Regards
 
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