Milling Machines

When I grabbed the Logan lathe, the old Craftsman drill press I got too had been modified a bit.  There is a square tube along one side, and a corresponding square rod with a circular array of bearings....  Cheap mill.  It was fitted with an X - Y table.  Mr. Garcia was resourceful.

I found a Big Joe mill (Taiwanese clone of the Bridgeport circa 1970's) on Craigslist.  Only $2500 asking price.  That's just over a dollar a pound.  Not too bad, only thing listed for a couple weeks.  I went by and looked at it.  Parked under a tarp, a leaky tarp.  Been in the wind for a few months.  Surface rust, not under power.  Nope, 2500 is a bit tall for me.  "What would you offer?"  This is the red zone.  I was dancing on the edge of a cliff.....  Rusty, not sure if it even works...  How bad could it be?  I wasn't too cued in on prices for one, so I shot low: 1400, if you have a forklift.... Sold.

....oh crap.....

Disclaimer:  This blog post outlines how I tackled some projects, while doing my best to be safe, legal, and all-around sensible. Just because I could do these things without crushing any limbs, burning down the house, letting the dogs out, destroying my car, annoying the locals, or running afoul of Town Hall, does not guarantee that you will be able to do the same. While I hope that the material here will prove helpful, you emulate my procedures entirely at your own risk.*

The following are my personal thoughts, for academic study only.

Loaner trailer, and a couple days later, I had it home.  Unloading it was..... a learning experience.  Dragging it through 50 feet of blow sand was a learning experience.  Yes, his dolly works a treat on 3/4 plywood cut into 4x4 sheets, but I had to use a lever.  Putting the ram and head back on alone was a learning experience I very nearly messed up.  Those engine hoists are fine and all, but the wide foot of a mill tends to step on top of the arms of the hoist, and then tipping is next.  Not a happy place to wind up..... alone.

And then Milling for Dummies 201 class began...

Meet Big Joe

aka Rusty

Impulse buy or decent learning tool?

Needless to say, lots of issues.  Sticky spot in the bed ways, head problems resulting in noise.  I paid a bit for tuition that time.  Good, unbeatable experience.  Most of it what not to do.

Did not get a lot of milling done with that, but I learned a ton with it.  Found out how to go online and dig for manuals, how to bind them, blow up the exploded diagrams on ledger size paper, and using map colors to differentiate assemblies.

Now, I have a different mill, and am in process of retrofitting the DRO...  Life keeps getting in the way but it'll get done.

The New Mill!!  Oh baby!

Old red is a good trailer but I don't recommend it.  A drop deck trailer like this to move with is better.  It's a beauty.  It's worth the rental price not to lift the weight of a machine tool.

Remember Small Tools Inc.?  Excellent bunch of folks there.  They let me find my own shipper, small fee for palletizing, and a classy experience all around.

Moving the mill

I learned a lot about moving heavy equipment through sand.  Rollers, levers, plywood, strategic trees, come-alongs, proper ratchet straps, blocking, dunnage, jack stands to hold up the loose end of the trailer, trailer house pier pads.  All of those are mandatory in soft sand.

Parking brake set, wheels chocked, pad under trailer jack, check.
Pier pads down, and jack stands under the rear trailer lip, check.
Roller sections set to match slope of trailer, check.
2 Safety straps to hold mill to front of trailer, check.  Runaways not allowed!
Slack off one, then the other, alternately to let the mill down the roller deck.
Lever it on the dolly, then lever it down the plywood path, a come along attached to a strategic tree for additional motivation.

Once on the shop floor, solid bar for rollers into it's final position.
It's also useful to mark the center of gravity on the side of the foot.  Push till the front roller is close to C of G, then position the next roller in just behind the front of the foot.  Then push a bit more, tip, roll, tip, roll.  Just be careful with it wanting to tip and spit out a roller.  Wooden wedges can be worth their weight in gold to hold a roller in place.  Two people is best, front and back.  You need lots of run away room, too.  If it's going over, it isn't worth the potential death sentence to try and stop it.  (Imagine where it will fall, and don't be there, ever.  I can't even reach under the mill on it's feet when I drop something there.  I have to get a coat hanger or a magnet to fish it out.  I get goose bumps just thinking about it.) Go over your egress routes till your partner knows without asking how to escape.  Leave yourself an out.  I moved out Big Joe by myself with the rollers and C of G method.  No danger at all.... that time.  I learned to take off the table, lower the knee, and invert the head to lower the C of G to avoid tipping.  Worked a treat.

 Summary:

Study up on current prices for tools and tooling.
Know your subject well.
Develop a strategy.
            Not under power = my offer is 50% off asking right then!
            Obvious rust or damage =  25% minimum off the remainder
Moving is a head scratcher.  Until you have done it a couple times.
             
I'm not a machine rebuilder, but I don't mind getting dirty.  I don't mind fixing things.  I get to understand how they work that way.  And I pay my "less than 20% list price" rule when some rehab is needed.
 

Up next..... where to find manuals, old training docs, and how I use them.

*shamelessly stolen from this man.... who I admire and emulate.