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I have refurbished several Mills machines, and in almost every case, the drill plates were in poor condition, with paint flaking off or considerable rust. Generally in bad condition overall, and a PITA to deal with. Some have Cadmium plating, some don't.

So, I have left them out of the machines for the most part. In most cases, the paper tags were affixed to them so I attempted to remove them and affix to the wood inside, with little luck.

My question is, keep the plates, repaint them, put them back - or do what I normally do and leave them out? If I repaint, the paper tags take a hit. Do the plates really affect the value of the machine significantly? Stripping and painting the plates become another major project.

I can adequately reproduce the paper tags with handwriting, or serial number, and put them on back on the wood inside the machine to match.

What are your thoughts?

I like the drill plates refinished and in the machine because it seems like it is an incomplete restoration without them. When you take the time to make the inside of the machine look like it did or better, it makes the machine complete. The last reason that I like the drill plates is that the reproduction machines don't have drill plates and I want the restored machine to be easily identified as a restored original . I can't say if it increases the value of the machine, but it does give the machine a sense of class. Dave aka mtslots