Vernon/Sheldon horizonal mill?

[old sass]

Looked at a small horizonal milling machine tonight. Was labeled 'Vernon' made early 50's in California. Some tooling, average wear, three phase motor. HEAVY to move. I am leaning towards a Bridgeport clone but can 'feel' the smoothness of the old American Iron. The asking price is $950. More than I care to go for a horizonal mill. What do you guys think is a fair price? Thanks, old Sass

[Ozarks Hermit]

I have a Vernon like the one you describe, It is a real sweet, accurate little mill (for horizontal work) $950 seems a bit high, I only paid $200 for mine but that was radical on the low end. Mine has a new table, with 4 slots, which makes it nice, along with power feed. You'r right, that baby is heavy!
The amount of tooling, would of course influence the price. Also, what type of arbor does it have? I have heard of some with a B&S taper - hard to find a new arbor if needed. Mine has an R8 taper in the head, I do not know if that was standard or not.
Ken

[gizmoid_52]

$900 seems a bit on the high side. However
the deal is if it runs, and fits your needs
it will cost far less than a clone.
The other thing does it come with tooling?
a verticle head?
I have an old Cleaveland that I am going
to mount a verticle head on, probably of my own manufacture with vfd controls.
I figure I can even put on a three axis star tech. digital read out on it and never even come close to what a clone would cost.

Jack

[old sass]

Thanks guys for the info. This machine has the obsolete #9 B&S taper. Comes with some goodies, cutters, 4 arbors. The machine is 3 phase and has not been run in YEARS. Also power feed and coolant pump are trashed and missing parts. A $50 parts machine. Too bad, it IS cute....