The classics

There is one thing that older horisontal milling machines do better than many modern vertical mills. That is heavy material removal on the one axis that leaves vertical mills too flexible. Usually meaning light cuts and slow going. Also tooling for that setup is expensive and often hard to find. They still make horizontal and now the more common universal mills but means you have to do a lot to prepare it for horizontal cutting mode. Universal mills are also mostly available in the larger more expensive models putting them out of reach for home shops.

Instead you can opt for an older classic if you can afford some loving care. They are often cheap, dirty and sometimes incomplete or badly broken so the usual checks for wear and tear. Given they are predominantly used to cut in the X axis most of the wear may be limited to the table ways. As the cutters are of the larger type relying on lower spindle speeds something to look for in the bearings is asymmetrical or load point wear as well as general wear.

This Tom Senior M1 #262 manufactured between 1947 and 1948 has been relisted several times. It was close by, mostly complete and used MT3 tooling. I would have to replace the motor with a single phase unit after stripping it down, cleaning and painting it.

A daunting task but well worth the cost and effort to supplement the milling machine and other machining operations. Next on the list to recondition after the band saw. I've already collected a spare spindle and some brass to replace the overarm support bearing.