Three months later the mill finally makes it off a slow boat from China to my doorstep. Over 300lbs, getting this thing into the backyard with my shed might have to wait a bit. It’s been raining so much that it might get bogged down in mud. That ought to give me time to figure out how to lift it onto its stand…

UPDATED 6/25/2010:

I finally found the time to uncrate the mill and clean it up.  As with other machinery shipped overseas from China, a protecting coat of wax was applied to the unpainted metal.  I used Purple Power, an engine grease solvent, undiluted, and scrubbed away the red wax.  This included the table, handles, dovetails, and other places that were accessible.  I didn’t do a tear-down because I didn’t want to risk the chance of not getting it back together perfectly.  The stand comes pre-assembled, with the exception of the chip tray that sits between the mill and the stand.  The mill, tray, and stand all have 4 mounting holes to hold everything together.  There are also areas at the feet for mounting the stand to the floor.  I haven’t made it to this point yet.  Maybe in the next week or two when I get an extra hand it will finally be together.  Since the cost of the milling machine is about half of the overall cost of ownership (cutters, tool-holding, etc.), I can’t use it just yet.