In article . net, Peter Grey
says...

This is a horizontal mill, yes? My understanding was that they're not as
versatile as a vertical mill?

Right. The spindle axis is horizontal. The spindle
has no 'quill' which is defined as a movable section
that slides in and out of the casting. Most horizontal
machines (here we are leaving out the aceiras and deckels
because they are basically lear jets) don't have
a quill the way vertical ones do.

Folks use the quill in a bridgeport type machine to
drill, mostly. So it becomes a super-solid drill
press, with really slow back gear speeds - so you
can run honking huge drills in it, with the drill
held in a collet so it won't slip.

In a horizontal, any drilling gets done with the
X (in and out) axis handwheel, so it's a bit cumbersome.
My solution to this is to either a) spot the holes in
the horizontal with a center drill and transfer the
part to my dril press and finish them off there, or
b) simply lay the holes out by hand, centerpunch, and
do the whole job on the drill press, for low accuracy
stuff. The puller I just made had *all* the holes
done right in place on the horizontal, and I was glad
to have the slower speeds available there because it
was a stainless ring I was drilling.

Just about the only time I put the vertical head on this
machine (which in this case is a bridgeport M head,
adapted to it) is when I need to mount a rotary table
on the machine, and machine downwards in towards it.
I have the vertical head, it almost never gets used,
in spite of its having a quill.

Maybe I should try to find a used machine tools dealer in my area.

This could be a good idea. Where are you located?
You should be going to places like this just to see
what they have, what's available. Don't express any
strong interests in any given machine, just see what's
out there. It's kind of like used car shopping.
Sometimes something just jumps right out at you.

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