CL - "Atlas horizontal bench mill model MFC - $100 (Plainville, MA)"

[Bob Engelhardt]

WOW - $100!! Except in the fine print: "Best offer takes it!". So probably not $100. The "$100" might just be click bait, or it might show low expectation. Might still be a good deal.

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/tls/d/plainville-atlas-horizontal-bench-mill/7331078815.html

[Bob Engelhardt]

BTW - what is this accessory:

[reggie_obe]

Best offer on Craigslist?
A sleazy way of running an auctions sans auction fees. I've read similar, except it was a Delta metal cutting bandsaw..

[Rich Carlstedt]

BTW - what is this accessory:

Its a Atlas Indexing head. It has a MT #2 bore . You mount a change gear on the spindle on the left side. There is supposed to be a Spring Pin assembly bolted on the left side to engage the gear, but it is missing, There should also be a tail stock to go with the head . Just the head and tailstock have sold for $400 recently.
Rich

[David Powell]

Run, Do not walk, buy at that or any reasonable price if you have use for a machine of that size, Incidentally, an EMCO milling attachment for the Compact 5 and Compact 8 machines can easily be used as an accessory vertical head, you just need to buy a piece of 1 1/2 cold rolled and turn the end down to match the Emco column. Regards David Powell.

[Mcgyver]

Best offer on Craigslist?
A sleazy way of running an auctio

Yeah this best offer thing is annoying. Whats sleazy about it, or at least quite disingenuous, is there is no closing day/time for best offers. If they said best offers by two weeks Sunday, peace. Some have the gall to insist "serious inquirer only. If you wanted serious buyers why not be a serious seller and put a price on it"

[J Tiers]

That is a "reasonable" horizontal mill. Not great, but "reasonable". My father-in-law had one.

It has relatively limited cutter diameter, I'm not sure (it was a while back) you can put a 4" cutter on it. If one WILL fit, it's right at the limit. If not, that is fairly limiting as far as depth of cut, I've often wanted more than that on my non-Atlas mill.

It has ONE t-slot. (My horizontal has ONE also, and it is a real pain in a lot of cases) The other two things are grooves, that to me just limit the table's flat size. The coolant channels (or whatever they intended) around the outside are just fluff, and again, I'd rather have the table area.

It's not ALL bad, and it is workable within those limits. Atlas just tried too hard to do everything.

[DR]

Best offer on Craigslist?
A sleazy way of running an auctions sans auction fees. I've read similar, except it was a Delta metal cutting bandsaw..

Why is it sleazy? Do you want to pay auction fees, like a 15% buyers premium?

I frequently list items as "$nnn OBO". Most buyers interpret that to mean it's okay to make an offer less than the listed price. Recently a prospective buyer lectured me when I sold an item for the listed price because he said he would have paid more.

BTW: when pricing items for sale I add a little, like an $80 item would be listed for $100 OBO. Buyers always feel good about getting it for the lower price and I'm happy too.

[reggie_obe]

Why is it sleazy? Do you want to pay auction fees, like a 15% buyers premium?

I frequently list items as "$nnn OBO". Most buyers interpret that to mean it's okay to make an offer less than the listed price. Recently a prospective buyer lectured me when I sold an item for the listed price because he said he would have paid more.

BTW: when pricing items for sale I add a little, like an $80 item would be listed for $100 OBO. Buyers always feel good about getting it for the lower price and I'm happy too.

Read the OP. It's been done before on Craigs. $90 isn't the correct answer to OBO. A sale disguised as an private Auction
Buyer's premium? Much happier to pay 15% rather than the customary 18% Even better, 12% when it's a landlord's lien.

[J Tiers]

Why is it sleazy? Do you want to pay auction fees, like a 15% buyers premium?

I frequently list items as "$nnn OBO". Most buyers interpret that to mean it's okay to make an offer less than the listed price. Recently a prospective buyer lectured me when I sold an item for the listed price because he said he would have paid more.

BTW: when pricing items for sale I add a little, like an $80 item would be listed for $100 OBO. Buyers always feel good about getting it for the lower price and I'm happy too.

I list EVERYTHING as OBO. And I am NOT doing a disguised auction. I'll sell it to whoever pays the asking, or a satisfactory amount below it, without reference to other offers.

Anyone who comes and gives me a lecture about such "tactics"may be shown the door and told the item is not for sale to them at ANY price.

[reggie_obe]

Ad was posted 3 days ago, who wouldn't snap it up if it really was $100. You could make well more than $100 parting it out.
Beats owning a CCC machine.

[David Powell]

The Atlas mill cannot compare with what I used to have! My Pedersen PU 2 with a 50 by 12 table could literally have eaten its way through the Atlas
. However, that said, for model making ,I( and I guess many other folk,from what I read) find it a very useful, easy to use machine. I have added simple digital readouts, changed the table drive to an electric job,added the vertical head( Just because I could not because I needed another vertical mill). and made a bed mounted vice to take larger workpieces.
4inch cutters are the biggest it will accommodate.
Regards David Powell.

[nickel-city-fab]

Been wanting one of those for *years* now, it's the perfect size and capabilities for my setup... anything less than a thousand if its all complete, is a great deal, these don't show up too often. Anything under $1K I'll be all over it. The alternative is to have no mill at all. Therefore if I have to get a small, used mill then I would rather it be made in USA with easy-to-find parts and repairs. It complements my SB9 perfectly.

[J Tiers]

Having used horizontal mills for a long time, you may run up against the limitations pretty fast. That PARTICULAR mill is just not that great. There are lots of others in similar size range that have fewer limitations. It's not really "that make and model or nothing" as a choice.

The "availability of parts" is limited, even though Clausing is still around. They have basically nothing for any of the Atlas machines which are that old. If there is any zamak on it (I no longer remember), that will be the major thing driving parts need.

Find a mill with NO zamak, and you may never need any parts at all.

[nickel-city-fab]

Having used horizontal mills for a long time, you may run up against the limitations pretty fast. That PARTICULAR mill is just not that great. There are lots of others in similar size range that have fewer limitations. It's not really "that make and model or nothing" as a choice.

I know Doc at Docs Tools has a very nice Nichols mill, but I've never seen one that I could use. Most of them were setup without lead screws, for mass production work, and they are completely clapped out. Ditto for the Burke mills. If I wanted another project, OK maybe, but -- I don't want a project. And given the size of my typical work envelope, The Atlas is just fine. New mills are out of the question. One advantage for the Atlas mill is, I can easily get a set of SB change gears and run them on the mill. It's trivially easy to make that work.