Jet-16 Mill Drill

Half Nut

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I'm in need of some advice. I have a chance to buy a Jet-16 mill drill, comes with a vice, parallel's(spelling?)
and a 15pc collet set, looks to be MT3. I think the unit came with either a MT3 or R-8. I don't have the room or electrical capability's for a Bridgeport, Guy is asking $900.00 for it. I'll be milling aluminum and steel, I don't mind making lighter cuts in steel. Comments will be greatly appreciated.

John.
 
I just sold an excellent condition Jet 16 for $500 with a cheap, but trued, chinese vice, a few colletts, drill chuck and Forward,Reverse, Jog control box. But I wanted it to move, I probably could have gotten about $700. With a nicer vice and full collet set $900 is probably reasonable for an asking price. I suspect a little haggling will shave a bit off. I paid $1,000 when I got mine 8 years ago and it came with nothing. I believe most, if not all of them, were R8 spindles. I know Morse taper was made but I've never seen or heard of one.

As far as ability and quality I never had a complaint about power or accuracy (true-ness) of the ways. What I DID have to do to hold clean cuts was lock the quill and non-moving axis, otherwise quill wobble and screw backlash took their toll.

I also had to have the head to table clearance set just right if I knew I'd be changing tools on the same set-up. Once your head is locked onto the column, if you had to raise or lower the head for a shorter or longer tool you lost your zero and had to re-indicate all over again. I've seen some clever after market apparati for keeping the head from swinging when unlocked but I doubt they'd ever work very well. Using something long, like a coaxial indicator, in set-up is out of the question.

I didn't change speed much unless I had to. Swapping dual belts was a minor PITA. Some people have opted to swap the motor for a three phase and add a VFD. I really don't think that a little belt shifting warrants that investment on a round column mill, but that's just my opinion.

All-in-all, I'd say I was very happy with the mill given it's limitations. I did a lot of fine work with it and would buy one again in that price range if I couldn't find a similar square column mill. But, even in that size range the square would be my preference, easily worth paying 50% more. But I just got an old (1969) Bridgeport Series 1 J-head in decent shape for $1,750. Can a better deal be found, will passing up on this deal be regretted later...?

Who knows, but you're certainly in reasonable territory here. IMHO.

Good Luck
Mark
 
Hi Mark, Thanks for your reply. Every one of the Jet-16 i saw was R8. The man who has it listed doesen't know much about it, he has it listed for a friend so the MT3 collet set is probably wrong for it LOL. But It would be handy for my lathe. Again, thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

John.
 
Price sound reasonable.

If you need some info in advance, you might ask the seller (lister) if the collets have one continuous taper (MT3) or a tapered section at one end cylindrical at the other (R8). Even a non-machinist should be able to give you an answer based on that.

Then ask him if the collets he has fit into the spindle.
 
I'd try to get the price down a bit. I paid $500 for mine. Everything Mark said holds true. I don't mind the belt issue so much, but the round column is a pain. If you do end up with it, buy a drill chuck with a 1/2" shank. Or trim a mt taper chuck if you have a lathe. The shorter length allows you to not have to move the head or setup to get the chuck into the spindle.


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Thanks guys, going to go check it out soon, If he doesen't want to haggle, I think I'll spend to get a Grizzly GO704, but will cost quite a bit more being I'll have to buy a vice, some R8 tooling and such, you all know how it goes,:)

Thanks again guys.

John.
 
If I were you and couldn't get the price down quite a bit, I'd go for the Griz. But maybe because I want one.

Chuck at the grumpy old guy
 
Update on the Jet-16 mill, Well, I think I did good, The machine is Tight, paint like new, Great condition. Came with a Jet 6" vice, a Jet boxed 16 pc milling chuck and collet set, like new, everything still in the original wraping and grease, LOL. A 58 pc clamping set, a few pcs missing tho, 2 Jacobs drill chucks, all the original instruction and operating manuals and a Jet 1985 product book, even has 1985 prices. A bunch of end mills, taper shank drill bits a 2 1/2" face milling cutter with inserts, three boxes full of other milling goodies that I didn't even get a chance to go thru yet, and best yet, the original x axis power feed that was not used yet, brand new.

I never get deals like this so sorry for gloating a bit, LOL but I think I really stepped in it. The motor is a 2hp 220v or can be changed to a 1hp 115v which is great cause I don't have a 220 line going to the shop yet. Everything in the garage was for sale, end to end full of goodies. Before leaving I filled a hugh bucket of all kinds of stock, something I had a limited supply of. Round, square, flat, must of weighed 200#, asked her what she wanted for it and she said I bought the mill, just take the stock. Well, couldn't do that so I threw in some extra bucks, Total for everything................................................$900.00

I happier than a pig in slop, So, Thanks guys for your opinions and suggestions, I did a lot of research on the unit beforehand. With the advice on how to take care of some of the downfalls of a round colum mill, I know it will work great for my needs. Now , all I have to do is get it out of the truck and get it into my little shop, Not sure how I'm going to do that, but I will get it done.

Thanks again.

John

Half Nut.
 
Congratulations!!! Ya done good ... much better than what it initially sounded like!

PS - What's the final answer on the MT3 - R8 question?
 
hman, It's the MT3 taper, I would have prefered R8, but it wasn't a deal breaker, I have pleanty of MT3 tooling anyway. I'll get some pics of it in the shop as soon as I get it there, I have a small shop, and I'm going to have to do some rearranging.
 
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