Howdy! - Where to find a used small knee mill?

[DHerman304]

Hello all, I'm making the transition from 3D printing to Mills! The main point of this question is to see if I'm missing any places to find a decent used mill. If I can't find a decent used machine semi-locally I'm going to have to go with the Central Machinery 6x26 that some love/hate. I'm looking for a small knee mill (Under 1,000#s). I would like to stay under $3,000 not including tooling. Any suggestions would be great, I plan to make pistol and rifle compensators, maybe attempt to make a suppressor. Also small custom motorcycle parts. Stainless/Aluminum maybe some plastics. I'm in Fort Worth but don't mind going for a drive to pick up something (I have a truck).

 

[Aaron_W]

Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace seem to be the best options since they tend to be more local oriented, and shipping can be a big expense on something the size of a lathe or mill, plus you really want to be able to look over a used machine. It can't hurt to watch Ebay, it is always possible you will see something close enough to make the drive.


As far as machines the main ones that fit your size are the Clausing 8520/25/30/35 and Rockwell 21-100, both around 700lbs and typically with an asking price of $1500-2500. A little bigger would be a Burke or Powermatic Millrite which runs around 1100-1200lbs. I think Enco at onetime sold a knee mill similar in size to the Millrite. There were also some small Taiwanese knee mills made in the 80s that would also probably work for you, but I don't know the brands or model numbers. I've seen two of these in person and they were completely different, one looked like a 1/2 scale Bridgeport, the other was very similar in appearance to the Rockwell mill. Parts and manuals might be an issue but they looked like nice little mills.

Other than the Harbor Freight 6x26, Grizzly also sells a similar mill that seems to have better specs, as well as two slightly larger 8x30 versions.

Grizzly G0729 6x26" mill

Grizzly G0678 8x30 mill

Grizzly G0695 8x30 mill

Last option is the Precision Matthews PM-835S which well over your weight at 1400lbs but still quite a bit lighter and compact than a full size Bridgeport. It is quite tall though.

PM835S 8x35 mill

New all of these mills are over your $3000 budget, but used would probably be at a good price for you. The Grizzly mills have been around for quite a while and similar ones have been sold by Enco and others, so they do turn up used.

I have a Clausing 8520 which I am quite happy with. I don't have any personal experience with the others but these are the mills that were on my list to watch for (except the 835 which was way to tall for my shop) when I was shopping for a mill. I do know a couple people who have Millrites and they like theirs.


There was a member here who bought one of the Harbor Fright 6x26 mills last year if you want an actual owners review.

Talk me out of a used Harbor Freight mill

 

[DHerman304]

Wow, thank you so much for the great information. I always forget about Facebook marketplace. I don't mind spending a little more money if its worth it so I will definitely keep an eye out for the mills you mentioned. I guess the next issue to tackle is how to load/unload it from a truck! Thanks again Aaron_W.

 

[Jim F]

Wow, thank you so much for the great information. I always forget about Facebook marketplace. I don't mind spending a little more money if its worth it so I will definitely keep an eye out for the mills you mentioned. I guess the next issue to tackle is how to load/unload it from a truck! Thanks again Aaron_W.

Safer and easier to use a trailer.

 

[Packard V8]

I'm looking for a small knee mill (Under 1,000#s). I would like to stay under $3,000

It's unfortunate you're so far away; we're in WA and have a Clausing 8520 and a Grizzly 8x30 in your size and price range. Even though motor freight shipping is somewhat affordable, I'm getting too old and lazy to want to build another crate to get them there safely. PM me if you don't find anything closer.

jack vines

 

[DHerman304]

It's unfortunate you're so far away; we're in WA and have a Clausing 8520 and a Grizzly 8x30 in your size and price range. Even though motor freight shipping is somewhat affordable, I'm getting too old and lazy to want to build another crate to get them there safely. PM me if you don't find anything closer.

jack vines

Will do thank's for reaching out Packard!

 

[smokey357]

It's unfortunate you're so far away; we're in WA and have a Clausing 8520 and a Grizzly 8x30 in your size and price range. Even though motor freight shipping is somewhat affordable, I'm getting too old and lazy to want to build another crate to get them there safely. PM me if you don't find anything closer.

jack vines

Hi Jack,

PM sent

Thanks

 

[mattthemuppet2]

patience and being willing to jump on something straightaway is pretty much it. I spent a year looking when we moved here and found a Grizzly 6x26 in Austin for a really good price. There are mills out there but there aren't many and the good deals go very quickly. You may have a bit more luck with a full size mill - I've seen more of those for sale and you can find them in the $2500-3000 range relatively frequently (every 1-2 months), especially if you're willing to travel to Houston/ Austin/ San Antonio. Also look up some machine/ job shops, take a case of beer (or box of doughnuts) with you and ask them if they know of any mills for sale around the place. You never know.

As for picking up a mill, use a drop deck trailer from Sunbelt. Makes the whole process a piece of cake and much safer than lifting onto a truck bed or trailer.

 

[G-ManBart]

Right now Facebook Marketplace has really overtaken Craigslist in many areas in the past year or so. Around here it's been a dramatic swing towards FB. I've listed a few things both places and they invariably sell off the FB ad.

Since you're looking for a smaller machine there is less of a chance you'll find them on the equipment auction sites, but it's still worth checking them. Bidspotter, Hibid and Proxibid are the sites where I've had a lot of luck buying machinery. Obviously, this works best when you can inspect the machine before bidding, but some do a good job of posting videos of the machines running, good pictures, etc and that can be enough. All charge some kind of buyer's premium (often with a discount for cash), sometimes tax, and most likely some kind of loading fee.

 

[Aaron_W]

Wow, thank you so much for the great information. I always forget about Facebook marketplace. I don't mind spending a little more money if its worth it so I will definitely keep an eye out for the mills you mentioned. I guess the next issue to tackle is how to load/unload it from a truck! Thanks again Aaron_W.

When I brought my Clausing home we disassembled it into about 5 major pieces. The seller and I were able to load everything into my truck by hand. The column and knee (we left these together) was the only really challenging part as it weighed about 250lbs.
I was able to move and reassemble the mill on my end alone, only needing an engine hoist only for the column / knee. If I had removed the knee I probably could have done it all by hand and definitely could have done it with a second person helping.

It sounds like the HF, Grizzly and Rockwell mills are similar in their ability to breakdown into smaller parts, as none have a single large heavy casting for the base. as you find on many larger mills. The relatively small space needed and ease of moving are what make these mills popular with hobby guys.

Good luck, it sounds like Texas is a bit used machinery challenged but stuff turns up in the oddest places. You just need to be persistent and look several times a day, the really good deals often don't even last 24 hours.