Vintage German Reckermann Metal Mill

[panchoNlefty]

My wife’s grandfather passed away and as co executor of his estate has been tasked to value and sell some of his belongings. He was an Engineer and machinist by trade and stayed busy in his shop on various projects while he was at home. One of the last pieces of equipment we have left to sell is an older “vintage” German Reckermann horizontal metal mill. Is that a proper description?

Beyond what you see in the photos, I know very little more. It is wired for 240 to power the mill and the oiling system? The only changes to the mill that I can notice are that he retrofitted a couple safety guards to the exposed drive mechanisms. The machine hasn’t been actively operated in close to 8 or 10 years according to relatives, however I did plug it up and it did run. Beyond that, I cannot attest to the functioning. Unfortunately the only tooling that are with it are pictured. I’m afraid the others were sold at the estate sale. The company that organized and ran the estate sale assessed a value for the mill but after some research of my own of other items I question their level of knowledge somewhat.

Do any of you guys have any idea what a fair or current market price would be for this type of machinery? I realize it may be a niche market of vintage tool collectors, or does some machinist prefer the older equipment? I would like to have as much research as possible to present to my wife’s family so they will be able to sell it for a reasonable price.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

 

[panchoNlefty]

More Pics

 

[ritestuff]

Really old, flat belt horizontal mills don't have much appeal to today's backyard machinists. There is a niche market to "old iron" collectors, but it's pretty hard to put one of these in the right guy's hands. I'd say that if you could get 500 for it you would be doing well, especially without any tooling.

 

[larry_g]

A lot of value in those machines is the accessories that come with them. When you say "One of the last pieces of equipment we have left to sell is an older “vintage” German Reckermann horizontal metal mill." leads me to believe that you may have already sent some of the accessories down the road unknowingly.

That said what is in the pictures is probably a $500 machine. Rust kill the precision of a machine like that. It's also an oddball machine in the american market, MT or proprietary taper on that arbor does not bode well either.

lg
no eat sig line

 

[Carla]

Hmmm........well, that one would be in an extremely small 'niche' within the 'niche market' of old machine collectors. It would have been nice to have a size reference, such as a 12in. scale, in the photo, but, at a guess, it looks significantly smaller than the common American Cinci or K&T #2 mills.....a good 'home hobby shop' size.

There are quite likely some 'hobby machinists' who like German equipment, and, if you are able to find one of those, it could be a very desirable machine, to that person.

The generality of 'hobbiests' in this country, tho, are likely to 'just say no' to an older 'metric standards' machine tool, even tho the generality of German equipment, like this one, are of high quality construction and fitment. Even if it had a reasonable set of its 'metric standards' tooling with it, one would have to adapt for American standard cutters, etc.

In short, I'd suspect that you'd be lucky to sell it at any price above scrap value, which is a shame, as it appears to be a desirable size for a home hobby shop.

If I was the one trying to sell it, I'd field an asking price of, say, $500, and see what offers I'd receive. Someone who really likes German-made machines might consider that a good deal, and 'snap it right up'.......if your location is a reasonably convenient run for him.

(just for info, that one photo is a spindle speed plaque, , with 'ein' and 'aus' referring to the back gearing 'in' or 'out', and with 'I' and 'II' referring to a dual-winding two-speed 50HZ motor That type of motor will run alright on American 60HZ power, just 20pct. faster. This one is a relatively slow speed machine, for its apparent small size.)

You might try posting a 'would anyone like this ?' query in the 'antique/vintage' area of the 'Practicalmachinist' internet board, which is the likely place to find someone who appreciates older German machinery.

(some forty-ish years ago, when I was involved in a small machine business, we had a few little German machines, which were quite cost-effective for setups for small-parts machining with unskilled/trainee operators. I particularly remember a kleine Boley drehchen, which was a very smoothly running spindle, but was otherwise frustratingly 'backwards' compared to an American Hendey or Monarch.)

cheers

Carla

 

[panchoNlefty]

Thank you guys very much for the quick responses! In regards to, "One of the last pieces of equipment we have left to sell," his lathe sold for what I imagined was a below value cost, and my attempt is to verify if my feeling was correct, or if in fact the market is that low for this type of machinery. Pics of it are below. It was also an older German manufacturer.

 

[crguy]

I agree with the value given above. One thing in its' favor is the vertical milling head which may have been an option.