Milling machines in California

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250

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Looking to see what the temperature is as to what manual milling machines are going for in California. I went and looked at one this weekend, comes with no tooling and would require some disassembly and clean up.

Thanks,
David
 
Hello and welcome.

California is a big state. That being said there are deals to be had if you're patient and ready to buy when the right one come up.

Where have you been looking and what type of machine are you looking for? Milling machine encompases quite a range from mini-mills to Bridgeports, to huge industrial machines over 10,000lbs.

It's best to start with the kind of projects you have in mind, your available space and power. If you share what you looked at and the asking price we can give you some idea if it's in the range we would pay.

For my shop I ended up with a RF30 clone for $850. It was local to me and I think it was a decent deal.

Give us more info and we can be of more assistance.

John
 
That is pretty vague, but assuming you are not talking about a mini-mill, then $1500-2500 is a safe budget to work from.

I see Bridgeports pop up from $1000-4000, with quite a few in the $2000-3000 range, but you can assume at the lower end they need some work. Lots of small to medium size bench mills out there in that $1500-2500 range. The round column Rong Fu style mills that John mentioned can be a great budget mill option, pretty decent size and not too hard to find for less than $1500. Smallish horizontal mills are another option that can often be found for around $1000, if you find one with a vertical head attachment they can also be a great budget choice.
 
Thanks for the replies. Apologies for the vagueness, wasn't a vague in my head.

Central california is where we are. I have a decent size garage w/dedicated 240v that I'm working out of so I've been looking in the typical knee mill size. So far all my larger pieces of equipment are older American in origin so that's what I've been looking for. Bridgeport, Gorton, Index, Millrite, Tree, Rockwell perhaps, maybe others that I've forgotten about. Looked at an Index 45 this last weekend, but I'm not super excited about he condition/price ratio. Missed out on an Index 55 last month. Hopefully it went to a good home.

Yes, I'm sure craigslist will play a part in this. I don't want to use CL as a sole price gauge because you only know what people think there stuff is worth, not want it actually sold for.

I think most of my projects will probably be on the smaller side, so I don't really need 4000# of iron that's hard to move. Like to have the vertical mill capacity to help fix any of the machine projects that I have lined up.

Full disclosure, I've asked some condition related questions over on OWWM about the latest Index since I've been involved to some degree for a while over there and found those guys helpful. Since I need some pricing help, I'm asking over here as well.
 
Another source is auctions. Precision Warehouse in Paso Robles frequently has milling machines up for auction as does West Auctions in Woodland. The easiest way to search Craigslist is to use SearchTempest. Put in a mileage range from your location and it will search all of CL within that range. Be patient and you will find a mill that will fit your needs.
 
250 said:
Thanks for the replies. Apologies for the vagueness, wasn't a vague in my head.

Central california is where we are. I have a decent size garage w/dedicated 240v that I'm working out of so I've been looking in the typical knee mill size. So far all my larger pieces of equipment are older American in origin so that's what I've been looking for. Bridgeport, Gorton, Index, Millrite, Tree, Rockwell perhaps, maybe others that I've forgotten about. Looked at an Index 45 this last weekend, but I'm not super excited about he condition/price ratio. Missed out on an Index 55 last month. Hopefully it went to a good home.

Yes, I'm sure craigslist will play a part in this. I don't want to use CL as a sole price gauge because you only know what people think there stuff is worth, not want it actually sold for.

I think most of my projects will probably be on the smaller side, so I don't really need 4000# of iron that's hard to move. Like to have the vertical mill capacity to help fix any of the machine projects that I have lined up.

Full disclosure, I've asked some condition related questions over on OWWM about the latest Index since I've been involved to some degree for a while over there and found those guys helpful. Since I need some pricing help, I'm asking over here as well.
Click to expand...
You should have a good selection as long as you’re patient. The brands listed are the good stuff, I owned a Gorton once and it was great but if looking now I’d probably go for a Bridgeport or clone unless a good Wells Index came up.

We’re very active here too and we love pictures.

John
 
I don’t do faceplant so that’s nothing to me. But it’s always interesting how prices fluctuate. Right now it seems to me everybody wants almost twice what machines were 6mo ago. I don’t know if it’s herd mentality where they are watching each other or what. The other thing I watch is eBay and look to sellers local to me. Lots of times they seem to sell local and not on eBay. Or they used to. Good luck.
 
Welcome to the group David.

I'm originally from Modesto, it's a good place to be FROM. My step-mom was raised in Shaws Flat and just moved back there.

A surprising number of machines show up in the Sonora area. I scan CL and FB nearly every day, covering a 250 mile radius (which includes Modesto, Oakdale, Sonora and Stockton), and post anything that looks interesting here. With a little patience you should be able to find a BP type mill in the $1500-$2500 range. Try to find a machine that includes tooling, and don't get in a hurry.
 
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