In article et, Peter Grey
says...

I'm a jazz musician and there a ton of players that believe that one needs a
$8,000 guitar in order to make good music. My 30 year old $1,500 guitar
feels and sounds like a $8,000 guitar, but I wouldn't have recognized this
guitar had I not owned and played a lot of other guitars. Those guitars
weren't what I wanted ultimately, but I learned a ton by playing them. I'm
sure that the equivilent of my guitar exists in the mill world.

What you want is a solid mill, inexpensive, that fits into a small
shop - with a small footprint and low overhead. Bounus points
for high quality and a 'name.'

I would suggest what I chose for a similar application:

http://www.metalworking.com/RCM-gallery/files/Rozen,Jim/Nshop2.jpg
http://www.metalworking.com/RCM-gallery/files/Rozen,Jim/Nshop3.jpg

This machine looks like hell but it just won't quit cutting metal.
Total cost from a used machinery dealer was $800 about ten years
ago. It had been pretty well abused and I had to replace the
handwheels, and make a new feed nut for the table. But after
cleaning it up it's been a strong worker in my shop and does not
require much attention at all.

The latest chip-fest involved making a specialized puller
for removing a timing gear from a vintage motorcycle crank.
The correct puller would cost about a bazillion dollars if
one could find one for sale, and they're not for sale. So
I had to take some chunks-O-steel and build two blocks that
would get under the gear, in the limited space. Then I had
to drill mating holes in a steel ring to hold them, and
allow a puller to grab. The thing worked first time, and
it was all hogged out, rough and ready, on the horizontal.
The limiting factor was how tightly the small vise would
hold the parts - early on in the project I realized that
a part rip-out was entirely possible.

You can find machines like this, in much better condition
than the one I bought (I have a soft spot for 'wing-down'
stuff) for a bit more money. Watch on ebay and you do
sometimes see them go by.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================