Well, the title says some of it, although this mill is far from new. the body is easily 3x my age, and same goes for the head. It’s still in excellent condition, though.
It is an old horizontal mill that’s been converted to vertical with the addition of a halco head. Not my absolute dream machine, but damn excellnt one the less. Far better than the rubbery sherlines I had been looking at, and far cheaper, too. The price, you ask? Seventy, yes, seventy dollars, including transportation and gas. Mills this size easily go for $1,500 new, and $1,000 used. I am still keeping my eyes out for a bridgeport that’s the right price and in the right place, but this will more than suffice. And, if I ever find the b-port, i’ll either convert this one to cnc or give it to another budding machinist, if he or she comes along. Machine tools seem to get around like that.
Also, the guy who sold me this said, depending on when he could get around to uncovering it from his basement, he was willing to GIVE me a 12x60" southbend lathe in excellent condition with a gearbox, rather than those stupid flat belts.
Just thought I’d share. Now I need to decide on my first project.
Ahhh, the beauty of hand operated forklifts and disassembly. Two guys to get the mill body onto the forklift, 2 to get it onto the bed from there. Getting it down was terrifying, and the motto was “This mill could be valuable, but no matter what, bodies are worth more. If it goes, don’t stop it.” Total there were 2 big guys and me transporting it, using a monster dolly, iron pipe, a j-bar, a pry bar, wood, ansd the hand forklift.
That is such a cool toy, Bevan. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it. Did you get a vice to clamp work and a rotating chuck to index bolt circles with it? What accessories, if any, did you grab?
One of my first major accessory purchases for it will be a rotary table/indexing head for both cutting splines and doing bolt circles. I’m currently keeping my eyes out on ebay for one. I’m also working on designs for a profile spline broach. Buying one is a bit steep-- around $1,000.
Sadly, the guy didn’t have a vise he could give me. He did give me a nice oil can, a 0-5/8" drill chuck, a 1/2 B&S collet (a $44 item, strangely enough), a v-block, a pair of parallells, and some holddown equipment. He said when he gets the chance to dig the stuff up, he’d be happy to give me a 1" starret (excellent brand) dial indicator, a few more parallells, and a taper shank for the drill chuck.
Tonight I will be doing a very large order from enco. I’ll be getting at least 3 2" length dial indicators (for better quantified measurements on each axis of the mill), a 6" dial calipers, a holddown set, possibly a 6" swivel vise, and a bunch of lubricants and other miscellanious shop equip. This will come out easily to $200, far beyond what I’m spending on the mill. I’m also palnning on calling up some friends, I’m sure I could get hooked up with an old bridgeport vise. A friend also offered me his craftsman drillpress from the '50s, so I figure I’ll have my shop better up and running soon.
Cool! Where is the milling machine? Is it at home or is it somewhere else? I don’t think many San Francisco homes would have much room for a basement or garage shop.
Yes, most SF homes don’t have space, but my house has a full 2 car garage/basement, including a large door. My basement is around 25’x60’, with full concrete floors and 7’ ceilings. Getting the mill down the very steep driveway was hard, but it still works. So, yes, it’s at home. Aftger drawing a small floorplan of the real estate I’ve annexed from my parents, I still have room for a medium (12x60" ish) lathe, a 14" bandsaw, and possibly another mill. Plus a good 5’x3’ steel table.
Congrats on your first mill, and many more to come.
I have a bridgeport 9x42 J-head with the stepped pulley (no vari-drive) plus a Monarch 14.5" x 30", lodge & Shipley 16" x 30", and Brown & Sharpe # 5 wet grinder.
The Lodge & Shipley is my oldest lathe dating to 1906, which ties into your Davis & Egan mill. This info comes from the book “English and American Tool Builders”.
William Lodge (later to be Lodge & Shipley) joined a William Barker in 1880 to build machine tools in Cincinnatti. Mr. Barker sold out his interest to a Charles Davis in 1886. Lodge & Davis stayed together until 1892 when Mr. Lodge sold out his interest to a Mr. Thomas P. Egan and the firm became Davis and Egan. This later became American Tool Works.
Wow, thanks for the info. It’s nice to know something about one’s tools. On www.practicalmachinist.com someone told me that, based on the style of the knee and cross feed placement, the mill couldn’t be older than about 1905.
Your shop sounds great. What kind of stuff do you make?
I looked for your post in the machinist forum and couldn’t find it.
My shop has taken over the garage to the point I can’t get a car in it.
I’ve made odds and ends, repair stuff, auto fixes.
A buddy of mine races Mitsubishi Mirages and had me make shifter bushings to sell.
Comical to see a 1906 American lathe make racing parts for 1990’s Jap cars.
