I think I would like to replace my beaten 9" Sears drill press with a small benchtop mill soon.

Realize that I will not be hogging out locomotive wheels or diesel engine cases- just making some iron sights, quarter ribs, in addition to standard drill and tap functions- small scale stuff.

Is there a small quality mill that I could pick up on the secondary market? I've seen the Rong Fu Mill/Drill and I wasn't thrilled but the size was right- anything American???

Your suggestions and specific recommendations appreciated.

I have an old Johansson. It is essentially the same as the Clausing 8520 series. greta for the little gunwork I do. Small footprint but better than a table top type.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/clausing%20vertical/index.html

These pop up from time to time. There were two on Ebay last week. I saw one in person and it was a nice little machine.

There are several small mills with a 7 to 8" wide table x 30" long. Most of them are imports. Check out Grizzly, as they have a couple of models. There are other Imports as well.

I have used Jet machines for years with good luck. The best bet is to look them over real good to see how the are made.

The last Bridgeport toolmakers mill I saw for sale was about 3 years ago and he was asking $3200 for it.

There is a couple of publications for machinery sales. You could do a search for them.

James Wisner

Here is a good information resource on the imported mini-mills mini-lathe.com