Machine Tool Restoration Project Possibilities?

[kbuhagiar]

Hello Folks,

Recent threads here, especially the ones about the Atlas lathe resurrection and the Prazi lathe/mill find (you ****! lol) have rekindled my interest in machine tools. I've always been and enthusiast on the outside looking in, and for a brief period in the 90s I owned an Atlas 618, but never had the time to use it, and I sold it for a nice profit years ago. Well, here I am eight years into retirement, and although my car hobby keeps me happy and busy, I still have a hankering to mess around with machine tools. But I don't want something new; I want something that needs some TLC that I can tear down, clean up and put back together, as I get great satisfaction from rebuilding stuff. Of course, I plan on using the machine after it is all together but for me the biggest part of the thrill would be in the chase: hunting down the tool, and then scrounging parts, cleaning and re-assembly.

I would be open to many possibilities - lathes, mills or combo devices. Domestic or offshore. Prefer to start with something less than industrial size that could be moved around in the garage if necessary.

I don't really have any questions but I thought I'd throw this out there for anyone else to chime in and relate their experiences.
I'm located in San Diego county CA if anyone has any leads on some well-worn or partially abused machines that may be available.

 

[designer485]

Here is my thread detailing the restoration of my Atlas drill press.

I hope it can provide some inspiration. It was a labor of love, but I enjoyed the heck out of the cleaning and refurbishing process, the sourcing of parts and now ultimately using it to make some holes.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/atlas-63-drill-press-restoration-resto-mod.489265/

 

[Packard V8]

Yes, been down your road for sixty years. Had some fun; had a few heartaches; learned a few lessons on the way.

No, not going there ever again. I've finally learned the hard way a machine missing key components and/or without complete tooling is just an awkward doorstop.

Maybe watch craigslist, marketplace, internet forums, et al, for what's out there. One difficult concept for some of us is we're just buying old stuff, not marrying it til death do us part. If something better comes along, or the project stalls because of missing parts, it can leave the same way it came.

jack vines

 

[GeoBruin]

South Bend and Logan 9 to 10 inch lathes in need of some serious restoration seem to be a dime a dozen on Craigslist and the like. Also, as an Angelino, I swear every one I find shows up in San Diego.

Anyhow, I would up with an early 80s taiwanese "Jet". It has a interesting back story in that the gentleman who originally purchased it was a very sharp guy and made lots of upgrades/customizations but carefully documented them and made very detailed hand drawn schematics. He also documented every part and accessory he purchased including the purchase price, where it came from, and the name and phone number of who sold it to him.

He actually made a custom cabinet for it, converted it to have the motor drive the lathe from under the cabinet, converted it to a 1.5 hp DC Baldor shunt motor with a very custom DC variable speed drive, etc. He also bought and mounted a rockwell drill press on the bench next to it which he also converted to DC and ran with the same control box.

Anyway, he then died and a neighbor took it from his house and let it sit for a while. One full drawer full of tools got pillaged but fortunately the other drawer was stuck shut so the tools (and all the documentation) were saved.

I've spent the last month or so extricating the drill press, rewiring everyhting to use an updated drive, cleaning, lubing, and making small parts that are broken or bent here or there. I'm actually very happy with the machine. It's very heavy duty compared to a modern 10" mainland Chinese lathe. It has an 1-1/16" hole through the spindle and he bored the spindle nose to directly accept 5c collets. I want to make a draw tube with a nut or a wheel to act as a collet closer and I think I'll be able to pass about a 7/8s" shaft all the way through even with the draw tube.

The cabinet was all clad with wood which I have mostly removed but the frame is made of heavy duty tubing with the horizontal members being 1/4" wall. I cut it down to length once I removed the drill press but even in it's current state it must weight a couple hundred lbs.

I'll post some more pictures of the process later but here's where it sits today.

 

[dutchgray]

I find if I buy a machine that is complete and working which I have a use for then I will use it and work on it to improve the issues it has.
If I buy something that needs to be fully rebuilt it just sits waiting as I never have time to get to it, until I sell it on.
Never make any money either, but that isn't the aim.

I would keep an eye on your local sales markets for machines and see what comes up, probably best to buy more common machinery in both terms of production numbers and use cases.

I would avoid buying incomplete machines unless your aim is to break them for spares.

 

[MushCreek]

There's doing a cosmetic refurbish, and there's a true rebuild. Rebuilding involves rescraping the ways, along with new bearings, and possible new leadscrews and nuts. It's a very specialized skill, and usually involves a lot of tools that most people don't have. It is possible; I've rebuilt several machine tools over the years, but it's a lot of work. If you just want to take it apart, clean it up, maybe replace a few worn parts, and paint it, make sure you start out with a machine that isn't heavily worn.

 

[kbuhagiar]

There's doing a cosmetic refurbish, and there's a true rebuild. Rebuilding involves rescraping the ways, along with new bearings, and possible new leadscrews and nuts. It's a very specialized skill, and usually involves a lot of tools that most people don't have. It is possible; I've rebuilt several machine tools over the years, but it's a lot of work. If you just want to take it apart, clean it up, maybe replace a few worn parts, and paint it, make sure you start out with a machine that isn't heavily worn.

All good points.