Modified the 3-jaw chuck that came with the L&S to “set-true” adjustable type. Had problems with run out - .010" on the old Skinner 3-jaw and so I made a new back plate set-up to make the chuck adjustable. Now indicate a part in as accurate as your indicator will read with 4 set screws.
Repaired 3 gears in the L&S that were missing teeth. Turned the old teeth off and heat-shinked a ring on them that a gear cutter friend hobbed the new teeth on. Now all the feeds and speeds work.
Fixed an exhaust on Bruce’s (yoopers) van. he broke the flange bolting the exhaust to the manifold on a Sunday and had a job interview on Monday. Made a new one from 1/4" plate that was 2-piece so we could bolt it right on without cutting the exhaust tube. Still holding up after several months.
Love to see pics of the South Bend. I can relate to moving woes, these machines are heavy.
As for the South Bend, I’ll get pics when I can, but the 12x60 is currently in pieces strewn about my friend’s basement and the bed is buried under a whole bunch of cardboard boxes. It’d be a while beforfe I could get it to my place, since I also would hav eto clear a space for it.
Another friend is moving to Boston soon, and said he might not want to drive across the country in a toyata accord with a 9x36 south bend sitting in the back seat. If that is the case, he said he might be willing to give me it. I’d rather have the smaller one since all my lathe cuts are small. I want to save space for a second mill.
That chuck sounds excellent. I always hate it when i have a part chucked up in the shop’s 14x40" lang lathe, and it’s supposed to be true, and there’s 0.020" of wobble in it.
Right now I’m sticking to easy projects. My first is going to be a small aluminum jig I can use to index myh fly cutters, since setting a fly cutter blind is a waste of time. Next i think I’ll make myself some brakemounts, and then, once I know more of the ins and outs of the mill, I’ll do a project to attach dial indicators to all axes for better precision. Oh, yes, I’m also going to drill and tap a few holes in the belt guard to attach a spindle brake. Not really a project that’ll be done on the mill, but it’s a good idea to put safety first. I have 3 cheap 2" travel dial indicators, plus an even cheaper 1" travel with a mag. base. I figured buy cheap indicators until I get used to using them.
If that much wobble earns your hate, well, I’m surprised you still want to ride with me. My wheel has about 100x as much wobble when I try to ride backwards
You work in a shop with a chuck that runs out .020"? You must do a lot of shimming. I’m 43 years old and have been in shops most of my life and can remember one chuck that was that far out on an old Bardons & Oliver turret lathe. We ground the jaws with a tool post grinder and it was OK but still wouldn’t repeat. Time for a new chuck.
The Monarch is my favorite machine. Built in 1943 (WW II production) it is a model CK 12" x 30". The “C” designation means it was a tool room lathe. It’s old and worn but has a nice feel. The dials are oversized and easy to read and adjust. Pretty rigid for its capacity, about the only things I would change on it would be a bigger spindle bearing and through hole (only 1 1/4" hole) and change the tail stock from a #3 Morse taper to a #4. The castings for the head stock and tail stock are over kill for the current sizes and could handle the bigger hole and MT without a problem and would greatly help with chatter. I had to thread some 3/4" hot rolled bars and got some chatter in the threads. I could see the live center flex a little from the tool pressure. Took the same bars to work where I did them on a Web lathe 17" swing and #4 MT tailstock and no chatter.
It has automatic feed shut off both going towards and away from the head. There’s a dial lock on the cross feed to lock the tool at a particular diameter. Can cut some 40 different threads. No metric change gears. Wish it had come with a steady rest and taper attachment but for $500 I’m not complaining.
When I got it, the lathe was filthy. Some company was running plastic (Micarta) next to it and the dust mixed with cutting oil formed a nasty paste that covered the lathe. The maintenance guy running it threw a fit when we hauled it out. Said we couldn’t take “his” lathe. Judging by the neglect, it was the best thing for that lathe. The clamp for the tailstock was so far out of adjustment it wouldn’t clamp. The gib on the cross slide is locked up. Will fix that when the L&S is back together. The oil pump for the ways that’s in the saddle isn’t pumping. the Oil level in the headstock was below the sight glass. The cutting oil in the tank was sludge mixed with ancient chips and dust. What a mess.
Now that the weather is warming up I’ll be cleaning it up more and fixing the neglect.
Yes, it is VERY nice to have a machinist in the neighborhood. Thanks, Steveo. It’s also very nice to have an expensive torque wrench to borrow when changing tie rod ends on a certain Jeep that is sitting in a certain someone’s garage.
Between car repairs, home repairs, bike repairs, and sanity repairs, friends are the best thing God ever invented.
Oh yes, Bubba. Emergency rooms and hospitals are lonely places without friends. Coming home from a lengthy stay in a hospital to find the laundry done, groceries in the kitchen, floors vacuumed, and the cat and dog still alive reminds me of God’s great invention, friends.
Now if God would invent a cat that wouldn’t grow up…
