My Small Mill

[bmwrd0]

Vintage, benchtop, horizontal

This is a mid to late thirties Pratt and Whitney #3, with a Craftsman shaper countershaft. I found this on FBM, and was the first person to say "I will take it with cash money." Apparently, there were a lot of other people, to which the seller said he should have asked more than the $500, but he held his price, and loaded it for me! I has taken some time to get it cleaned up, collets found (it takes 3pn, which is the only machine that does) and  I just got the new motor wired in last week. The plan is too make a Marvin for it eventually, but right now I have a Logan Montgomery Wards lathe to put back together.

[skfarmer]

great save. i would love a benchtop mill.

[goodfellow]

That's a great project. Love the older vintage tool saves. Great Job!!!

[bmwrd0]

Here she is after loading in the back of my truck


Now at home, stashed in the garage


Name plate


I had to disassemble her to get it down in the basement shop, and to get rid of that brush paint green



The deal only came with one of the many accessories, the dividing head. But not the spindle. It did come with a random dividing head that definitely was not part of the machine, and is just as much of a Chinese puzzle as the mill itself. Which, by the way, is the best machined piece of equipment I have ever had my hands on. I have finished the light restoration, and it is now in my shop, powered by a Kingston Conley 1/3hp motor. I had to spend a fortune on collets, but I know have standard sizes up to 1/2" and most wire sizes.

[Uncle Buck]

Hey, any progress to report on this?

[bmwrd0]

The mill is mostly done, just a few tweaks needed to get it up to speed fully: I need to replace the glass in one of the oilers, build a better stand for the counter shaft, and one of the dials isn't assembled right, I don't think.

But I am mostly working on the Montgomery Wards/Logan, as I need to move big projects along to reclaim some space in my tiny shop. I do need to update that thread, but pictures of scraping old paint aren't too thrilling. I should get some up anyway.

[Uncle Buck]

I get needing to get big projects finished to reclaim space in a small shop