what should I pay for this Enco mill?

I paid $500 for my Taiwan made Enco 105-1110 with a decent amount of tooling. Pic is as it was when I bought it...

 
Last edited:
Its odd in SoCal right now in that there are several mill/drills right now on CL and all of them are way over priced. Not even a month ago the median price for RF30's around $1000. Several were under in the $600-$800. But then they all went away and now everything is in the $1800 range....go figgur. Personally I would have liked the one I saw for $600, but it was an Enco Rf30 made in Tiawan. The one in the pic is not a 30. It's either a 20 or 25. Quite a bit lighter and less ridged than the 30.
 
ARC-170 said:
[QUOTE="TomS, post: 618562, member: 24891"]I bought my Enco mill drill new for $1100 delivered to my door although it's a smaller version of the one pictured and it was a few years back. $2500 is way too much for that machine with no tooling. I agree with Jim, give the seller a low ball offer and see where it goes. Without seeing it and able to judge it's condition my gut is telling me this mill is worth no more than $500 to $600.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Where did you buy yours?[/QUOTE]

Bought it from Enco before it became MSC.
 
20171024_113034.jpg

I paid $1500 for this Enco a couple of years ago... it came with a 6 inch Enco mill vise, a 12 inch rotary table, and a fair amount of tooling...

I would keep looking, the machines you are looking at are overpriced.

-Bear
 
So based on what TerryH paid, seems to me the mill I'm looking at should be less than $400, maybe even in the $200 range. However, it seems the going price is around $1,000.

I can get a brand new Grizzly for $750 to $2,000, depending on size. I'm fine with smaller, but would not mind bigger, especially since I keep reading that I'll always want a bigger one! So I'm looking for a used one to keep the cost down.
The round column seems to only be an issue if I need to raise or lower the head while doing an operation, correct?

I need a bench one, I just don't have the room or the need for a bigger one. I'm also looking for a lathe. I thought I might get a lathe/mill combo, like the Smithy.
 
You have spoken mostly about the price. You have also talked a bit about the capabilities. You are thinking it would be nice to have a bigger mill.

Bigger is not always better, however in the home / hobby market, the ones that most people refer to as "big" machines would be considered "small" in the majority of commercial / industrial environments.

I encourage you to focus on what it is you want the milling machine for and look at what your constraints are (such as room, power, transport and any hard stop on price). Of course the cost of the machine matters, but I suggest you put that criteria well down the list. Strictly speaking on a machine that you will have for many years, that will be the cause of you spending a whole lot of additional dollars on setting it up and tooling it - the initial cost of the machine (even a full price new one) is still one of the lesser costs. It is much cheaper to spend the extra money in the beginning to get a machine that will do what you need & want than to struggle away with a lesser machine, get frustrated, go and purchase another machine etc.

You will come out ahead if you spend extra on the basic machine, than if you go cheap on the machine and don't get features that are difficult to do without.

What size? Your work envelop gets eaten up very quickly. That is one of the big drawbacks of the lathe/mill combos - the effective work space is very small. Regardless of the machine, by the time you mount a vise, then add a collet chuck (or drill chuck), then you put a tool in that chuck - you just lost about 6" of your head room. I have two mills - the smaller one has a work envelop of 12" x 8" x 12" (X-Y-Z), it is an extremely versatile, unusual little toolroom mill - I really like it, but since I got a regular knee mill with 10 x 48 table (28" x 10" x 17" - with additional "Y" on top of the knee to augment the 10" of travel), I hardly use the smaller one.

The knee mill that "Bear" posted a picture of above is a very nice, useful size, small milling machine. It is a great size for general mucking around, this and that sort of work. That is a "small" mill and super handy. It is easy to power (probably 3 HP), it is not real heavy (perhaps #2500), easy to move with rollers, jack, floor jack and it has a very respectable work envelop.

If you know that the stuff you are working on is all pretty small then a bench mill might really work for you - obviously only you can answer that. I encourage you to focus on the capabilities and not focus too much on the price. Pretty quick the price is forgotten. If you end up with something that doesn't work for you, then you will always be reminded that you wasted your money (regardless of how cheap it was).

Let us know how you make out. David
 
I totally agree. I went in knowing my work envelope was on the smaller end so I concentrated on "bench" size equipment. I've really become a fan of listing why I want a particular machine. And the kind spec's I expect to need to hold. You will find all kinds of people hating the mill drills but for me having seen the plus and minus I realized a 9x20 lathe and a RF30 would do my work envelope. And could hold the tolerances I needed and the parts were available with a ton of fans that had mod's to help fix their short comings. But that's just me.

