Wanted: Horizontal Mill near West Coast, USA

[commuter ebikes]

good move, many more options.

Easy task when you can go with a vertical milling machine. So many used Bridgeport clones to choose from.

I see that you are in San Jose. I am in Santa Rosa. Keep your eyes peeled.

[nfmisso]

I talked to Don Ferris today at Anvil Bikes. He says that a vertical mill is fine for everything (i.e. using Anvil fixtures to build frames).

He suggested that I stay away from mills manufactured in China, but Taiwan is totally fine.

There are a multitude of used, domestic knee mills available on Craig's List and eBay. I am really happy that I can use a vertical milling machine.

good move, many more options.

[commuter ebikes]

I talked to Don Ferris today at Anvil Bikes. He says that a vertical mill is fine for everything (i.e. using Anvil fixtures to build frames).

He suggested that I stay away from mills manufactured in China, but Taiwan is totally fine.

There are a multitude of used, domestic knee mills available on Craig's List and eBay. I am really happy that I can use a vertical milling machine.

[commuter ebikes]

Horizontal milling machines are used for high volume production (>10K units per day) machining operations. They are often purchased new for a particular job, by the time the job is done, they are not much more than scrap. Very rarely are these types of jobs cancelled after all the mills are online. The jobs ramp up, bring additional mills online until the hit the max production, during the down ramp, the most worn mills are scrapped first.

There really are not any production machining operations in California; in the North America they are clustered around transportation manufacturing.

Horizontal mills are not generally used by prototype manufacturers or model makers, who develop a personal relationship with the equipment, they are used by Union Machinists, who call on someone else when they notice the machine producing parts out of spec.

Good luck in your endeavors.

Thank you for the valuable info. I will probably find a used one for sale back East and ship it to Cali.

[commuter ebikes]

I did check it out.

I need a vertical mill, too, but those are easy to find.

[nfmisso]

no horizontal mills there......

[nfmisso]

Horizontal milling machines are used for high volume production (>10K units per day) machining operations. They are often purchased new for a particular job, by the time the job is done, they are not much more than scrap. Very rarely are these types of jobs cancelled after all the mills are online. The jobs ramp up, bring additional mills online until the hit the max production, during the down ramp, the most worn mills are scrapped first.

There really are not any production machining operations in California; in the North America they are clustered around transportation manufacturing.

Horizontal mills are not generally used by prototype manufacturers or model makers, who develop a personal relationship with the equipment, they are used by Union Machinists, who call on someone else when they notice the machine producing parts out of spec.

Good luck in your endeavors.

[Harold]

Look at Precision Mathews

[commuter ebikes]

Be more specific on how big a horizontal mill you want. You could out a smallish bench top one together using bits from Amazon such as this spindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HK2L9A

I wanted to buy this http://www.grizzly.com/products/9-x-...wer-Feed/G0757, but I can't afford it. My finances are tight right now. That's why I was looking for a used fullsize one. I usually prefer to buy my equipment new.

When I look on eBay or Craig's List (limiting the search to horizontal mills), there are a lot that I would buy, but they are all back East or in the Midwest (I am in the SF Bay Area). Also, the used ones tend to be very old, grungy and questionable as to whether or not they would need repair. I will be spending 2 months a year in Ohio for the next 5 years (with nothing to do on the weekends), so maybe I can find one there and ship it home via freight.

I would have bought a vertical milling machine, but I am buying Anvil fixtures and they recommend a horizontal mill. That really threw me off because vertical mills seem to be much, much easier to find.

I don't want to use any type of vertical mill for what I want to do, which looks like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOABxlW8ek. That goes more smoothly with a horizontal mill. I have seen bicycle frame builders use a vertical mill for that, but I would bet that they settled on a vertical milling machine because those are so much easier to find.

This is the only one on Craig's List in my area https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/tls...667302985.html. At least it is affordable, but it says it is "rare". Rare is not good.

[nfmisso]

Be more specific on how big a horizontal mill you want. You could out a smallish bench top one together using bits from Amazon such as this spindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HK2L9A

[commuter ebikes]

I am in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am looking to buy a new or used horizontal milling machine. I am open to any voltage or collet system. I will consider a bench top. If you have any leads, please post here or you can call or text Erik Mannie at (707)293-8973.