I acquired this milling machine from my work in December of 2012. It was gray back then but I painted it black a few months later. I also bought a digital readout or DRO and installed it right after I painted it.

As you can see it's made by Supermax, which is a clone of the American made company 'Bridgeport'. Bridgeport mills are the industry standard which work great and last for years. So far my machine has been working pretty good, but I did take it apart when I first got it and fixed a few things.

One other thing, trying to buy parts for this is almost impossible anymore, and I've had to make a few things over the past two years because I couldn't find replacement parts. This doesn't surprise me because the machine was new in 1980 but the company went out of business some time ago.

The machine weighs about 1900 pounds and is very solid. And when a machine is solid, it works that much better. Also, just like the lathe, this machine has a lot of levers, handles and dials as well.
 

The table is 42" long but they make models that are 49". However, this table only travels about 23" in the X axis (left to right) which is more than enough...most of the time. And like most older milling machines like this one, it's worn in the middle. 
 

I bought this Kurt vise new right after getting the machine. I don't think you can get a much better vise because these things work really great. It has hardened jaws so they last a long time and the body is cast iron, just like the milling machine. It also came with a work-stop that is stored near the blue handle.

Speaking of, that blue handle works much better than the one that came with the vise because the other one is very long and you can't spin it very fast. This blue handle on the other hand can be spun very quickly, making it very easy to move the jaw. The handle can be used like you see below or moved to the outer position for more leverage. Kinda like having your cake and eating it too.
 

The round handle on the right is for the Y axis (in and out) and has about 13" of travel. I'll explain a little more about this dial in detail below.

The long handle is to raise and lower the knee. The knee is the large center piece, which encompasses the X and Y axis. This is how you would set a precise depth of a drill or most other cutting tools. Then you would reset the dial to zero (by loosening a lock nut) and then turn the handle your desired amount. Each full revolution equals .100" so ten turns would equal one inch.
 

That round dial with all the numbers on it represents the rpm of the spindle. The outer ring of numbers is for 'low range' and the inner ring is for 'high range'. The small round handle to the right moves the dial and changes the speed, but only when the motor is running.

The handle at the top left is the power switch. Pull that handle downward and the spindle turns forward while it's in high gear. But when you change to low gear, you push the handle upwards to go forward. Just little things you need to remember.

The handle to the left of the rpm dial is a brake. Push or pull it and the spindle stops once you turn off the power.
 

To change from high to low range, there is a handle on the side of the machine, which you can see to the right. And right now it's in low range. This handle, like changing the RPM, only gets moved when the motor is off.

The handle near the bottom is to engage/disengage the feed for the quill. You might use this if you were boring a hole using a boring head. All you do is pull outward on the handle and move it over to the other hole and you're done. However, this handle can be moved while the motor is running.
 

When the quill feed is engaged and being used, you have three different feed rates to choose from. And yes you can change feed rates while the motor is running. Again, you pull on the knob and place it to the feed rate that you want. The feed rates that you see below are in "inches per revolution". Depending what the material that you're cutting determines which feed rate you might choose.

See that small shaft sticking out at the right of the picture? That's a small knob that changes the feed direction, either up or down. Normally you would feed in the downward direction but if you wanted, you'd pull on that knob and the feed would change.
 

Here you can see that same shaft with the knob at the end but looking straight at it (to the left). And this knob turns slowly while it's engaged. Now to engage the feed for the quill, you push that lever (below the shaft) to the left. And when the quill travels down to that knurled nut (silver), it disengages the feed and the lever moves back on its own.
 

Here is a close-up. That black piece with the hole in it is attached to the quill. And when this comes in contact with the adjustable nut below it, this moves the threaded shaft and disengages the feed. Now when you're not using the feed, you can still use this adjustable nut to set the depth of the quill. Say for drilling a hole, or the depth of some other cutter. I've set this with a six inch scale many times, if the depth isn't critical.
 

Those two chrome handles tighten or loosen the ram right above it. The ram rides on dovetail slide ways and moves in or out when you're standing in front of the machine. This is a very useful feature to be able to machine different size work pieces.

The handle with the black knob moves the ram (that large solid piece above them) once they're loosened. I use this feature all the time depending on what I'm working on. The ram is what the spindle head is bolted to.

See the two nuts between the chrome handles? There are four of those, two on each side. I'll show you more on the next page.
 

Here is better look of the ram from the other side. Once those two chrome handles are loose, you can move it with the lever on the other side. The ram has about 12" of travel and I've used all of it depending what I'm doing.