My BC Ames horizontal mill for sale on Maine CL

I am selling this BC Ames milling machine.
B.C. Ames milling machine - tools - by owner - sale
The purchaser of this mill will have the option of buying a BC Ames lathe of earlier vintage, same throw and bore, for half the price of the mill. I don't want to sell the lathe first.
Health Circumstances have made it necessary for me to sell equipment. I only have so many posts on PM and hope I am not abusing the rules here. If this gets deleted I understand why.

I've seen these and they are nice.
And John is a stand-up guy to deal with.

Jeff

Beautiful machines. That would be a dream set for me.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

more pictures of the lathe:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/ames/page5.html

Hey Guys, I actually just bought that very mill based on a few pics online and don't know much about the machine... Actually I don't know anything about it like what size spindle it uses even? Yikes. Any info would be treasured!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Hi SDY,

That exact, serial number machine, or just an Ames of that type?
Anyway, they're pretty basic little machines. The collets could be either 1A or 3A, depending on size.
(1A looks like a faintly skinny 5C, and maxes out at 1", while 3A looks sort of like a 3C, and maxes out at 5/8".) They made machines with both size headstocks. Although if you've got the overarm version, it's probably the big one, thus 1A. (Not all Ames mills have the overarm. Mine doesn't.) The collets are reasonably rare, but they do show up on ePray every so often. I think there's a guy on there now who has some, and absolutely no clue what they're really worth. (They're rare! So they must be made of gold! )
Err....no.
Other than the freak collet sizes, they're a pretty standard early 20th century precision horizontal bench mill. Nice machines, and well made, but nothing particularly tricky about them.
The Ames Triplex, now *that's* a weird machine, but the standard bench mill is pretty straightforward.
PM me when you get to the point of specific questions. I've probably got answers.
Oh, just FYI, there weren't ever any manuals or operations guides for either the mills or the lathes.

Regards,
Brian

Sadly, John Stotz passed away some months after this thread.
I don't know what happened to his machines.

Perhaps someone might contact his wife so she might find better prices for machines..

At least send our condolences

I told John when the time came that I would help his wife sell anything she wanted.
She emailed me and told me about his passing and said she would let me know if she wanted help.
He may have sold a lot before he passed, but I haven't heard from her.
She may not be ready yet, or may have already sold things.

Guys, thank you so much for responding and I'm terribly sorry about John. The one I'm picking up tomorrow does not have the over arm... I bought it for its simplicity and its weight assuming that it would be a reasonably capable lite bugger, but I'll respond tomorrow with pictures and first impressions. I just wanted to thank you guys for responding... Wish me luck tomorrow.. The guy hasn't been the friendliest to say the least ha.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Hello, what size collets dose the lathe use? Thanks

I don't know anything about this specific machine, but my Ames' use either 3AM (smaller) or 1AM (larger).
3AM is almost identical to 3PN (for Pratt & Whitney mills), but the 3PN collets are threaded on the inside and the 3AM are threaded on the outside. I have one set of collets that are threaded on both the inside and outside, they fit both my P&W and Ames, so check out P&W collets too if you're trying to find the #3's for Ames.

The headstock casting for the #3 collets is noticeably smaller around the bearings so should be easy to ID. The #1 headstocks were made with both plain bearings and matched high precision ball bearings. There may be other options too, I only know what's in my machines.

I have some spare 1AM collets I've been meaning to sell. Not a full set, but a bunch of sizes, and some are brand new with the rubber coating on them.

QT: [ Circumstances have made it necessary for me to sell equipment.]

Sorry to hear that you are in ill health.

A very nice-looking mill and lathe.

michiganbuck said:

QT: [ Circumstances have made it necessary for me to sell equipment.]

Sorry to hear that you are in ill health.

A very nice-looking mill and lathe.

Click to expand...

You didn’t read the follow up posts I take it?

He passed away a few months after this thread was started.

tom_boctou said:

I don't know anything about this specific machine, but my Ames' use either 3AM (smaller) or 1AM (larger).
3AM is almost identical to 3PN (for Pratt & Whitney mills), but the 3PN collets are threaded on the inside and the 3AM are threaded on the outside. I have one set of collets that are threaded on both the inside and outside, they fit both my P&W and Ames, so check out P&W collets too if you're trying to find the #3's for Ames.

The headstock casting for the #3 collets is noticeably smaller around the bearings so should be easy to ID. The #1 headstocks were made with both plain bearings and matched high precision ball bearings. There may be other options too, I only know what's in my machines.

I have some spare 1AM collets I've been meaning to sell. Not a full set, but a bunch of sizes, and some are brand new with the rubber coating on them.

Click to expand...

I would be interested in some if you have a size i dont have, shoot me a some sizes, i will try to dig out my box of collets and see what i dont have. Thanks!