Brown & Sharpe Horizontal Mill No. 000 Plain - has anyone used one?

HiltzMachining · Dec 6, 2018

I saw an old Brown & Sharpe Horizontal Mill "No. 000 Plain" for sale within driving distance of my home.

Has anyone ever seen one of these? I find almost nothing in online searches.

I was thinking to pick up this small machine for doing keyways in crankshafts for powersports crank-alignment applications.

Looking for anyone who may have encountered this specific machine model who may know about things to look for before buying.

Cole2534 · Dec 6, 2018

Looks like it'd make a hell of a tube notcher, if nothing else.

thermite · Dec 6, 2018

HiltzMachining said:
I saw an old Brown & Sharpe Horizontal Mill "No. 000 Plain" for sale within driving distance of my home.

Has anyone ever seen one of these? I find almost nothing in online searches.

I was thinking to pick up this small machine for doing keyways in crankshafts for powersports crank-alignment applications.

Looking for anyone who may have encountered this specific machine model who may know about things to look for before buying.

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There are some serious limitations vs a conventional knee mill, but the sliding head WITH overarm design, table at constant height above Earth, should make it right handy for your application - and lots of others. It only has to elevate a mostly known-in-advance mass, not deal with the variable mass of whatever is on the table.

"Look for"... what? There isn't anything complicated even "there", let alone hidden, as could present much of a barrier to putting it in good working order right inexpensively.

I'd be tempted to Just F(irmly) grab it unless the asking price is silly-high.

shutinlead · Dec 6, 2018

Ditto to what Thermite said! I fondled one of these in a used equipment store back in '87? wanted it real bad but could only afford one and I only had room for one, bought a quaint little M-head instead. If it was within an afternoon's drive for me I'd get it and cure that itch.
Greg

thermite · Dec 6, 2018

shutinlead said:
Ditto to what Thermite said! I fondled one of these in a used equipment store back in '87? wanted it real bad but could only afford one and I only had room for one, bought a quaint little M-head instead. If it was within an afternoon's drive for me I'd get it and cure that itch.
Greg

LOL! if ye'd ha' bought THIS one instead of the kiddiegarter-gumband-powered M-head, you wudda KNOWN you still needed a mill, kept looking, sooner ended up better-off than having an M-head to frustrate and delay fulfillment of THAT need!

I already have "two and 3/4 mills". I count the Quartet combo two, the Burke #4 as half a mill, the repurposed Pantoengraver as a 1/4 of a mill!

This puppy would replace the Burke #4, given the Quartet is "here". The H.B. Preise is "good with curves", of course.

As an "only" mill, OTOH, not such a good idea.

Readily controllable "axes" thing. Or lack-thereof, actually.

M.B. Naegle · Dec 6, 2018

Looks like a Production mill. Probably has limited cross travel (if any). Would be great for doing one job thousands of times.

thermite · Dec 6, 2018

M.B. Naegle said:
Looks like a Production mill. Probably has limited cross travel (if any). Would be great for doing one job thousands of times.

I don't see "any" cross-travel. That isn't actually a show stopper for the type of tasking a horizontal is usually fed.

Think adding the metalworking equivalant of an adjustable "fence" on a tablesaw or positionable Vee blocks or similar clamping on a PHS or bandsaw, and you might have all you need for "production" of keyways even where the goods to BE keyed vary significantly, one to the next.

As an all-too-common need for milling in general, that could EASILY justify the small footprint and power budget as is all this little puppy asks for.

Mind. "Not as your ONLY mill". Unless that IS all you need. Some folk, it actually IS.

Per its PO, my Burke, which IS a "general purpose" horizontal, even to OEM vise and universal table, had gone 30+ years asked to do nought BUT keyways, lawn care & groundskeeping equipment repairs, mostly.

As with a bespoke "key" not "keyway" cutter machine, this machine wudda made that easier.

