# My craigslist find o the week



## sortafast (May 14, 2009)

So in my lust for all things machining I have been trolling everywhere for an inexpensive mill so that I don't have to drive 30minutes to use the one at a friend's house. I was trolling craigslist and came across this:








Picked it up for $150 with the vise. Not exactly what I wanted (not even close), but it will work until i have room for a real mill. It is missing all the bits for the fine down feed which is a bummer, but it still works for the most part. Just need to get some collets and a new drawbar and have a go with it. Just sucks that I will have to buy a bunch of parts to get it back to 100% (didn't really pay attention when I picked it up). Oh well, at least i have a mill now.


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## gadget_lover (May 14, 2009)

The fine downfeed is connected to the black wheel in front of the head. It might function if you push the pin in and rotate the wheel.

There should be a lever on the right side to rapid feed the quill. I don't see it in the picture.

All parts are usually available for the micro mill from little machineshop.com.

Yes, it's not a bridgeport, but you can do a lot of precise work on that mill. I decided to keep mine after buying a full sized mill. I use both, depending on the part that I'm working on.

I almost forgot. Congrats!


Daniel


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## sortafast (May 14, 2009)

gadget_lover said:


> The fine downfeed is connected to the black wheel in front of the head. It might function if you push the pin in and rotate the wheel.
> 
> There should be a lever on the right side to rapid feed the quill. I don't see it in the picture.
> 
> ...


thanks. As for the fine down feed, the bar that goes across and engages the spindle sleeve is gone. So I even the fine down feed doesn't work. Thats how i figured out it wasn;t working. Sat there and spun the fine DF knob and thought "wow, that is a really really fine down feed, I can't even see it moving". Of course I notice this AFTER I get it home. Probably could have knocked another $25 off from the guy for that, but oh well. I have a mill that for the most part works.


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## gadget_lover (May 14, 2009)

I wonder if someone was trying to CNC it. 

The addition of the $10 "Shaft, Downfeed" and a dog point screw you will probably be able to get the fine down-feed working. The shaft just slides in from the right. Add the handle (a piece of threaded rod) and you are good to go! For completness, you will want to add the "sleeve, downfeed". Total cost $17 plus shipping.

Shaft http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2155&category=-166688942

Sleeve http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2159&category=-166688942

The manual is still available via PDF on Harbor freight's web site. 

Daniel


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## sortafast (May 14, 2009)

after digging a little deeper I find that the "hi" speed gear is missing as well. so add that to the list. So far we have, the handle, the down feed bar, the screw to hold it in, the dial/indicator dealy doo, the change gear up top, and a set of collets and new draw bar. I think that is. Lucky for me all of this stuff is pretty cheap. I think I can get out the door for under $200 or so at LMS (got to get a steady rest and a couple other things for my lathe whilst i am at it ).


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## gadget_lover (May 14, 2009)

Only $200? Good work! 

But don't forget the end mills, the center finders, the end mill holders, the clamp set, the ......


Oops. Sorry. 

Really, the wiggler set is good to have, and a precision screw-less vice works out really nice on a mill that size. I almost never take the vice off the table.

Daniel


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## sortafast (May 15, 2009)

yeah, I know that I am going to triple my investment just in the tooling. Did the same thing with the lathe and I am just to the point of having the bare minimum :sigh:.


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## Torque1st (May 17, 2009)

Have you contacted the seller to see if he has the missing parts?


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