So I "needed" a bigger machine. I found one in Ohio. Since I was going to the Dayton Hamfest, I decided to visit the prospective mill. I was not worried about the controls, only solid iron and ball screws.

What I found was a Shizuoka (made in Japan knee mill) which had a cat 40 spindle, tool changer, Early 1980's CNC controls and "tach" type servos. The CNC stuff was built by AeroTech and added to the mill by some third party.

The mill is about 2-2.5 X Bridgeport size. Weight has been estimated at 4K pounds and that's probably correct with the control cabinet and tool changer. The control cabinet had 6 big transformers, several contactors, a paper tape reader, a streaming tape drive and a bunch of other stuff that each had a heft of their own.

Since it arrived in GA, I've spent about 8 hours removing ballast and learning some of the details. Heres the specs so far:

I first saw The Shiz May 19th at around lunchtime. My buddy Clint and I did the best inspection possible with very limited time. The Y axis belt was broken and the screw would barely turn. X seemed better. There was no power available. In general everything was intact and in good condition but had just been setting for years. Someone borrowed the automatic drawbar motor and the MPG. I waffled on the purchase and we left to do down to Dayton.

At some point between the visit and Dayton, inverse buyers remorse set in and I called the guy and told him that I wanted it and that I would take care of the details when I returned to Atlanta. Since it had been ther for years, he said ok.

I borrowed some warehouse space where the machine could be unloaded and tweaked for movement into the garage.