Hi,

My brother in law has in effect offered to give me a Cincinnati Toolmaster
vertical mill with an infinitely variable speed head for free. It's
relatively local and wouldn't cost a ton to move. It has an undetermined
amount of tooling with it, but he says it's in good shape. I've heard that
collets are hard to find (although it may be fully set up), but that the
Toolmasters were nice machines.

I'm going to take a look at it, but I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts
about these machines: things to look out for, strengths, weaknesses, typical
problem areas? Suggestions?

Peter

"Peter Grey" wrote in message
link.net...
Hi,

My brother in law has in effect offered to give me a Cincinnati Toolmaster
vertical mill with an infinitely variable speed head for free. It's
relatively local and wouldn't cost a ton to move. It has an undetermined
amount of tooling with it, but he says it's in good shape. I've heard
that
collets are hard to find (although it may be fully set up), but that the
Toolmasters were nice machines.

I'm going to take a look at it, but I'm wondering if anyone has any
thoughts
about these machines: things to look out for, strengths, weaknesses,
typical
problem areas? Suggestions?

Peter



Hi Peter,

Yeah, I have a thought. Get it, and don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
It's a far better machine than is a Bridgeport (I own a BP) that will serve
you well, even if you have to lay down some cash for collets.

Good luck! Tell us how well you like it after you get it set up.

Harold

On Thu, 07 Jul 2005 02:20:34 GMT, "Peter Grey"
wrote:

Hi,

My brother in law has in effect offered to give me a Cincinnati Toolmaster
vertical mill with an infinitely variable speed head for free. It's
relatively local and wouldn't cost a ton to move. It has an undetermined
amount of tooling with it, but he says it's in good shape. I've heard that
collets are hard to find (although it may be fully set up), but that the
Toolmasters were nice machines.

I'm going to take a look at it, but I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts
about these machines: things to look out for, strengths, weaknesses, typical
problem areas? Suggestions?

Peter

Downside....they are rare, and parts are scarce.
Upside.... They are accurate if in good shape, it has some tooling,
its free, its local and its a mill.

Suggestions? Dont let the grass grow under your feet..snag it.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

I have one. It's a great mill, but as you noted, the collets are
expensive if you have to buy them new. Buy them directly from
Hardinge, that's where Cincinnatti gets them. The variable speed will
be handy, I have to move v-belts to change the speed. A power-feed
would be useful, I easily adapted a mill-drill feed to mine. I'm
assuming it is 3-phase and you won't have any issues with that.