My 500 dollar Bridgeport. Craigslist is a fun place to hang out. I found this mill for 1,200. I offered 500 not caring if it worked. Found out it didn't have a motor, handles, and some other parts hard been sold on e-bay. The J-head was in good shape. The ways good but there is a lot of backlash in the table. You can call this good or bad but if you know how to work with it, backlash is not a big problem. I added a DRO and wow, I can drill a hole in a ants ass! +-.0002 of an inch for X,Y,and Z. I also added a cheap DRO on the quill. The handle to drive the quill is also home made. Pipe, some small pieces of steel, and screw and I had a handle.
Getting the mill loaded and home is a story in itself. He had a fork lift on the back of a tractor but it blew a line. We end up using a pallet lift on a high reach pallet lift. I wish I took photos. It was the best of getting things done any way you can.
Lots of missing parts.
The DRO
I order this from http://www.dropros.com/ It is not a high dollar DRO but it works great.
Cutting a table for the saw
This is a 5 inch cutter head. It has new inserts and cuts great.