08-08-2015, 07:10 PM
I got a call from a coworker last week and he told me his brother was selling off his home machine shop as well as the whole house. The primary things he's looking to sell are one REALLY cool manual lathe and a good Bridgeport clone, both of Taiwanese origin. More on those later, elsewhere.
He also had a quite a few miscellaneous items. Most are things I already own, but I spied a particular casting that looked familiar. I recognized it to be a balancing stand for up to 12" grinding wheels. No arbor for it was found and it need a little touch grind to the tips to get some nicks out. Also, 2 of the 3 leveling screws need to be replaced. I figure I can turn an adequate arbor if a Sopko doesn't show up soon on eBay. Cost me $20.
The fellow also allowed me to pick out any tooling I thought I might be able to use. Everything he has, I already have and in most cases, better quality. He has Chinese brazed carbide boring bars, various micrometers, insert holders, HSS end mills, etc. I spied a rusty 3" boring head on a integral R8 shank. Looked it over and found it to be a Criterion, so I offered $50. Sold! I already have a Chinese import Enco that hasn't given me any trouble, though a US made Criterion is well regarded.
The way I got it:
The Criterion DBL-203 runs new from about $500 new and averages about 4200 used on eBay, so if I can clean it up and replace the one (center) binding set screw I've got quite a bargain.
A little WD40 on a 3M Scotchbrite 7224 pad and it's looks acceptable. I'll be selling off my import one of the same size soon because I much prefer using two inch sized hex keys to 3 different metric sized ones on the import. The Criterion also seems to have a smoother running adjustment screw too.
Not a bad haul for $70 total, and the balancing stand *just* fits onto my surface grinder for the dress-up cut I need to take. I expect I can get about that for the outgoing import boring head, so these two items were free.
He also had a quite a few miscellaneous items. Most are things I already own, but I spied a particular casting that looked familiar. I recognized it to be a balancing stand for up to 12" grinding wheels. No arbor for it was found and it need a little touch grind to the tips to get some nicks out. Also, 2 of the 3 leveling screws need to be replaced. I figure I can turn an adequate arbor if a Sopko doesn't show up soon on eBay. Cost me $20.
The fellow also allowed me to pick out any tooling I thought I might be able to use. Everything he has, I already have and in most cases, better quality. He has Chinese brazed carbide boring bars, various micrometers, insert holders, HSS end mills, etc. I spied a rusty 3" boring head on a integral R8 shank. Looked it over and found it to be a Criterion, so I offered $50. Sold! I already have a Chinese import Enco that hasn't given me any trouble, though a US made Criterion is well regarded.
The way I got it:
The Criterion DBL-203 runs new from about $500 new and averages about 4200 used on eBay, so if I can clean it up and replace the one (center) binding set screw I've got quite a bargain.
A little WD40 on a 3M Scotchbrite 7224 pad and it's looks acceptable. I'll be selling off my import one of the same size soon because I much prefer using two inch sized hex keys to 3 different metric sized ones on the import. The Criterion also seems to have a smoother running adjustment screw too.
Not a bad haul for $70 total, and the balancing stand *just* fits onto my surface grinder for the dress-up cut I need to take. I expect I can get about that for the outgoing import boring head, so these two items were free.