- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 3,963
The acquisition of this Trans World Steel VHM-728, Vetrical/Horizontal Milling Machines was a comedy of errors.
I was informed of the pristine milling machine by fellow member dlane.
he made contact with the supposed owner and made an appointment to talk to him at 2:00 sunday afternoon.
i also made contact with the supposed owner as well, he told me the very same thing to be there on sunday at 2:00 to discuss the mill's sale.
Derrick warned me that there may be more than meets the eye and to show up early.
i concurred, it sounded a bit shady to me- but for the advertised price of $250 i had to go!!!
I rented a small trailer saturday afternoon and made preparations for a pick and haul on sunday.
the mill was advertised in San Francisco, an hour and a half trip w/ trailer in tow.
I left for SF at 11:00 am in anticipation of heavy traffic, i ended up being on site at 1:30 pm ready to go.
Luckily upon arrival, the REAL owner was present.
i introduced myself and said that i'm here to buy the milling machine and asked what he needed to get for it- he said $400 without hesitation .
I immediately countered with a $350 offer, He agreed after about 3 seconds of thought.
He said that there is only one condition, i had to take the mystery cabinet sitting next to the milling machine and it's contents with me.
I didn't open the mystery cabinet, i just agreed to prevent further thought of the deal that was just struck.
the owner of the home was selling the home, and he needed the mill gone as well as cleaning out the garage.
i got the feeling that i was doing him a favor it seems, to remove this junk from his property
After we agreed on price, i promptly placed the greenbacks right in his hand.
i couldn't believe the owner sold it too cheap, i figured there must be some kinda catch....
After the payment was made there was no time wasted in picking and loading. i used a comealong and solid shaft rollers to move the 1095 lb milling machine onto the trailer. i had it loaded in less than 10 minutes.
at about 1:45 pm a man showed up to the site, he was spitting bullets mad as soon as he seen the Mill on the trailer and was very mad at the owner. The owner calmly told the irate man that he had a broker that was responsible for the sale of the machine. The broker had made the same promise to talk about the Milling Machine to many clients at 2:00. where i'm sure he thought a bidding war would ensue and the mill would leave in any event on somebody's truck- i'm sure he didn't care which truck.
The Early Bird Got The Worm!!!!
the photographic evidence to follow......
This beautifully preserved Milling Machine was manufactured in the early 80's in Taiwan
It's very much like a BP mill, only 1/2 scale.
it has independent 1 hp motors on both the horizontal and vertical R8 spindles.
the previous owner had the original sales brochure, manual and a cool literature bundle too boot!
the select mill in the advertisement photo brochure below is another variant,
similar in size, but the head is much different.
it came with a basic tooling package with a set of enco R8 collets, Fly Cutter, Complete 3/8" Clamping Set
some extra table clamps, a 1/2" carbide endmill, thin parallels, T bolts and wrenches !!!
What saith the peanut gallery?
the inevitable video to follow!
thanks for looking!
I was informed of the pristine milling machine by fellow member dlane.
he made contact with the supposed owner and made an appointment to talk to him at 2:00 sunday afternoon.
i also made contact with the supposed owner as well, he told me the very same thing to be there on sunday at 2:00 to discuss the mill's sale.
Derrick warned me that there may be more than meets the eye and to show up early.
i concurred, it sounded a bit shady to me- but for the advertised price of $250 i had to go!!!
I rented a small trailer saturday afternoon and made preparations for a pick and haul on sunday.
the mill was advertised in San Francisco, an hour and a half trip w/ trailer in tow.
I left for SF at 11:00 am in anticipation of heavy traffic, i ended up being on site at 1:30 pm ready to go.
Luckily upon arrival, the REAL owner was present.
i introduced myself and said that i'm here to buy the milling machine and asked what he needed to get for it- he said $400 without hesitation .
I immediately countered with a $350 offer, He agreed after about 3 seconds of thought.
He said that there is only one condition, i had to take the mystery cabinet sitting next to the milling machine and it's contents with me.
I didn't open the mystery cabinet, i just agreed to prevent further thought of the deal that was just struck.
the owner of the home was selling the home, and he needed the mill gone as well as cleaning out the garage.
i got the feeling that i was doing him a favor it seems, to remove this junk from his property
After we agreed on price, i promptly placed the greenbacks right in his hand.
i couldn't believe the owner sold it too cheap, i figured there must be some kinda catch....
After the payment was made there was no time wasted in picking and loading. i used a comealong and solid shaft rollers to move the 1095 lb milling machine onto the trailer. i had it loaded in less than 10 minutes.
at about 1:45 pm a man showed up to the site, he was spitting bullets mad as soon as he seen the Mill on the trailer and was very mad at the owner. The owner calmly told the irate man that he had a broker that was responsible for the sale of the machine. The broker had made the same promise to talk about the Milling Machine to many clients at 2:00. where i'm sure he thought a bidding war would ensue and the mill would leave in any event on somebody's truck- i'm sure he didn't care which truck.
The Early Bird Got The Worm!!!!
the photographic evidence to follow......
This beautifully preserved Milling Machine was manufactured in the early 80's in Taiwan
It's very much like a BP mill, only 1/2 scale.
it has independent 1 hp motors on both the horizontal and vertical R8 spindles.
the previous owner had the original sales brochure, manual and a cool literature bundle too boot!
the select mill in the advertisement photo brochure below is another variant,
similar in size, but the head is much different.
it came with a basic tooling package with a set of enco R8 collets, Fly Cutter, Complete 3/8" Clamping Set
some extra table clamps, a 1/2" carbide endmill, thin parallels, T bolts and wrenches !!!
What saith the peanut gallery?
the inevitable video to follow!
thanks for looking!
Last edited:
Or was that the tooling?
.