Which vertical mill?
 

I've been shopping for a vertical mill. I have room for a free standing version, but my needs are fairly limited so a bench top on a stand would be fine. I'm looking at used mills but they seem either totally rusted out or well over $3000. I'd like to stay around $2000.

I've looked at Grizzly, and they have a bunch to choose from.

Does anybody have any suggestions for a decent bench top mill? Power feed? DRO? What did you wish you had but didn't get?

If you have used Bridgeport types before you will be disappointed with a bench top. Just not the necessary mass to dampen machining cuts. If you mostly drill they are great. A DRO is a must on any machine, as it will make any machine accurate, (at least help)despite the backlash and worn out leadscrews. Sorry I’m no help on benchtops, I’ve only got Bridgeports.
My favorite manual mill is a Bridgeport that I bought the CNC ball screw kit for but never put any controls on. Zero backlash!
A long time ago I had an Enco veritical. It was ok, wasn’t a BP but maybe there are some of those around for less.

Terry - in my opinion keep looking for a full sized mill, you won't be pleased with a tabletop. A Bridgeport or one of the clones is worth the money. I have a BP Series 1J that was built in 1960. The only thing I want to add is a DRO and power feed on the X axis. Both are available in kit form as add-ons. I paid $900 for my BP and had to move it about 150 miles. We moved it on a rental trailer that cost $75 for 24 hours. Be patient and you'll find a good deal, they are out there. Estate sales are a good source. Here's a picture of mine.

B port, or clone,
Handier than a pocket on a shirt
$1500 or so will get one in my area,
the more accessories and tighter ways, the higher the price.:beerchug:

A Bridgeport clone is what you'll find around here--and a decent one will run $2-6,000. We've probably bought 25 Bridgeport style mills in the last 30 years. We have 5 in the main shop and 3 in the "overflow" shop. Back in the late 90's we had 8 or 9 running daily in the main shop. Boss bought several brands. Supermax in a standard sized mill from the late 80's was decent. Alliant from the early 90's was better. Then we moved to larger sized mills--you'll never go back to a standard sized machine once you have those. The first was a Sharp, great machine from early 90's. Then we ordered some Alliants, appears they sold the name and the quality was not the same. Turns out Sharp began making the "good" mills, that's all the last several have been. They are a very good machine, but you are going to pay for them.

Power feeds--used to be Servo only but the chineese models are so cheap, we just run them till they blow and then replace instead of having the Servo brand repaired---way cheaper this way.

DRO---get it if you can. The newer style that don't have glass scales are very reliable, I think all ours are made by Newall, including the ones on the lathes.

Vise---Don't pay too much for the Chinese crap because that's what they are--crap. If you can find a well used Kurt you'll be golden. FYI, everytime a new month rolls around Kurt figures out how to make the vises open a little wider, Think they are pushing 8" opening now--jaws are still 6" wide.

Collets, just make sure they aren't sprung real bad. We only run Lyndex so I can't attest to the quality of off brand stuff. You will probably never use a 7/16, 13/16, or 7/8 collet.

Drill chucks--don't get excited if a guy throws in a big name chuck, only takes a minute for an idiot to ruin it. Jacobs isn't great, but are the most cost efficient. Forget about rebuilding an old one. Repair kits are almost as much as a new chuck (unless you are looking at a 25 year old chuck). We tried to rebuild a few but it just isn't worth it. I think a 14N is the series you want. If the face of the jaws are mushroomed or appear to have had a tool spun in them, the chuck is a paper weight. Do yourself a favor, if you start running drills over 1/2" with a 1/2" shank (silver and Demming style), put the darn thing in a collet---better on the drill and you won't hurt the chuck.

End mills--HSS has about gone the way of the shaper. I don't buy a dozen a year. Carbide is the only way given the pricing on it these days.

On EBay right now. Truck freight shipping from west coast would be around $700.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRIDGEPORT-...AAAOSwoBlafgRT

Local pickup only on that ebay listing. Good price, though.

I'm still looking around here. There are several mills listed on CL in the Norfolk area, lots of machine shops there. (think shipyards).

I may have to up my budget to $3000. There is a company that deals in used machines, Dempsey & Co. Used to be in Richmond, moved to Blackstone, VA. I need to call them. I don't need a big machine, but would like some quality.

Try these guys, we've bought a few pcs of new equipment from them. They may have something they took in on trade.
http://www.dominionair.com/

I'll have to call them. (Dominion).

Which vertical mill
 

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/tl...464446538.html

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/tl...482397337.html