Less messing with setups for that frees the General Purpose mill for the more challenging work.

jeffm8622 · Dec 6, 2018

In the 1953 brochure it lists 'maximum length of cutting feed is 5 1/2 inches. Transverse adjustment of spindle is 2 inches. Vertical adjustment of spindle head is 5 1/2 inches.

thermite · Dec 6, 2018

jeffm8622 said:
In the 1953 brochure it lists 'maximum length of cutting feed is 5 1/2 inches. Transverse adjustment of spindle is 2 inches. Vertical adjustment of spindle head is 5 1/2 inches.

That can still do a useful lot.

Ex; Nearly all our milling was done on 4 hor-bores. A K&T horizontal and the Toolmaster vertical next to it were pretty much LEFT set up, 3 shifts, month after month to do the common keyways we had on mining and rail rebuild. A rounded-end 3/4" keyslot on a tapered motor shaft end was about all we asked of the Toolmaster. The K&T horizontal did the longer, open-ended, and/or sliding keyslots.

A fair range of sizes is addressable even with the SMALL size and work-envelope of this critter. If one has the need at all often, of course. ELSE NOT - it may as well be a decorator.

jeffm8622 · Dec 6, 2018

thermite said:
That can still do a useful lot.

Ex; Nearly all our milling was done on 4 hor-bores. A K&T horizontal and the Toolmaster vertical next to it were pretty much LEFT set up, 3 shifts, month after month to do the common keyways we had on mining and rail rebuild. A rounded-end 3/4" keyslot on a tapered motor shaft end was about all we asked of the Toolmaster. The K&T horizontal did the longer, open-ended, and/or sliding keyslots.

A fair range of sizes is addressable even with the SMALL size and work-envelope of this critter. If one has the need at all often, of course. ELSE NOT - it may as well be a decorator.

Was the K&T new at that time? I'll bet it was nice to work on. Jeff

thermite · Dec 6, 2018

jeffm8622 said:
Was the K&T new at that time? I'll bet it was nice to work on. Jeff

For the 1960's? Not too damned old. Prolly a 1920's or 1930's vintage. It had at least left the factory with one of those new-fangled electric motors.

The smaller one I'd been using in prior years, different Day Job was a lineshaft conversion, bought used prior to 1929, may have predated War One as its junior sibling, a B&S "0" did.

Horizontals are ALWAYS "nice to work on". They don't have a whole zoo of leftover parts hung all over 'em, all loosey-goosey, agnostic as to where TF to point one sorta random-like moment to the next, so they don't f**k yah around. They just mill stuff.

john.k · Dec 7, 2018

Looks like a production mill to me too......about 1" travel of spindle side to side to set cutters.........usually only one speed with a few sets of change gears for speed changes.Round here small ones interest hobbyists ,until they discover how little use they actually are,and Ive seen the bigger ones repurposed as brake disc lathes.

thermite · Dec 7, 2018

john.k said:
Looks like a production mill to me too......about 1" travel of spindle side to side to set cutters.........usually only one speed with a few sets of change gears for speed changes.Round here small ones interest hobbyists ,until they discover how little use they actually are,and Ive seen the bigger ones repurposed as brake disc lathes.

Oz and necessity the Mother of invention, would see just about ANYTHING "re-purposed" to meet an unrelated need, given the distances, etc.

Here, a larger-sized B&S "O" universal table is slated as an "accessory" for my larger drillpress.

Not for milling. Got a decent mill for that.

For easier and better positioning between holes and such. Sort of a "half-vast" jig-bore - to Kaintucky windage precision.

PDW · Dec 7, 2018

thermite said:
Oz and necessity the Mother of invention, would see just about ANYTHING "re-purposed" to meet an unrelated need, given the distances, etc.

Here, a larger-sized B&S "O" universal table is slated as an "accessory" for my larger drillpress.

Not for milling. Got a decent mill for that.

For easier and better positioning between holes and such. Sort of a "half-vast" jig-bore - to Kaintucky windage precision.

I have a brand spanking new (old stock) all angle Deckel FP1 table as an accessory for my Kearns horizontal mill. Makes some of the local Deckel tragics cry in their beer but it works for me and it's not for sale.

Great for setting up angled cuts.

PDW

RustyD · Jun 21, 2020

Did you get the B&S #000?

or powersports crank-alignment applications.

Looking for anyone who may have encountered this specific machine model who may know about things to look for before buying.

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