[Mechie3]

Hello, I found a Millport 3 axis CNC a few miles from my house. It hasn't been used in 9 years. The owner has two garages, a larger one in the back and a smaller one attached to his house. When he quit making car parts he moved the mill to his small garage until he needed it again. 9 years passed and he just wants the garage room now.

I haven't yet seen it in person, but have seen pictures. I intend to go see it this weekend. Overall it doesn't look much different than I would expect for a piece of metal sitting in a garage. The paint still looks to be in good shape and overall from images it looks dusty but well taken care of but anywhere that was bare metal (ways) looks to have surface rust on it. I've done some searching and found a few people documenting their rebuilds. Some say you need to scrape the ways, others say scotch brite it and check for pits. What else should I do besides oiling the machine before running it? I've found a website that also detailed upgrading from the old anilam controller to modern electronics.

He's asking $1500 including some collets and the 3 phase converter he used when he ran it. Does this seem reasonable? The closest I've found on ebay are bridgeports with Anilam for ~$4-8k and millports with other controllers for the same price range. He also has a turret lathe he's looking to sell for $650.

A little background on me, I'm an engineer but find making parts much more exciting that math, documentation, and test protocols. We have an R&D machine shop that they give engineers free use of if they are so inclined. I started on a 2 axis EZ Trak and moved up to the Mazak Super Quick turn and Fadal VMC. Learned to use these by reading the manual and trial and error. I'm rather good with my hands and have taken apart pieces and parts of the mills here, but never a full tear down. I just don't want to end up with a $1500 very large paper weight or have to spend $5k to get it usable. I intend for this to be used more as a hobby and for my small company where I design parts as a side hobby, not my main income. today I'm limited by what I can sell as I have to order parts through third party machine shops as making large batches of parts at work for personal profit is frowned upon.

Thanks for your input.

[Dstamp]

Did you get the machine? $1500 seems reasonable if the ball screws & servos are there, even if the ways are not in great shape. For what you may do it at home it could be good enough for now. I purchased a similar machine a few years ago and retrofitted the control with mach3 & Viper drives; all in about $4k including drives, Bobcad V25 & tool holders.

[Mechie3]

I did. $1800 for the cnc and the lathe together. Moved it and haven't touched it yet. I'm almost done refurbishing the lathe. Almost fully stripped, cleaned, fixed as needed, and nearly all back together. I let some wd40 sit on the table and the rust came off. When I finish some of my other projects I'll get a chance to focus on the cnc.