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How much should I sell my old mill for?

M

Megar arc 5040dd

Super User
I am off to get my new to me Modern ZX45 milling machine tomorrow and that brings up my question. How much should I ask for my old mill? It is a horizontal mill with vertical head. Table size is 29 7/8" x 6 5/8", X axis travel is 18.7", Y axis travel is 6.8", knee travel is 11.65". It also has power feed in the X direction. The vertical spindle is MT3 and has a 3/4 hp 3 phase motor powered by a vfd 230 volt input power. The horizontal spindle is I believe iso 30 taper but I could be wrong. It is driven by a 2 hp single phase motor 115 volt input. speed is controlled by step pulleys and had back gears. All the ways are dove tail and have adjustable gibs. It comes with an ER collet chuck and set of collets, horizontal arbour, as well as the other tool holder and fixture plate shown. There is also an overarm support bushing (not sure if that's the proper term) that is not shown.

I bought this mill almost 7 years ago and it has worked great for me. I have never actually set it up or used it for horizontal milling before. I did not build it but I did add the DRO and changed the vertical drive so I could have variable speeds. I just finished changing the vertical motor over the other day right before I found a new mill.

The only reason I am buying a new mill is I want to have a quill. I will give is a good cleaning and hope to post it on kijiji this weekend. If you have any questions I will answer them as best I can.

So how much should I ask for it? I am located in Saskatchewan where there never seems to be many mills for sale (hence why I am driving 5 hours to Edmonton to get one tomorrow)

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Wow is that mill a DIY build? It'd be hard to put a value on something like that. I don't know that I have any helpful suggestions for value, I just wanted to inquire about the origins of it.

If it is a DIY machine, I don't think you are going to get very much for it, but being in Saskatchewan, tooling comes up less frequently, so you have the benefit of scarcity facilitating a hiring asking price. My gut feeling is to list it for like $2-2.5k and expect to be talked down at least $500, but maybe I'm way out to lunch. This machine is cool as hell, but to be blunt it looks a bit more like a mill-shaped object than a mill to me. If I were interested in purchasing it, I'd definitely want to see it under power.

Is the 115V inlet run on a typical 3 prong, 15A plug? At two horsepower with a VFD I would guess it's atleast a 20A plug?
 
Someone had some skills making a whole mill!

This will not be easy as this is a one of a kind machine. From somewhat limited experience with these unique machines I think almost always home made stuff is less $$$ than similar "factory" made stuff. Even through back plates for my chuck I make are way better than Chinese stuff.

That being said I think similar (somewhat) but equipped with a quill machine - without the horizontal spindle would be RF-30.

So you are looking at RF-30 as your main competitor. These machines recently went up in price but a a well used one could be had for just over 1000 CAD.

Your market is small - its a good thing and a bad thing at once -very few machines but also few buyers. You are not giving too much tooling away with it, almost none. I would be surprised if you could get more than a $1000 for it. Certainly in Calgary a $1000 would be a "sale" problem IMHO.

I let Dabbler tackle this now.
 
Xyphota said:
Wow is that mill a DIY build? It'd be hard to put a value on something like that. I don't know that I have any helpful suggestions for value, I just wanted to inquire about the origins of it.

If it is a DIY machine, I don't think you are going to get very much for it, but being in Saskatchewan, tooling comes up less frequently, so you have the benefit of scarcity facilitating a hiring asking price. My gut feeling is to list it for like $2-2.5k and expect to be talked down at least $500, but maybe I'm way out to lunch. This machine is cool as hell, but to be blunt it looks a bit more like a mill-shaped object than a mill to me. If I were interested in purchasing it, I'd definitely want to see it under power.

Is the 115V inlet run on a typical 3 prong, 15A plug? At two horsepower with a VFD I would guess it's atleast a 20A plug?
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It is a DIY build. From what I recall I believe it was build by a motorcycle builder and a retired machinist quite a while before I bought it about 7 years ago. It is under power and I am still using it. It is mill shaped but also is a fully functional mill. Though it is more like a bench mill than a bridge port, but it is quite heavy. It does have a few quarks but the main one being that the Y axis screw is right hand thread instead of left hand as well as the vise screws the opposite way to tighten and loosen. Both I got used to. I also have an antique lathe from the late 1800's and the tail stock quill on that also turns backwards from modern ones.

