Subject: The going rate

From: [email-masked] (Dave Williams)
Date: 11 Feb 94 23:09:00 GMT

-> There were also a couple of horizontal mills, one went for around
-> $800, the other for $250.  A couple of gear shapers went for $150 and
-> a huge broaching machine went for $50 (just what you need to fill up
-> your garage :-)

 I can't come up with any reason to buy a horizontal mill (I guess there
*was* a good reason for verticals to supercede them) but the shapers...
I'd love to have a shaper.  I've even found a few in the $200-$300
range, some with tooling, all in excellent shape.  Alas, they were all
ENORMOUS, about the size of a refrigerator laid on its side.  With a
shaper I could do easy keyways, internal slots or splines, and all the
stuff that's more awkward than it's worth on my lathe and mill.  Except
I would have to give up one of my workbenches and half of my open floor
space.  Gharr.

 I've given some thought to building a benchtop shaper patterned after
the one in Gingery's book.  With the machinery I have it wouldn't be
such a long undertaking.

---

From: [email-masked] (Michael Collins)
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 01:05:27 GMT

John Morton wrote:

|> I will admit that your first mill should be a vertical.  However you 
|> should not slight horizontals; they are terrific machines which are
|> underutilized because the current generation of shop workers was
|> brought up without them.  They are also unpopular with hobbyists. 

  Many good points made.  Another task to which a horzontal mill is
well suited is cutting keyways.  Except for the lead-out ramp at the
end, which may be a bit longer than corresponding end mill radius cut
on a vertical mill, you can't beat the speed and quality of a keyway
cut on a horizontal.  If someone has a home shop and is looking for a
way to justify a bargain on a horizontal mill, they might do well to
scrounge around the local manufacturing outfits to find a bit of work
making shafts.  I've seen plenty of equipment built around simple lengths
of mild steel bar, with a keyway or two cut on the ends.  For the reasons
John gave, most small manufacturing companies don't have a horizontal
mill, and use a vertical instead.  It works, but you just can't get the
same kind of results with a Bridgeport and a 1/4" cutter, not even against
an old, well-worn horizontal. You might also be able to find some work
through a bearing supply outfit, as they are frequently confronted by
customers looking to refit broken equipment.  And of course, if you have
a lathe, you can really get into this kind of business if you want.
--
[email-masked]