I have a chance to pick up a 'real cheap' Cincinnati No3 mill, but not sure if I really want it..the value is basically about $40/tonne..plus hauling it out..
There's a LOT of useage on this one, the ways seem to have no noticeable [hard to tell at freeaing temerature outside] play, but there's probably a half turn play in the handles...I know it will have to be repowered, I don't have three phase in the garage..")..and I probably would never use the powered overarm, ..It's coming from a place that makes hydraulic cyliners, and it was used in the customer repair shop for the last while, but the operator wasn't happy with it, so convinced them to obtain a newer replacement unit..

The photo shows a lot better looking unit on ebay, item No 7502691425
and the one in the photo is identical except for the DRO and associated parts on the right hand side.. the one here comes with no manuals or ANY other tooling, just the bare mill...
I would rather have something a lot smaller, like a No1 or even a Chinese mill, basically because of space, but these don't come along very often, especially at this kind of price...

any comments???

At $40 dollars a ton, it's probably a smart buy. I'm guess it doesn't weigh over 6 tons? Even if it is just used for simple facing operations or something like that, it could pay for itself.

I know the initial [purchase] cost is minimal, but after that...probably $100 to get a payloader to chain it up and get it into the driveway, most of a day to get the surface grunge off with oven cleaner and a pressure washer [yes it's that bad], I'm not sure what a smaller 220v single phase motor is going to be worth, and then pulleys and wiring..a couple of days to try and tighten up the hand screws a bit and general minor adjustments.. and then try to get a 90" tall mill into a garage with a 84" doorway...:) and that's with the power feed motor on the top slide removed..

Not sure, but will probably get it and clean it up a bit over the summer, and maybe try to swap it towards a smaller mill....I already have smaller tooling, nothing for this size of machine at all...