Packard Mill/Drill

[slotard]

I've been looking at picking up a mini mill or mill/drill. Inside space is limited, no way I can fit a real mill or else I'd go that way (transporting it would be a problem too, a 600lb mill/drill is hard enough to get into/out of my truck).

Came across this ad:

Packard Drill/ mill bench model - $450 (Stockton)

packard model num. md200 e30b

nice condition home use bench mill drill press

Asking 450 best offer

pics avail, had trouble uploading this am

Call shawn to see and make an offer

Thoughts? Looks to me like it's a 110 plug, which is certainly easier than 220. Looks to me like it's a pretty typical Taiwan or China mill/drill, although with COO not listed I can't be sure which one. Won't see heavy use, just hobbyist stuff.

Thanks for any advise.

 

[txvwnut]

It does look a lot like the HF bench top mill. What taper does it have? R-8 is what you are looking for as that is the most common. If it was me I think I would keep looking for something with a bigger table to it as that one seems a little small. RongFu is a decent brand of bench top mill/drills, or at least they used to be. My dad has had one for close to 40 years and has done some amazing stuff on it.

 

[ritestuff]

Looks like the 80's-early 90's "Rong Fu" style mill drill. They're certainly not a Bridgeport, but for the money and the small footprint, you can still make a decent small part with one. I think they run R-8 tooling too, which is abundant. I guess it all depends on what your intended use is gonna be. I have an older Enco that's a little bigger than that. Works for me. I know it's limitations.

 

[slotard]

ritestuff: How would I determine taper? I have a little experience (not much) using mills, but don't know how to ID the taper.

txvwnut: Sadly, in my case smaller is better. I'd love to go big, but even fitting something this size is gonna be a pain... partly because the covered space I use for shop stuff has an elevated wood supported floor. If I buy this, I'll either be storing it at a friend's place (he'd get to use it obviously) or building a stand with a fairly significant footprint - probably at least 3' wide, and a bit deeper than the machine.

Based on the HF one weight should be around 750lb. Not fun to move, and a lot of weight for an old elevated floor, even if relatively small.


I'm also trying to figure out if he has a vise or any tooling - he says it's part of an estate and it's likely he has something.