The VFD is on the 3/4 hp motor not the 2hp. The 2hp is just a drum switch on a regular 3 prong 115V 15A plug. Up until I crawled under it tonight and read the tag I had always thought it was a 1hp motor. Either way the motor is a beast and ridiculously heavy.
 
Tom Kitta said:
Someone had some skills making a whole mill!

This will not be easy as this is a one of a kind machine. From somewhat limited experience with these unique machines I think almost always home made stuff is less $$$ than similar "factory" made stuff. Even through back plates for my chuck I make are way better than Chinese stuff.

That being said I think similar (somewhat) but equipped with a quill machine - without the horizontal spindle would be RF-30.

So you are looking at RF-30 as your main competitor. These machines recently went up in price but a a well used one could be had for just over 1000 CAD.

Your market is small - its a good thing and a bad thing at once -very few machines but also few buyers. You are not giving too much tooling away with it, almost none. I would be surprised if you could get more than a $1000 for it. Certainly in Calgary a $1000 would be a "sale" problem IMHO.

I let Dabbler tackle this now.
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Thanks. I don't have a lot of tooling to give away with it. I have some end mills but they are all old and used and in need of sharpening as well as I can use end mills on the new machine. Calgary does get a lot more mills that come up for sale than here, especially the hob size ones. Fingers crossed someone finds it as neat as I did when I bought it.
 
Well nonetheless it's very impressive! I think this would probably be closer in value to a RF-45 clone than a RF-30 clone. It looks pretty stout and the horizontal capabilities add some value so I would try to find current or recent listings for some of those machines to use as reference. I'm sure some buyers would find the DIYness of it pretty cool.
 
Xyphota said:
Well nonetheless it's very impressive! I think this would probably be closer in value to a RF-45 clone than a RF-30 clone. It looks pretty stout and the horizontal capabilities add some value so I would try to find current or recent listings for some of those machines to use as reference. I'm sure some buyers would find the DIYness of it pretty cool.
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That is funny that you say that. The mill I am replacing it with is a RF-45 clone (at least I am pretty sure it is). Like I said the only reason I am replacing it is I have never used the horizontal feature and would rather have a quill. I think they are pretty close in physical size. Though I would be more than happy to get half of what I am paying for a used RF-45 clone.
 
It is very hard to say what someone will buy it for: You are in a machine tool desert, which works in your favour. Self built, you have to sell it on its capabilities - but it would make a great 'starter' mill.

What you can get for it has practically no relation to what you paid for it....

Start with an ask of $1100 and see what goes. Iit looks pretty capable. Someone might counter with $1000... At some price point, it is easier to drive to Edmonton or Calgary to get a small mill, so I'm thinking that you have a ceiling of about 1200$ in any event. You might have to be prepared to take less than a thousand, as there may be a smaller resale market there as well....
 
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Look in the local fabrication shop listings, a needy shop would jump at a handy mill for doing some machined parts. Package it with a vise and several cutters.
It will sell quicker if you can show them some pieces that you have machined with it.
 
Bandit said:
Looks interesting, any idea what it may weigh?
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If I had to guess I would say 800 ish pounds give or take. I had to put screw jacks under that corner of the shop because when I walked past the mill the air compressor I had next to it would wobble. I will clean it up tomorrow and get it ready to sell. The new mill is home and half apart in the back of my truck. I will take it all apart and hopefully get the pieces into the shop over the weekend. The head and column are heavier than I had expected so moving it all by hand should be fun.
 
It's gone. I posted it on Kijiji last night and it was sold by 9:30 this morning. There was more interest in it that I had expected. I am a little sad to see it go but also happy because I need the space. And now begins a new chapter with a new mill and a new and more efficient shop layout. Its amazing how you can gain a lot of space by moving the same stuff around into a new layout.
 
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