The new milling machine

[sci_starborne]

One of my brain-relaxing passtimes is to randomly browse ebay for interesting machines, broken items for spares/repair and so on. Like Thomas Edison said; “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
Of course Edison didn’t have access to ebay or Google Image Search, so while I have a nice pile of junk, I can add a whole lot of extra random inspiration to it by just browsing images of junk.

One of my searches is usually for mill or lathe parts, to see if there’s any out there I could put to good use. I’ve been hoarding parts with the hope of building a mill or better milling accessory for my Conquest Lathe. Even a second-hand tiny mill will still run to well over £200, so my best chances of getting something within my tiny budget are:

1. Find a machine so broken it’s cheap, but damaged in such a way I alone can fix it at very little cost.
2. Find parts of other machines that I can assemble into a working milling machine.
3. Find a machine strange enough that few other people will bid on it.

Last week, Option 3 occurred on one of my browsing sessions. And I won it.

Small Homebuilt Milling Machine In need of attention to bring it up to a good standard the drive pulleys do not match exactly , although 2 or 3 speeds are available

there is play in the rise and fall of the headstock and a clearance problem with raising the head fully , maybe a bit of re-design needed!

the table has been fitted with a thrust Bearing and 1 end modified to accept a power feed unit but was never fitted

the table and / or the headstock needs a bit of shimming to get true machining

heavy fabricated steel construction with 370 Watt 1/2 Horse Power Single Phase 230 Volt Motor with Full Overload Protection and remote Stop/Start Pushbuttons

A good quality Cast Table , Size 475 x 154mm (Table cost was £100 ) 1/2″ MT2 Chuck with M10 Thread Drawbar Tilting Headsock ( left / right )

Adjustable Taper Bearing Headstock overall height of machine is 960mm depth is 600mm table to chuck height Max. 250mm Weight aprx 120 Kilos

Some light water marks to table due to garage roof leaking but not serious

please ask any questions i can e-mail more photos if required

£50 delivery on a pallet OR collection from Braughing , near Ware , Hertfordshire OR arrange your own collection

Mainland UK delivery only NOT to the Highlands or certain places in Wales,please ask

Payment by Paypal Only within 3 days of auction end

Happy Bidding!

A home made machine! Perfect!
Collection verses a £50 shipping fee would further lower competition, and it was just 30 miles north of me. And while I don’t want to offend the builder of it, the punctuation in the description probably doesn’t inspire the confidence for others to give that extra bid.

All in all, a prime listing for getting a bargain. And at £155 for 13,700cm³ of machining capacity, that’s a bargain in my books.

Now while I’m going to have to discuss the machines faults, I again don’t mean to offend the builder of it. It’s in my estimation the same sort of machine I’d have built in 18 months or so, with a few hundred quid in parts and the same development feel (initial planning, careful use, leading into jury-rigging just to get it finally working). So this machine has saved me a year and a half and a hundred quid or so. So I can skip straight into taking this messy but functional machine and refining it.

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