The Cincinatti Cintimatic, or Free Heroin to machine tool junkies

I just wanted to let you in on the thoughts rumbling round over here.
One of my fellow metal working club members is giving away, FREE, a
Cintimatic Vertical bed mill! It was an NC machine equipped with Bandit
controls, which have since died, and been sold. So whats left is this
10,500 lb bed mill thats all ready for a CNC retrofit. The problem is,
1) it weighs 10,500 lbs. 2) My shop is 25ft x 30ft, and usually has to
store my 1967 Mustang as well as the wood and metal tools. The mill
needs about a 6ft x 7ft footprint, and an 8ft x 10 ft working area for
table travel (20inches x 40 inches) plus working space. Thats nearly 1/3
of the entire shop! It has a 3hp 220V 3 phase motor, which will run just
fine on my phase convertor, so thats not a problem. It would cost about
the same to convert to CNC as my old 1960 B'port, as it has ball screws,
where the B'port to be converted.
Help! I can't think of any good reason why I need a machine of this
size, but I still WANT IT. The rationalization process is starting, and
I'm really trying to keep logic involved here. So, tell me all the bad
things about converting a Cintimatic to CNC. (I've got emc running...)
Alas, if the machine is not claimed in a month or so, it becomes scrap
iron.

Brad Heuver
Mechanical Sub-Systems fax 734-523-6052
734-52-33480 bheuver@...