Bench Master

I have a Bench master mill, model MH6, Serial 3?8299. It has been converted with a DC motor. It as a "b" on the right side.
Is there any value to this Mill/drill?

Is there any value to this Mill/drill?

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Possibly, but first you would need to find an interested party.

John Oder

It would be best to avoid the "mill/drill" moniker. Two reasons, first the Benchmaster is not a drill, fixed spindle, no quill.
Second, the vast majority of mill/drills are very cheap Asian imports, so that title will turn people off. It is a small vertical milling machine, unless it has the horizontal fittings instead. A few have both, (not at the same time) same frame.

It is a well built and capable manual mill, though it's work envelope is dimunitive.

I sold one last year, lots of takers, at a price that would buy a more capable mill of that vintage.

Bob

They do have value, as they are popular with hobby guys. Easy to move and great for small work, but well made (unlike the Asian imports Bob mentions).
Price is determined by location, condition of the machine, included tooling, and quite a few other variables.
Andy

New member , first post

I recently purchased a Benchmaster horizontal mill Model MH-3
Dose anyone know how I can remove the top eye and what collet size it would take if I wanted to run a 3/4 shank to use hole saws for tube mitering on this machine?
I have a dedicated fixture that bolts to the mill table that holds tubing for mitering.

Here's a few pictures of the machine -

Brad4130 said:

New member , first post

I recently purchased a Benchmaster horizontal mill Model MH-3
Dose anyone know how I can remove the top eye and what collet size it would take if I wanted to run a 3/4 shank to use hole saws for tube mitering on this machine?
I have a dedicated fixture that bolts to the mill table that holds tubing for mitering.

Here's a few pictures of the machine -
View attachment 289270
View attachment 289271
View attachment 289272

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What top eye?

Are your hole saws really on 3/4" arbors?

Your mill probably has a Morse taper or Brown & Sharpe taper bore in the spindle. It is imperative that you figure out which it is and what size it is..

Then look on eBay for collets of that size and type in whatever hole size you need. Or you might get an ER collet chuck and ER collets on a tapered arbor that fits your mill.

Larry

I have one.

The "top eye" is probably referring to the overarm bracket that goes on the body of the spindle carrier. You'd take out the spindle carrier to remove the overarm clamp setup. Loosen the clamps of the column, plus the one for the bracket, pull out the spindle carrier, removeing the bracket, then put back the carrier. You have to take off the pulley at the rear to do this.

Or just unclamp the overarm at the bracket and remove that.

I have both the horizontal spindle and the vertical head, which is the one I would use, since I have a heavier-duty horizontal mill already.

I have not looked at the horizontal spindle carrier recently, but my recollection is it has a #2 morse taper just like the vertical head. That means a 1/2" shank maximum due to collet size.

Your machine seems to be missing the vertical adjustment screw for the table. That and the lever I see next to it mean it was a "production mill", with a lever table feed and vertical feed. Should be an MH-4, since it has the overarm.