In for a penny.... in for a pound

or maybe a couple of thousand pounds...

so about 5 1/2 years ago, the company I work for, sold off our machine shop tools.  The requirements of what we do were changing and the space it took up was really more valuable for other things than using it for a machine shop.

Ever since then I have missed being able to work on a mill,  grab something and go to the mill to modify it, fix it, whatever.  Grab a block of aluminium and make what I want, etc.

I learned how to run a mill from a couple of machinist who I use to work with.  It was all on the job training, but I wanted to learn, so I soaked it up.  It also works real well with the way my brain works.  For the past 5 1/2 years I have told myself that I should buy one, or buy a lathe / mill / drill, or something.  With the garage at home, there was always a big limitation there...

but then came along the Hanger...  now I just needed a opportunity.

I had looked, many times, at new ones, even a few used ones, never found the right one.

Till now

Found a Craigslist ad Sunday evening listing the mill for sale.  I replied and told them I wanted to see it

Monday morning they replied with where the mill was located and it was 10 minutes from work.

So I headed over to see it.  Sitting in the back of a garage of a really nice house, was the mill.  It was so clean, obviously not used much.  Owners said it might have 10 hours on it, and only aluminum.

Guy who owned it use to be a alcohol funny car driver, bought it then.  Now he has a CNC machine and a lathe, and..... many other toys to play with.  He doesnt need this anymore, and they were moving and .....

I left the house, with the agreement that I wanted it, just needed to work out the cost of moving it so I can be sure on the price.

Monday afternoon I found someone to move it.  Hanks Machinery Moving

BTW, these guys were awesome, the guy on the phone, who I found out was the owner, was great, made me a good deal on the price, worked with me on the times, very supportive even though I was only looking at moving a single mill, not a huge shop full of tools.  You have a big machine to move, give them a call
http://www.hanksmachinery.com

I called back and worked out a price that both I and the current Mill owner was happy with and voila, I now was the proud owner of a mill.

Tuesday at 9am I meet the movers at the house where the mill is.  We get it hooked on the forklift, driven out to the street, and onto the truck.

Then we set off to drive all the way across town to get to my shop.

and we do the reverse

off the truck

in my shop

and in just the right spot...

As I said, the guys from Hanks were AWESOME!  put it right where I needed it.

Now, a few bits of info on the mill.

Its a Grizzly G9902 9x48 Vertical Mill.
Its single phase (which is good, because I dont have 3 phase at the shop, I mean, I could buy a rotary phase converter and make 3 phase, but this makes my world a lot easier right now....)
2HP 220V motor on it.
Came with a accurite 3 axis DRO on it,
Power Feed on the X axis,
and like I said, it is in GREAT shape.
Everything that is supposed to move, does, and does it freely and easy.
Everything that is NOT supposed to move, doesnt and feels solid.

it did not come with any accessories, so I need some R8 collets, mill bits, clamps, etc.  But thats ok, I dont have power setup for it yet anyway, so I can acquire accessories over time.

I am so excited to have a mill of my very own!

I know, pretty much anyone who reads this wont care...

DD