Where to buy mills and lathes

NickWheeler

NickWheeler

Joined
Dec 3, 1999
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I've been looking around a lot for a mill and a lathe. I thought maybe the machine shop instructors here at the college could help me out on buying one, but apparently they're too busy.

I checked out ebay and there are some older, but decent looking machines on there.

I don't figure I really need a very big mill or lathe, although it would be nice to get a mill with a knee on it, rather than just a benchtop jobby.

Can anybody give me some advice on how to go about getting either one of these machines ???
 
save your money and buy one that holds tolerences. buy a bridgeport mill, i don't have experience with them, but all the machinists i know like em!
 
Look at your used machinery dealers in your area. They have some good used machines from time to time..
Make sure you take an indicator and check the table and the knee for run out..
Most older machines had sag.. in the middle of the table where they have been used the most.
If you are just going to make knives.. I would go for a good import with class 7 bearings and good run out. With the small amount of use knifemakers give a machine this will do fine for a lifetime.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I really need to take more machining classes to get a fuller understanding of what's going on. I've had to take CNC classes for my mechanical engineering degree, because with some of the new software firms are designing products in one room and plugging the design into CNC machines in the next.

But it didn't do me much good since I know only very basic machining skills.

Jerry Moss recommended the smallest mill Grizzly sells with a knee, but I was thinking that by the time I got the mill and the vise and the tooling, that I could maybe have bought a used mill and lathe.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

Nick
 
Nick ,
Call the machime shops in your area as they are a great source for used machines .However I've heard good things about that Grizzley knee mill. And it seems to be just the right size for the average knifemaker guy.

I'm shopping arround for a really good quality small knee mill my self .If I run across any thing special I'll post it here first.

Aloha!!! Ken Onion
 
Nick, you might try Boeing Surplus over in Kent. A friend of mine got a good mill and lathe for his machine shop from their suplus store a couple of years ago.

Fox
 
Fox-

It's funny you mention that. I just talked to my great-uncle that worked for Boeing for 35 years. He gets some sort of discount at the surplus shop.

He said they have boxes of bits and end-mills and things like that which will work great for the average guy when taken care of, just not up to their standards.

Thanks for the tip.
Nick
 
Another place to look is in the paper for upcoming auctions. I was looking in the paper earlier today and there are two auctions next weekend where the main thing on sale is machinist tools, including CNC's, mills, lathes, etc, all the way down to the hand tools of various sorts.
Doesn't do you any good to know about these two, but there might be some show up in your area that would be worth checking out.

Andy
 
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