Recently someone around town offered me a BP M-head, which has seen far better days.
The machine is covered in crud and (light?) surface rust, everything turns, uses MC2, bearings seem fine (on both ends), power feed doesn't work and hardly any play when rocking the bed. He said it was hardly ever used when he got it, besides the deep apprentice marks on the bed, the ways do not appear to have any flaking (left?) on them.
Is it normal for a BP that old, to not have any flaking/scraping marks, maybe from factory? Or would it just have been wear on the machine? There is also no accesoires that come with it (no z-handle, no no collets, nothing).
I know the shaper attachment is worth the cost alone, but I'd like to know for sure the machine isn't scrap to begin with. Can I put the shaper on any BP, like my Series I? Friend of mine would like to buy it and 500 euro's doesn't seem to shabby.
The machine is covered in crud and (light?) surface rust, everything turns, uses MC2, bearings seem fine (on both ends), power feed doesn't work and hardly any play when rocking the bed. He said it was hardly ever used when he got it, besides the deep apprentice marks on the bed, the ways do not appear to have any flaking (left?) on them.
Is it normal for a BP that old, to not have any flaking/scraping marks, maybe from factory? Or would it just have been wear on the machine? There is also no accesoires that come with it (no z-handle, no no collets, nothing).
I know the shaper attachment is worth the cost alone, but I'd like to know for sure the machine isn't scrap to begin with. Can I put the shaper on any BP, like my Series I? Friend of mine would like to buy it and 500 euro's doesn't seem to shabby.