Milling machines Greaves Makino Van Norman

Online auction, won one, picked up a second for a song, and then why go if you don't fill the trailer, LOL. All are supposed to be runners. In order of success..

1st. Greaves Milling Machine. Wanted to have an operating mill sized between my non-operating J-head BB, and outside underwraps Cincinnati Vertical 4. This Greaves mill has a M-Head BB mill attached to the overarm.

2nd. Makino Milling Machine. ???, hopefully I can recoup my gas money with this mill. I know less than nothing about Makino.

3rd. Van Norman Milling Machine. Was a late addition to the listing. Fell in love with it because of style and completeness. I see collets in a rack attached to the side.

So, I have 5 mills now, will be down to 1 or 2 in a month or two. The Cincinnati No4 has to go after watching the Greaves mill on uTube. The No4 is too heavy for my concrete and would like all my machines in one area, etc. one mill has to go, well, just because. My J-head BB will go as a whole or for parts depending on my next move.

My current thought (without looking at these mills in person yet) is to keep the Van Norman No16 and to keep the Greaves without the M-head. Then sell the Cincinnati No4, J-head BB complete, sell the Makino and sell the M-head (from the Greaves)

That leaves me with the No16 for light to medium and the Greaves for medium to heavy milling. Both of these mills are universals and have swivel tables.

I forgot to add my original thought before I got the other two mills. I was originally chasing the Greaves.

Put the J-head onto the Greaves and call it a day and get rid of the rest.

The Cincinnati No4 Vertical
The Van Norman No16
The other mill, not to be named
The BB without its J-head for parts
The M-head,head only.

Also, anyone know the weight of the Makino?

Anyway, enjoy the pictures,

Carl

I have a K&T 2HL Universal with a BP 2J clone mounted on it and love it. I had a Van Norman No.12 prior to the K&T and find the movable quill, the variable speed and the 4200 rpm top speed work well for what I need. When I need heavy removal, I can pull the 2J head and run the mill in horizontal mode.

Craig

Craig,

Thank you for your reply. What I was looking for. I can see the K&T is similar sized to the Greaves. The Greaves has a M-head BB which I am not a fan of, I had one and sold it when I got the J-head BB.

The J-head BB has a broken cross nut and a couple other issues which have prevented my from running it currently. Still in parts.

So, my original plan of putting the J-head on the Greaves, and getting rid of the rest might be my best option and it does clear up floor space.

The Van Norman is unique and I will have to evaluate that mill when I retrieve it, etc.

Thanks again for the imput,

Carl

Makino makes nice CNC stuff these days. Not sure how their old manual stuff was, but you MIGHT have a good chance of getting parts for it as they're still in business.

Carl,

I would take some time to play with the Van Norman when you get it home. I wish I'd kept my No. 12 until I found a bigger VN to take its place next to the K&T. Far more rigid than a BP. The lure of power feeds in X,Y and Z as well as rapid traverse was too much for me to resist, but the bigger VNs have all that as well as rapid transition from horizontal to vertical mode.

Craig

Could have been worse I guess

Called the guy and asked for a load out date latest possible. He stated that I had until Monday as the building is sold on Tuesday and not his anymore. Got on the horn and re-arranged my trucker's schedule so we can go today, three days before the last day, and we go. I call the guy who states, give him a heads up an hour out. 5 hours later we arrive (we called an hour out) and no one around. Go into unlocked building, find two lathes, a surface grinder and a huge horizontal boring machine. My machines are no where to be found. Go back out the front and walk around the back of the building and there are my machines. One is starting to tip over in the mud and has a cable jammed under it from dragging it out the building. The other two have been dragged out the building with a strap. All of the collets that were with the Van Norman are gone. Two of the covers from the Van Norman are missing. Not sure what else is missing or not. I call the guy and he says that they took them out a day ago and that someone must have taken the collets. Not at all happy, I call the auction house (lucky we went during the week and not a weekend) and tell them what I see. This being a very good online auction, which I have used extensively, they say they will give me a refund. We head back for the truck. A kid shows up in a car, he apparently is the "loading is available on sight" operator of a loader. I tell him that I am not picking up the mills as there are parts missing and I am not happy with how they have been handled, i.e. dragging and in the mud. On way home auction house calls and states that the owner called and found the 5 socket like things, I tell the auction fellow, that the rack was full and in the small picture on my phone I can count at least 7, and that they cost 50-100 bucks depending, etc. He refunds my money immediately after he hangs up.

So lesson learned, back to square one, drive on, hope for the best, turn a new leaf, etc...

Oh, and yes, pictures,

Carl

Carl,

That is a bummer for you. Also a bummer is the fact that those machines will most likely end up in a scrappers shredder now.

Good luck on your next attempt.

Craig

That's frustrating. I've had similar cases where someone thinks they are "helping" or they just assume no one will notice/care if they expedite moving something. If something goes wrong, just throw money at it and it will be ok, right?

To borrow a phrase from James Herriot's books...
"The Knackerman has won yet again"

I really like the Greaves, too bad.
There is a special place in Hell for ALL auctioneers..............don't trust any of them

Stinking conduct on the part of the auction house, to be sure. But it is true that the machines will now almost surely go to the scrapper. If the machines had any value left to you after the rough move and loss of parts, it seems it might have been possible to negociate a better slightly-over-scrap price