I looked at the 2in1 lathe/mills and quickly realized it wasn't going to work for me. The sad thing is there are more people in my area that are looking for the same or close to what I wanted now. So the prices have really shot up as the prices of new machines has doubled and tripled. But when I was looking several years ago I was able to get a well tooled 9x20 for $600 and well used Enco Tiawanese RF30 for $400. But things have gotten out of hand here with tariffs. I have no idea if it's just a quick wave that will go back down or the new norm. It took me quite a while to find my deals. Patience pays off for me anyway.
 
For whatever it's worth, I would buy a new one from Harbor Freight before giving anywhere near the same price for a used one.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html

image_18577.jpg
 
Chipper5783 said:
You have spoken mostly about the price. You have also talked a bit about the capabilities. You are thinking it would be nice to have a bigger mill.

Bigger is not always better, however in the home / hobby market, the ones that most people refer to as "big" machines would be considered "small" in the majority of commercial / industrial environments.

I encourage you to focus on what it is you want the milling machine for and look at what your constraints are (such as room, power, transport and any hard stop on price). Of course the cost of the machine matters, but I suggest you put that criteria well down the list. Strictly speaking on a machine that you will have for many years, that will be the cause of you spending a whole lot of additional dollars on setting it up and tooling it - the initial cost of the machine (even a full price new one) is still one of the lesser costs. It is much cheaper to spend the extra money in the beginning to get a machine that will do what you need & want than to struggle away with a lesser machine, get frustrated, go and purchase another machine etc.

You will come out ahead if you spend extra on the basic machine, than if you go cheap on the machine and don't get features that are difficult to do without.

What size? Your work envelop gets eaten up very quickly. That is one of the big drawbacks of the lathe/mill combos - the effective work space is very small. Regardless of the machine, by the time you mount a vise, then add a collet chuck (or drill chuck), then you put a tool in that chuck - you just lost about 6" of your head room. I have two mills - the smaller one has a work envelop of 12" x 8" x 12" (X-Y-Z), it is an extremely versatile, unusual little toolroom mill - I really like it, but since I got a regular knee mill with 10 x 48 table (28" x 10" x 17" - with additional "Y" on top of the knee to augment the 10" of travel), I hardly use the smaller one.

The knee mill that "Bear" posted a picture of above is a very nice, useful size, small milling machine. It is a great size for general mucking around, this and that sort of work. That is a "small" mill and super handy. It is easy to power (probably 3 HP), it is not real heavy (perhaps #2500), easy to move with rollers, jack, floor jack and it has a very respectable work envelop.

If you know that the stuff you are working on is all pretty small then a bench mill might really work for you - obviously only you can answer that. I encourage you to focus on the capabilities and not focus too much on the price. Pretty quick the price is forgotten. If you end up with something that doesn't work for you, then you will always be reminded that you wasted your money (regardless of how cheap it was).

Let us know how you make out. David
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate the in-depth comments.

At this point, I'm looking to see what's out there and what it costs, both what it's LISTED for and also asking around to see what it SHOULD cost. Prices are all over and everyone seems to be asking gold-plated prices for tin machines, but I could be wrong, that's why I'm asking. I just want to know the prices I'm seeing are fair. If used is close to new, may as well buy new. I was hoping to save some money buying a used machine. This is also a hobby so I really can't justify to the CEO (aka "Wife") paying crazy money for anything. However, I teach at a high school (Engineering, including using tools) that has a shop, so I have access to bigger mills and lathes, but I'd like something at home I can use to create lessons and projects for the students. They need smaller (safer) items to build so a small machine is fine. I suppose I could justify the purchase based on it being work-related, but it's still our money!

I just cannot get anything other than bench top size. I don't have the room and I need to be able to move it around. I was going to place it on a rolling tool chest or shop-made wood table with wheels. I thought I would try to get the biggest machine I could mount safely.

The HF mill noted above by TerryH is on the heavy side (750lbs). The reviews are good. It costs about $900 with a 25% off coupon, but lead time is 5-17 weeks. My concern is that it is too heavy to mount safely. Hmmm... I think I just figured out what my machine size is!

The G0781 is about $1200, weighs 167#
The G0758 is about $1400, weighs 204# is a little bigger than the G0781.

These are close to the used prices I'm seeing. I try not to pay more than about half to 2/3 of new when I buy used since there is no warranty, I can't return it and only have a rough idea of what I'm getting. I realize that many machines come with all the tooling and that saves me money so I take that into consideration when I look at a machine. If it's $1200 and comes with everything I'll need, than I'd consider it. I've learned that from asking questions and reading this forum, so thanks! :)

I hope that helps clarify my thinking on this. I'm also looking for a lathe (I discuss that in another post) so I was hoping to get both with all the tooling for around $2,000 or less. Looks like I may need to revise that based on what I'm reading, or just be patient and see if the right deal comes along. Please keep the thoughts and comments coming, I really appreciate it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top