On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 16:44:49 +0000, Peter Grey wrote:

My question is: what models of mills should I be looking for? I'm looking
for used equipment of a size and price similar to a new RF30 ($1,000 to
$1,500 without tooling).

Before I bought the miller that I have (my first miller) I thought I'd need
a vertical miller. There are a number of makes of vertical miller out there
but they are generally all very tall (7 to 8 feet tall). One of my criteria
was compact size. I finally bought a horizontal miller, which generally are
much shorter (mine is roughly 4 1/2 feet tall). I had thought that a
horizontal miller wouldn't be versatile enough, but I was quite wrong. I
have an accessory vertical head for it but I've only used it once, and
actually got better results without it. A horizontal mill can be used pretty
much like a vertical mill if you clamp your work on an angle plate. You don't
have the convenience of a quill down feed (like on a drill press) and you have
to think a bit sideways (which becomes second nature in no time). I'm told
that the particular miller that I have, although less than half the size of
a Bridgeport class machine, can take much heavier cuts than one, and I believe
it now after using the vertical head and an end mill. Another advantage to
a horizontal miller which doesn't get mentioned too often, is that the cutters
have many more cutting surfaces than an equivalent end mill, and so the axiom
of "Many hands make light work" comes into play, in this case in the form of
reduced wear on your cutters. It's easier for the home shop machinist to sharpen
plain milling cutters than it is to sharpen end mills, the latter usually needing
to be sent out to a pro.

I'm sure you'd be surprised at what you can do with a small used horizontal miller.
Some brands are, Atlas (probably the most common), Benchmaster (a very small bench
mounted job -- good luck at finding one), South Bend made a horizontal miller at
one time though I've never seen one come up for sale. Mine is a Hardinge. Nichols
is another brand. Van Norman's are beautiful machines that can operate in both
horizontal and vertical mode by means of a retractable/swivelling head (they're
kind of on the big side though). Those are just off the top of my head.

There is an ebay seller called Reliable Tools which from all appearances seems
to be a very reputable used machinery dealer (I've never dealt with them, however)
who is located in Irwindale (and has a showroom where you can see some of the
stuff under power). In fact, I just went to ebay to get their address for you
and I ran across this cute little miller:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2571756427&category=12 584

I'm not familiar with these millers but from the looks of the photos it seems that
the cabinet is not absolutely necessary and the machine could be bolted to a benchtop
if you're really hurting for space.

Good luck.