I see myself following the same guidelines that I do with my car projects, namely finding something that is mostly there, but in need of some TLC.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Some folks relish the challenge “rebuild the lump of rust” back into a useful machine. Hats off to them. I prefer to find machines that are already complete or only missing parts that are available on the used market. Or sometimes it involve buying multiple machines to swap parts and making one awesome machine to keep and several functional one to sell for cheap to offset the cost.

While not as plentiful as years gone by, So Cal has a fair bit of vintage machinery around. You just need to search and be willing to drop everything and act on it. Prices tend to be higher than years ago but there are still values to be had, like this Millrite MV mill for $800

Millrite MV manual mill - tools - by owner - sale

Millrite MV manual mill. Good working order. Miscellaneous parts included. Email to arrange for viewing and pick-up. We cannot ship this item.

ventura.craigslist.org

 

[GeoBruin]

Some folks relish the challenge “rebuild the lump of rust” back into a useful machine. Hats off to them. I prefer to find machines that are already complete or only missing parts that are available on the used market. Or sometimes it involve buying multiple machines to swap parts and making one awesome machine to keep and several functional one to sell for cheap to offset the cost.

While not as plentiful as years gone by, So Cal has a fair bit of vintage machinery around. You just need to search and be willing to drop everything and act on it. Prices tend to be higher than years ago but there are still values to be had, like this Millrite MV mill for $800

Millrite MV manual mill - tools - by owner - sale

Millrite MV manual mill. Good working order. Miscellaneous parts included. Email to arrange for viewing and pick-up. We cannot ship this item.

ventura.craigslist.org

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[cvairwerks]

Pop over to OWWM.org and cruise the BYOD forum and the two machine forums for leads on available project machines.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Thanks for the heads up!

Glad to see someone get the Millrite mill. Which collet does the mill use? Did it include some come collets?

You may want to see if the ways were
oiled with oil (correct) or grease )not correct). Here is one post regarding

How to lube Millrite?

I recently got a Millrite Vertical Mill. How do I lubricate it? Is there any online instructions? What kind of grease do I need and what type of grease gun? [ 01-02-2007, 07:49 AM: Message edited by: AlexKu ]

www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[GeoBruin]

It's got the B&S #9 spindle. It had a couple random collets and fixturing items but not a lot of tooling. Other than the collets (my current mill is R8) I've already got most of the tooling I need. I just needed something a little more rigid and with more room in the Z axis than my benchtop mill. Also, my mill (which is actually a mill/drill) was doing double duty but I recently acquired a Delta/rockwell drill press so this one will be set up for milling exclusively.

It's wired for 3 phase but that ended up being my saving grace. The first two buyers who showed up to look at it saw it was three phase and walked away. I would have put a VFD on it in any case so it didn't deter me.

I was looking for either a millrite or a Rockwell a couple years ago for my dad. I ended up finding the Rockwell first so that's what he got and he did a nice restoration. But I never stopped looking for a millrite since they're even bigger/stiffer and you can actually put a Bridgeport J head on them. I have no room for this in my shop right now but I couldn't pass it up for $800 and relatively local.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

It's got the B&S #9 spindle. It had a couple random collets and fixturing items but not a lot of tooling. Other than the collets (my current mill is R8) I've already got most of the tooling I need. I just needed something a little more rigid and with more room in the Z axis than my benchtop mill. Also, my mill (which is actually a mill/drill) was doing double duty but I recently acquired a Delta/rockwell drill press so this one will be set up for milling exclusively.

It's wired for 3 phase but that ended up being my saving grace. The first two buyers who showed up to look at it saw it was three phase and walked away. I would have put a VFD on it in any case so it didn't deter me.

I was looking for either a millrite or a Rockwell a couple years ago for my dad. I ended up finding the Rockwell first so that's what he got and he did a nice restoration. But I never stopped looking for a millrite since they're even bigger/stiffer and you can actually put a Bridgeport J head on them. I have no room for this in my shop right now but I couldn't pass it up for $800 and relatively local.

A millrite with a J head is my dream machine.

I recently hesitated and missed out on a deal on a Rockwell, but that lent me to have the cash to jump on the mini lathe and tooling deal.

Op, I have been playing this game for 30+ years and have some tips.

Good deals don’t last so have cash at the ready. I don’t mean in the bank where you can go get whenever you want, I’m talking in hand.

Being able to be the second guy to call but the first one on the scene with ready cash has got me many deals. Of course being the first one to call who can leave the house NOW! with cash is best.

This leads me to the hunt. Look every day for what you want across different categories. I wasn’t really looking for a mini lathe when I ran across that deal, I was just bored and surfing FBMP and put one of my normal searches and boom, there was a deal too good to pass up and I had cash in hand.

The guy had one lowball offer and a second guy who had to find another $100 to meet his asking price and could be there by dinner.

I’ll search everything I’m interested in a couple times a day sometimes as Ive seen Ads that say “free on the curb” for a drill press (missed that one by minutes) a or “free one the curb” for a near new track drive snowblower (Got that one!) and got lucky.

Hell for the snowblower I hadn’t even sipped my coffee or brushed my teeth, just hooked up the trailer and tore out of the driveway.

Took me one hour to get that blower running and checked out, and I sold it for $400 the next week…… in August and even then it was too cheap, but hell, I made $400 in one hour.

Now get off here and go hunt for a deal.