- Joined
- Oct 31, 2015
- Messages
- 463
I went to pick up a milling machine yesterday - what an adventure! I'll give you the complete narrative, so everyone has ample opportunity to laugh at me .
I live in the Texas Panhandle, which is probably as much of a machinery desert as anywhere in the country. So I obsessively scour Craigslist, EBay, etc for machinery in a large radius around me. (I bought my lathe in Wichita Falls - about 250 miles away) So a few days ago I found an ad for this milling machine on EBay. It's in Enid, OK - about 300 miles away. The photos were horrible but I was able to determine that 1) it was an Index Model 645, 2) it came with a milling vise and a rotary table 3) it had a power feed. The seller didn't know much about the machine, so was unable to answer my questions about spindle taper, wear, etc. But he only wanted $700 for it. So I bought it, figuring that even if it was completely unserviceable, I could part it out and/or scrap it and recover my money. So we made plans for me to pick it up and he said he even had a hoist to load it on my trailer and some extra guys to help - perfect!
I drove 5 hours to get there and meet the guy, who obviously doesn't bathe frequently. No other guys to be seen. He takes me to the machine:
This photo was taken from the door of the building. If you look close, you can see the motor and belt guard of the mill in the middle-left of the pic, behind the two toilets. Most of the stuff between the door and the mill is heavy. Oh, and there was a piano behind me. Mind you, he's had 10 days to get ready for me to pick it up. He asks me if I brought any help (no), then says he has a broken rib and can't lift much. This is getting even better. He calls some friends to come help, one shows up, then leaves and never comes back.
Undeterred, he and I start working. First, we have to bring the A-frame with the hoist from another building about 100 across yards the parking lot. It also had a lot of 'stuff' around it that had to be moved. Then we begin creating a path to the mill buy pulling stuff out of the way with a come-a-long and a pickup. About 3 hours in, we're to this point:
I didn't take any more photos of the loading process after this because I was sweating so much at this point, my phone was getting too wet in my shirt pocket. (Remember - it's August in Oklahoma). We drug the mill to the door with the pickup, stopping once about halfway to reposition it with the come-a-long. We positioned the A-frame in the door and backed my trailer up, ready to back it under once we had the mill lifted high enough. Easy right? Well, his 1-1/2 ton manual hoist would barely get the back end of the mill off the ground. So with a floor jack and lots of wood blocks, and we finally get it high enough for the base to clear the trailer bed. Then come-a-long it into position over the trailer axles. At this point, I'm completely exhausted, soaked in sweat, and look like an oilfield grease monkey. The loading process has taken 5 hours. Now I have a 5 hour drive back home. Here's a pic of how I strapped it down. This was taken after I had it home and backed into my barn.
It probably would have been better to leave the head upright and place two straps across the ram. At any rate, this was very stable and the mill did not move at all on the ride home.
In the next post, I'll have some closer photos after I have time to inspect things a little further. I think the ways are probably OK since they had a thick coating of oil. The spindle has an R-8 taper and turns smoothly. My main worry is the condition of the table. I'm afraid it may be pitted. We'll see once I get it cleaned up...
I live in the Texas Panhandle, which is probably as much of a machinery desert as anywhere in the country. So I obsessively scour Craigslist, EBay, etc for machinery in a large radius around me. (I bought my lathe in Wichita Falls - about 250 miles away) So a few days ago I found an ad for this milling machine on EBay. It's in Enid, OK - about 300 miles away. The photos were horrible but I was able to determine that 1) it was an Index Model 645, 2) it came with a milling vise and a rotary table 3) it had a power feed. The seller didn't know much about the machine, so was unable to answer my questions about spindle taper, wear, etc. But he only wanted $700 for it. So I bought it, figuring that even if it was completely unserviceable, I could part it out and/or scrap it and recover my money. So we made plans for me to pick it up and he said he even had a hoist to load it on my trailer and some extra guys to help - perfect!
I drove 5 hours to get there and meet the guy, who obviously doesn't bathe frequently. No other guys to be seen. He takes me to the machine:
This photo was taken from the door of the building. If you look close, you can see the motor and belt guard of the mill in the middle-left of the pic, behind the two toilets. Most of the stuff between the door and the mill is heavy. Oh, and there was a piano behind me. Mind you, he's had 10 days to get ready for me to pick it up. He asks me if I brought any help (no), then says he has a broken rib and can't lift much. This is getting even better. He calls some friends to come help, one shows up, then leaves and never comes back.
Undeterred, he and I start working. First, we have to bring the A-frame with the hoist from another building about 100 across yards the parking lot. It also had a lot of 'stuff' around it that had to be moved. Then we begin creating a path to the mill buy pulling stuff out of the way with a come-a-long and a pickup. About 3 hours in, we're to this point:
I didn't take any more photos of the loading process after this because I was sweating so much at this point, my phone was getting too wet in my shirt pocket. (Remember - it's August in Oklahoma). We drug the mill to the door with the pickup, stopping once about halfway to reposition it with the come-a-long. We positioned the A-frame in the door and backed my trailer up, ready to back it under once we had the mill lifted high enough. Easy right? Well, his 1-1/2 ton manual hoist would barely get the back end of the mill off the ground. So with a floor jack and lots of wood blocks, and we finally get it high enough for the base to clear the trailer bed. Then come-a-long it into position over the trailer axles. At this point, I'm completely exhausted, soaked in sweat, and look like an oilfield grease monkey. The loading process has taken 5 hours. Now I have a 5 hour drive back home. Here's a pic of how I strapped it down. This was taken after I had it home and backed into my barn.
It probably would have been better to leave the head upright and place two straps across the ram. At any rate, this was very stable and the mill did not move at all on the ride home.
In the next post, I'll have some closer photos after I have time to inspect things a little further. I think the ways are probably OK since they had a thick coating of oil. The spindle has an R-8 taper and turns smoothly. My main worry is the condition of the table. I'm afraid it may be pitted. We'll see once I get it cleaned up...
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