Well, we're home, and unloaded. That was an interesting, but uneventful trip. Turns out the owner was an old boss of mine......That's a story for offline......Aside from the blizzard that came down on us, just as we got it over to his garage door to pull up the ramps it was pretty smooth. Kinda forced my hand and resulted in getting no pictures, it was simply go time, and I just really wanted to gtfo of there by that point......I'm glad I brought my rollers, as the mobile base was next to useless.
It was whiteout blizzard driving for about 20 minutes home, then cleared right up and was bright and sunny the rest of the way. I had the entire top of the machine wrapped in a heavy duty garbage bag, and then stretch wrapped over top, so I wasn't worried, but I wish I would have done the base too. It got a bit salty. Oh well, not a big deal I've already cleaned it off but If I ever decide to move a machine in the winter again, someone come kick me in the nuts. I'll pay your gas money to get here.
Getting it off at home was a breeze. Due to the slope of the driveway I could just pinch bar it down the ramps, as they were almost flat and friction helped keep everything Very slow, stable and controlled. This was the first time I stopped to take a picture.
And here it is in it's home. For now.
I need to shuffle some things around a bit. Few inches here and there, but that's about where it'll be. Not an ideal spot for it, being close to the other machines, but there's only so much you can do with a 15'x25' space. On the drive home I came up with a malaria tent like idea to surround it, and contain the grit, so I might give that a try if I can find some suitable material. Maybe call it the cone of silence
As for the machine itself. The spindle sounds great, and feels really tight. The machine itself feels really tight and in good condition, despite looking like it's never been cleaned in it's entire life..... I did stick an indicator on it when I got home, and there was zero backlash in the column, and only 0.007" in the cross feed. It's a flat/vee way machine, no bearings on the table
, so it's not as free and easy like I would hope and am used to. But the ways look like they're in great shape, and even though the chuck face was in poor shape, there was really no detectable wear in either direction. Some lighter way lube might free that up a bit, I have no idea what he was running. Something I'll look into. It was pretty cold too.
Despite not exactly being the type of machine I was hoping for, it'll do what I want. There are a few things I don't really like about it, but I'll just have to adjust my expectations. Once I get it all cleaned up, a big job it looks like, I'll give it a full assessment. But for now, I'm just happy to have it in and on the floor with no surprises, and hopefully get back to some other projects. It might take a while to get into this, I'm really in no hurry, but I might chip away at it here and there. It needs a full, and thorough cleaning before i use it.....I'm not really a clean snob about tools, but this is too much lol.