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Milwaukee Mill Model H, Value and Info Needed - Pics inside

Psychbiker

Plastic
Joined
Aug 15, 2016
Selling local is a Milwaukee Mill that's a model H. Do not have any other info on it. It does have a bridgeport head on it. My father and I have been looking for a mill. I don't much about them personally. Seller needs to get rid of this fairly quickly.

Anyone know info on it? I think it is a Kearney & Trecker Mill model H and Milwaukee is the state it was made in. Seller said it can be both vertical and horizontal.

Any idea on value of this thing? Weight I think might be in the 3000+ range.

Pics below

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weight - figure 5500 and you'll be about right. Mine I can pick on the overarms with a 5k forklift but the rear wheels get way light unless you are as close as you can get.

price- 3k for that everything better work on the horizontal spindle and the vert head too.
 
3200 if 2HL and 3700 if 2H - plus the BP item

Scrape off the paint under Model H and tell us serial and we can date it

I paid $250 (that's right) for my '56 2CH with 12" Model K dividing head - and universal vertical head - but they were going out of business

Don't show any $ until you know every thing on the K&T works - feeds and rapids especially. Nothing worse on such things to find out later they are junk inside

Looks like the hor. spindle is NMTB 50, so it is the 2H

VM has the manual

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2098/3729.pdf
 
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Looks like a 2H. I hate seeing those chips in the 50 taper spindle. They could have at least put a cover on it.

I have a 2H in my shop. Rock solid machine. I've found I use a horizontal more and more especially when I got a good selection of end mill holders, etc. for it. Lots of drilling slotting and facing can be done on a horizontal fairly easily. Having the work right against the table makes it very stable.

I'd like to point out that Milwaukee is a city, not a state. Kearney and Trecker had a line of mills and "Milwaukee" was their brand. Kinda like Anheuser-Busch having "Budwieser" as a brand...
 
IMO Kearney Trecker is one of the better old American horizontals you can get, and the 2H is fairly common in terms of finding 2nd hand advise about the machine. Parts require some creativity and luck.

As others have said, be wary of damages. If they will let you, turn it on and try moving all the axis in different feeds and try the spindle in all gears. The Bridgeport head wouldn't be hard to replace if needs be (that cast iron adapter is probably worth more than the head itself).

There is no "Blue Book" value on stuff like this. You could strike a deal for $100 or $5000 bucks and the fairness of it would just depend on how happy the two parties are in the end.
 
I don't know much about these machines, other than that they are stout as hell and can rip a cut, but you'll want to give a good eye to the right side of the table, where I assume the feed engage assembly is located. The cover has been brazed/repaired. Could be nothing, but also could indicate further damage underneath. Worth a look and good luck.
 
I'd say " Cincinnati " were every bit as good if not better.

Regards Tyrone.

You would get more than a few arguments, horizontals most of all.

They BECAME pretty good, but only late in the century, so the older ones, not so much. D'ruther a Brown & Sharpe for oldies.

Might even say "great" about Cinncy, but only the last few years they carried the "Milacron" name, before the parent company decided that plastic molding was their future.

As it still is, last time I looked. Just not a very large future, coming off a one-time "empire". Not a bad idea, plastics. "The Mill" were just not as nimble chasing it as others with less baggage.
 
You would get more than a few arguments, horizontals most of all.

They BECAME pretty good, but only late in the century, so the older ones, not so much. D'ruther a Brown & Sharpe for oldies.

Might even say "great" about Cinncy, but only the last few years they carried the "Milacron" name, before the parent company decided that plastic molding was their future.

As it still is, last time I looked. Just not a very large future, coming off a one-time "empire". Not a bad idea, plastics. "The Mill" were just not as nimble chasing it as others with less baggage.

The " Cincy's " I worked on were pretty bullet proof designs with no real failings. I remember installing a nearly new No 4 horizontal for a pal and I'll never forget the sound it made when we pressed the green button. Talk about a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.

I'd be happy to work either make.

Regards Tyrone.
 
The " Cincy's " I worked on were pretty bullet proof designs with no real failings. I remember installing a No 4 horizontal for a pal and I'll never forget the sound it made when we pressed the green button. Talk about a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.

I'd be happy to work either make.

Regards Tyrone.

Last one I ran with my OWN hands were 1965. Some had been flat-belt conversions. Newest was actually the small Toolmaster vertical - right about Bee Pee small or only slightly larger.

And I did say Cinncy got better in later era's.

As to "old(er)" mills of the era the OP is looking to work with, horizontals most of all, K&T Milwaukee still had the edge.

