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In December, 2011 I ran across an ad on Craigslist for an old benchtop horizontal mill in Derby, Kansas. Over the holidays, I picked it up and brought it back to Iowa. Made by the Benchmaster company back in the 1940's and 1950's, it turned out to be an MH-2 model with the overarm.
I have tried out the mill a little bit on some scrap aluminum. It worked fine, but I still wanted to tear it down, clean up the ancient grease and grime, and repaint the little guy.
The mill being unloaded from the truck.
The little mill is heavy. All cast iron, the base machine weighs in at around 200 lbs. With motor and the homemade stand, it was plenty heavy. The stand was set up with wheels and handles so it can be tilted and moved around like a 2 wheel cart.
The mill back upright in the shop.
The nameplate on the side of the mill column. The serial number's second and third digits hint at the year of manufacture. Note the references to "Gargoyle" grease and oil from the Socony Vacumm Company!
On the opposite side of the machine is a brass plate from the original distributor, Hart Industrial Supply Co.
The mill came with a homebrew 2-stage belt drive. The original Benchmasters had a single reduction belt setup with the motor directly below the spindle and stepped pulleys on both ends to change speeds. The homemade double reduction setup allows for slower spindle speeds for larger cutters. It's a little crude, so I will probably redesign and rebuld the drive to look a little nicer once the mill is rebuilt.
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