Nu-tool Milling Machine

Apologies for this sort of thread as i know they can be a bit annoying but i offered to help my neighbours widow and as per my other thread, i ended up buying a lathe! Anyway, she asked me about her late husbands milling machine and unfortunately i know nothing about these things. Ebay hasnt been much help so if anybody can help on valuing this, id appreciate it.

That format of mill is pretty common, there are bound to be a few people who have noticed prices on ebay or on this forum.

It looks pretty well cared for so I would hesitantly suggest £400, a good few are less but they last for decades and you can't tell condition from photos.

Reference similar-ish machines new:

warco

axminster

I had one of these a good few years ago. I foolishly bought it off e-bay for £600 which was probably too much. However, I moved it on at the exact same price.

Rogers warning is a good one regarding wear. My leadscrews on my ex machine were very badly worn.

Around £350-£400 for this RongFu lookalike. Probably the 20 or 25 model. Good solid machine I have the Ajax MD version.

regards

Thanks guys, thats more or less what i suggested so i'll report back. How would you check for wear on these? Is it just backlash on the leadscrews?

Hi Gaz, this mill is in actual fact, similar to the Chester Eagle 25, Chester Eagle and the Warco Economy, Warco Economy The size of the table, the position of the depth stop and the shape of the column base and also the spindle stroke are all pointers.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 10/08/2021 23:56:33

Looking at "sold" listings on Ebay back to the beginning of July, £400 is probably on the low side.

The same model of Nutool made £700 at the beginning of this month, 2 off Warco Minors were £812 & £815, an Ajax equivalent £625. An Alpine version made £986 ! Cheapest were the Clarke version (£450), though one of those "dismantled for transport" only made £50 - a bit of a bargain for someone.

The larger RF30 models go for appreciably more - £1320 for one recently. Note that these were "sold" prices, not high "buy it now" listings that had dropped off with no buyers

Always a bit of a lottery with auctions, but the trend on Ebay for small milling machines of any description seems to be well North of £500.

Nigel B.

Checking for wear?

X axis. My leadscrew and nut were very badly worn towards the middle of the travel. I removed the leadscrew and nut to examine the wear and it was in a terrible state. I suppose you could see if the backlash is worse or better at the ends and middle of the slide travel to indicate the same issue. The same for the Y axis.

Z axis. You could also check for backlash in the worm and wheel. Again, mine was in terrible condition and required an eccentric bush to be fitted to the operating shaft to reduce the backlash to a reasonable level.

I'd say that the bearings might be tricky to examine without removing or stripping. Perhaps just run it and see how quiet it is or isn't.

You could also take a picture of the nice clean, shiny table with no prangs or drill holes. If it does have some mistakes, it is only fair to take a picture of it for the new owner.

Having said all this. Why worry if your friend is selling it. Just advertise it honestly indicating that its age and say that it has been used and allow the new user to make his or her mind up. You could try and check the backlash without stripping it as best as you can. From Nigel's research and my experience, it looks like a fair price might be £600?

i have one of these bought it with stand and some tooling about 2 years ago for around £800 its had very little use was still covered in the protective wax[and sawdust]. it has no name attached so can't tell if its the same size as yours

It looks very like a Rong Fu RF25, sold by Warco as the "Economy", I think.

That may give a rough guide as to the current price.

Take a look at what dealers are asking for such a machine, but remember that a dealer has to make a profit, so will have added a mark up to whatever they paid for a machine. Consequently, your price should be lower.

Occasionally, there may be one in Warco's used machine list.

Howard

I think it may be one up from the equivalent of the Economy; my Economy has a rather short table with only three tee slots and no clutch for the down feed.