Another fine Krylon rebuild. Right over the scraping where the head swivels, and the overarm, among other places. Probably over any grease and rust as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Van-Norman-Ho...item518e3b336c

PS - No offense to the blind or sight-impaired, but let's face it, even Mr. Magoo on a 3-day drunk could do better. Nothing against Krylon either; ya just gotta open your eyes when you apply it.
How stupid do these dealers think machine tool buyers are?

It kills me, they had the balls to call it pristine. What a bunch of frickin' crooks.

I love the feathered paint out at the arbor support. They even painted the arbor nut, lol. They missed the underside of the Y axis crank, though. Man, amazing what kind of dumb@$$es actually consume otherwise good useable air.

" Probably over any grease and rust as well. "

Well, it's still better than the guy who had the lathe "professionally sandblasted" !!!

Actually, there might be a decent VN 12 lurking under there, and it has the overarm, the overarm support, and even an arbor with it. At least it appears to be complete, and the price is just a wee bit high.

(Several years ago, I gave $500 for a VN12 w/o overarm, overarm support, and arbor, although that deal did include a big old Bridgeport vise.)

The thing that I don't understand, is that the rattle can rebuild must be fooling enough people to make machinery dealers want to continue doing it. Are there that many suckers in the world?

Bwahahahahahaha!!

Note that if you felt the $895 price did not sufficiently compensate him for all his painting effort, you could buy it from his other listing for the same mill, at $1795:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=350262060209

I work for a dealer and paint machines but it takes me a week to do a good job all the cleaning and sanding and filling and getting all the crud off it takes time we figure it costs us about 500 bucks to paint a BP it will look like new. We try to sell machines that are not painted and they dont sell the minute we paint them they fly out the door for twice as much most people want a machine to look new if they are going to spend any kind of money for it. We dont use rattle cans we use sherwin williams industrial paint tuff stuff.

Kevin,
I can see where a good (translation proper) paint job adds both "curb appeal" and real value to a used machine purchase, but this guy is clearly putting lipstick on a pig! If you showed a machine like this to one of your customers, what would his reaction be?

I think it's more a matter of the dealer being a moron than a "savy" dealer thinking buyers are such.

That is funny though...hard to imagine the pitiful brain cell count it must take to not even bother to hold up a cardboard mask as you spray the paint.

Never seen a machine that was prestine...maybe that means it's prestigious or something.

Notwithstanding the paint, it doesnt look bad for the price. A 12 is large for me- a 1/2 would be a better fit though those are rare these days. Tiny

I've seen Krylon rebuilds before

... but this is a CLASS-ICH

- Leigh

I wish I had a picture of the drill press our third-world maintenance man was given to paint when things were slow. Must have already had five coats of paint on it and he painted it the most hideous green, except the bare surfaces which he painted black! The chuck, the column. Everything except the top of the table and the pulleys. Maybe when the plant closed he went to work for this guy....

"A 12 is large for me- a 1/2 would be a better fit "

Size difference between a 12, 1/2 (or later equivalent 6) is really negligible.

Unless yer movin it down wooden basement stairs which will support the 1000-1200 pound 1/2 but not the 1800 pound 12. Tiny

I actually weighed a 1/2 and it was 1500 pounds, including a pallet and a Bridgeport M head. I would be surprised if the M head was much more that 100 pounds.

Cal

There are also space and footprint constraints I have to live with that make a 1/2 a good choice. Tiny

You will find a No. 6 way sooner than you will find a 1/2, and they are no larger or heavier. They also lose the noisy bevel gear drive and flat belt maintainence that come with the 1/2, and since they are newer have a better chance of being in useable shape.
Andy

Sounds like a better machine...haven't seen any #6 around of late though either. Tiny

Having had the 6 at the museum and the 12 here at the house, they are almost precisely the same size. The 12 might be a couple of hundred pounds heavier, due to the powerfeed. The only difference in work envelope is that the 12 has a little more between the spindle and table. Overall footprint between a 6 and 12 is practically identical. I have never seen or measured a 1/2, but will bet it is about identical, or possibly a bit larger, depending on how the conversion motor drive is arranged.

If you need to go into the basement, take it all apart. Base casting stripped all the way is probably no worse than a small block Chevy. A little creative rigging would get it down there.