Nowadays, a 5200 lb avoir "Quartet" combo-mill that tries to LOOK like K&T-strong has to do me. Crudely made, by comparison, but it is a space-saver.

My floor slab is too thin for a 'real' K&T, and I only have 200A electrical service!

OTOH I don't have to make a single chip if I am not in the mood. Retirement checks hit the mailbox, regardless, and I am far the better for that!

:)
 
....My floor slab is too thin for a 'real' K&T, and I only have 200A electrical service!...

Not really. I have had machines on cement plaster over cinders with no problem. I'd bet you just don't want to do another DeeCee conversion.
 
The first mill I ever used was a Cincinnati No2 vertical. I think it was a Birmingham (UK) made version, 50 taper. I didn't think too much about it at the time, it was only later that I realised that a lot of other mills were nothing like as good as that one.
 
....My floor slab is too thin for a 'real' K&T, and I only have 200A electrical service!...

Not really. I have had machines on cement plaster over cinders with no problem. I'd bet you just don't want to do another DeeCee conversion.

I wouldn't have ROOM to do a Dee Cee conversion. Hit my limit of any gain from it around 5 HP.

"Gain" is single-phase-in, NO de-rating, NO age-sensitive caps as VFD have, NO boost transformer needed (as 10EE must have). Also - so long as "Type T" - a better match to Old Iron's loads. CNC I leave to others. Carbides, too, mostly.

That means 180 VDC motors, and they are huge, heavy, insanely costly unless bought "right", and I've already "bought right" by cherry-picking NEW, NOS, and professionally done rebuilds put back into stock as spares, factories since shuttered with wires never re-connected.

What is left in 180 VDC goods are now pricier, tireder, or both.
 
The first mill I ever used was a Cincinnati No2 vertical. I think it was a Birmingham (UK) made version, 50 taper. I didn't think too much about it at the time, it was only later that I realised that a lot of other mills were nothing like as good as that one.


I remember a guy coming around to pick me up in his very nice Porsche. He had a big " Cincinnati " vertical he wanted my opinion on. " It's not cutting very well" he says.

I take the vee belt guard off at the back and the five or six sheeve pulley has one vee belt !

Regards Tyrone.
 
Condition being everything.... I seen a couple 2H horizontals go for scrap weight 2 weeks ago with a DH and conventional lead box on the end. The BP head would come in handy but it doesn't compare to the K&T #40 spindle vertical head. Make sure the seller has the rest of the parts that go with it.

Around here, I'd offer $500 and see what happens. With you being in California, I'd imagine he could probably get $2k and have a line out the door for it.
 
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How is a Bridgeport head on this thing? Is that not out of the ordinary? I wasn't aware there were combo machines like this, being able to do vertical and horizontal.

Seller offered to move it for a fee, about 1.5 hours away. I need to find out my fathers garage or my garage can accomodate a mill of this size.

Seller did not list a price, said tools need to go asap. Selling out his fathers old machine shop.
 
How is a Bridgeport head on this thing? Is that not out of the ordinary? I wasn't aware there were combo machines like this, being able to do vertical and horizontal.

Looks like a mounting bracket that mounts to the overarms.

IIRC, before they made whole machines, Bridgeport got their start selling heads to mount to horizontal mills like this. Think I read that on here somewhere.

Horizontal mills with the toolmakers arm expoese both the horizontal and vertical spindles. Most horizontals are horizontal only, or you could mount a vertical head on it that runs off the horizontal spindle.

Here is a picture of a K&T vertical head, but for a 5CK. Much larger and slightly different design than the one for this machine would be, but it's the same basic idea.

I paid 500 for the 2MH Cincinnati that also in the picture, it had been sitting in a scrapyard for well over a year and with no tooling. But the motor is good, spindle and feeds are good, just needs some cleaning. But I took a bet on it, it wasn't under power and had no tooling.

And no it's not out of the ordinary to find heads mounted on machines, many planers ended up with milling or grinding spindles. I've even seen VTLs and VBMs mounted with them for special jobs.
 

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Nevermind. Seller wants $5,500 ith some end mills :crazy:. Not sure if that's including his fee to deliver.

Much more than I wanted to spend considering they (he and father) are trying to sell the stuff 'asap'.

I'm not in a rush to find a mill yet. My 2 car garage is stuffed with a table saw, jointer, bandsaw, a recent addition a 1200lb 1960s powermatic planer. Fiance and I plan on moving to a bigger house, I'll look for a mill then when I have the room.
 








 
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