• If you have bought, sold or gained information from our Classifieds, please donate to HomeModelEngineMachinist and give back.

    You can become a Supporting Member which comes with a decal or just click here to donate.

Looking for a used milling machine

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Find deals on amazon
Home Model Engine Machinist Forum

Help Support Home Model Engine Machinist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
kd0afk

kd0afk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2012
Messages
558
Reaction score
52
I have $1000 to spend on a small mill. I can't afford a full sized knee mill but if someone had a tabletop sized Mill for $1000 or less and lives In the northern California area, please contact me. I've seen many many J head Bridgeports sell for a little more than a grand so I don't think I'm being unreasonable in what I'm looking for. Here is something like what I want.
Thanks
http://kbctoolsandmachinery.com/sc...sets/jpg/6-380-001.jpg&w=475&h=475&zc=0&q=95
 
Considered a Taig? I've been saving my pennies for a couple of years now.


Sent from my iPad using Model Engines
 
I constantly see deals like that on eBay too. Local pickup only. The other day I saw a j head Bridgeport for $160
 
I will have 2 mills for sale as soon as I can put together a proper listing. I'm afraid that neither will suit your budget, as one is a very nice Clausing 8525 and the other is an Aciera F1.
These are not low-budget machines, as they are in fine shape and well tooled.
Mosey
 
Why post then? I need a mill, not guys essentially saying "nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah". Lol
 
I saw a knee mill that has gotten pretty favorable reviews considering. Made by Central Machinery and priced under $1900. I might have to save a little more. Yeah, I know, it's harbour freight but it really doesn't appear to be a bad mill.
 
kd0afk said:
I saw a knee mill that has gotten pretty favorable reviews considering. Made by Central Machinery and priced under $1900. I might have to save a little more. Yeah, I know, it's harbour freight but it really doesn't appear to be a bad mill.
Click to expand...


You only have three options. One is to buy new which is expensive. The second is to buy used which is good if you can ever find one for the cash you have on hand. The thrid is to build your own mill which might not be cheap and frankly is a lot easier if you already have a mill.

Your best values are usually had with used equipment. However you said you passed up a J head for $160 so what is up with that. If you have even a glimmer of desire to do CNC you will want to avoid Bridgeport's and round column mills. On the other hand be wary of DIY CNC conversions.
 
It was on the other side of the continent.
 
How big a mill do you need. I,ve got a Real Bull XJ9512 and I love it. Heavier than an X@ and under 1000 new. I've been a machinist for 30 years and I,m really impressed with the quality. You can put DRO,s on it for under $100.
 
Purpleknif, what is the size of the table?
 
What's funny, is I just did a search and one of the links that came up was this thread. Lol
 
It is a little smaller than the 0704 and I clicked on the website of the company and it was a dead link. Makes me wonder.
 
Don't be afraid of buying Harbor Freight machines. I got my 9x20 lathe from them and it works pretty well. Though you need to be on the look out for soft screws. I made several mods to my lathe. A tumbler reverse, chip guard w/lights, QCTP, flood coolant system etc... I'll be adding a DRO soon and will eventually trade out the AC motor to a DC with speed controler. I also bought the mini-mill. I added some upgrades to it. Belt drive, DROs, etc... The mini-mill had soft screws in places also. But it served me well until I needed to do bigger projects. I now have a larger mill. The mini-mill is now doing light duty work.
So go ahead and get the Harbor Freight mill replace a few soft screws and enjoy it. The alternative would be to buy from grizzly.com. Their machines are made in China also but they have higher quality control standards. Also The Harbor Freight machines usually can interchange parts with the grizzly.com machines. My 9x20 lathe has a few grizzly.com parts on it. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top