Woo Hoo, I just bought me a mill :)

[irving2008]

:D Well I got tempted....

and £365 :eek: later I was the proud owner of...

http://i14.ebayimg.com/02/i/001/16/00/cf61_1.JPG


just don't tell SWMBO....:mad:

I think its a reasonable deal... new it would be £900+

I know its not a dovetail column, but one of those in the size I wanted was well outside my budget and considering I was thinking of spending £200 on a new bench drill this is an added bonus for not much more...

Now all I need to do is get it home! all 200kg of it... :rolleyes: ah, that means borrowing SWMBO's car.... won't fit in mine... hmmm...:confused:

[Lee Roberts]

congrats mate < walks off muttering under his breath in jealousy of the new FATHER !!!!

[irving2008]

OK guys, I have a shipping issue...

Vendor is very unhappy about splitting it down (base, column, head) and loading it into my wifes Golf (200kg < 4 heavy men so shouldnt be a problem?)

Is there any reason for this I should know about?

If I palletise it (£65) will they unload and position in my garage or just unload on the roadside? I have no way of moving a 200kg pallet up the drive!

[Robin Hewitt]

Vendor is very unhappy about splitting it down (base, column, head) and loading it into my wifes Golf (200kg < 4 heavy men so shouldnt be a problem?)

Is there any reason for this I should know about?

Mine had been plastered to make it smooth then painted. Taking the lifting handle out to remove the lifting rack shattered the plaster. Maybe that's it. (I chiselled and brushed all the plaster off then repainted).

The X Y nuts were a disappointment, maybe they have improved, I replaced with ball screws.

The Gibbs were nice tapered adjustment. Hassle was the adjustment screws had so much slop in them the table locked when moving left to right if you set them at all tight.

Distinct lack of grease on the spindle spline, mine wore out pdq, suggest grease now.

Beware the column may be full of nasty abrasive casting sand.

Can't remember what other little surprises it came with, you're probably just about to find out :D

[irving2008]

Well seller has agreed to let me pick up tomorrow in car and will split it down... :)

Not sure how I'm going to get it out again :D but will put a couple of large pieces of 18mm MDF or ply in the car to put it on and some rope to tie down with...

Thanks for that info Robin.. I'll keep eyes open and take camera along too :) IIRC you have the bigger (Major) version of a similar vintage - this one's 1994.. I hope I can find enough room in my garage, its quite a big beastie. I'll need to make something suitably robust for it to stand on as well... and then use my chain hoist to get it up there!

[irving2008]

Well the mill is home.... wasn't too bad, took the motor off the head and the head off the column, laid the column on its back in the car.

The place I got it from was an Aladdin's cave of machinery. Here's a pic I took on my phone.... 1 point for each bit of kit you can correctly identify :)

[Lee Roberts]

White blanket ?

[irving2008]

White blanket ?doh! try harder.. there's at least 4 pieces of kit there.... out of the couple of dozen he had packed into this workshop/basement

[irving2008]

BP S1? Meddings Pillar Drill? Lamp shade? Cuddly Toy?

No broken Lathes then? ;)Very good Keith, thats 2 points... tho it might have been a later one - it had the full BOSS setup. Whats 1/2 under the blanket then :)

Oh there were lathes, in the other room... one dating back to c1900.

[Smiler]

Looks a bit like a shaper I used at college a million years ago :)

[irving2008]

Its actually a Tom Senior horizontal mill in immaculate condition, virtually unused...

We'll I'm a happy person... 3 Warco MD30 mills like mine have appeared on eBay, one sold at £555, one is about to go for over £450 and the last is already at £400... makes my £365 investment look rather good :)


right I'm off to bed, it being gne midnight here in Bangalore and I'm off to Delhi in the morning....

[Smiler]

Excellent Irving, well done! :D

Must admit it looks a nice machine. I've a hankering to convert a small mill myself and that looks just the job. Need to get hold of a nice smallish lathe first tho'. Any idea what these small SIEG (http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=564883&name=lathe&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=44) lathes are like?