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Powermatic/Burke horizontal/vertical comments?

First class builder of light to medium machine tools. Most of them proven machines bought by Burke/Powermatic from other quality manufacturers after lengthy production runs.

That particular machine would be hard to beat as a first milling machine for a limited space.

With it, you will form judgements of your true needs and for some, it's all they'll ever need.

If it turns out that you eventualy need to move up in power, ridgity and features. Stand-alone vertical and horizontal, you'll always find someone that will fancy it as you do now.

At that price, I'd need to verify that it is in good working order, it sounds as though it's well tooled.

Bob
 
Wow, that's interesting -- it looks like they mounted a Millrite head on the Burke horizontal chassis.

I ran a Millrite for awhile -- it's a decent, no-frills, lightweight machine. The Millrite milling head (which is on that mill) is plain -- they come in either fine quill feed or lever-operated drill feed, but not both, and there's no depth stop.

Also, most of the Millrite heads have a Morse Taper spindle. Mine was R-8, but that was a special order from Burke.
 
Seems like a pretty high price for an old Burke, even in good condition. Even if you figure $1000 worth of vertical head and tooling, it would have to be in really good condition. Most old Burkes go for $500-$750 from what I've seen.
 
I happen to know quite a bit about that machine, matter of fact I bought it. Not sure why he still has the ad up? I did not pay his asking price although milling machines cost more here in the Rockies than they do in Ohio or Southern California. This machine weighed in at 2600 pounds across the scale and does indeed have an r8 spindle. It has 1.5 hp single phase motor for the vertical which is nice because I don't have to start the phase converter. 3 phase motor for the horizontal. It is definitely heavier machine than the millrite. It's my first machine and so far I have had a good time learning on it.
 
yeah the paint all matches, but it has been painted gray. But under the gray is the original green that powermatic used. The green I believe without chipping all the paint covers the entire machine.
 
That mill is a Burke / Powermatic 333 with optional vertical head (Millrite head). I had one several years ago in my home shop. The Millrite and the 333 used a different size dovetail for the ram. I had a Millrite first and thought it would be nice to have a 333 and put my Millrite ram with head on it. Well after buying the 333 for almost nothing at a school auction it turned out they used a different ram. I had and used the mill for several years. It was a nice mill for a home shop. I sold mine on here for $400 if I remember right but it took a long time to get that for it. I might still have a copy of the manual or you should be able to get it from D.C. Morrison.

Andy
 








 
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