Looking at a bench mill.

[Three Peaks]

Check ebay for pricing on this stuff. It runs the gamut, so do a little research so you know what you're buying or you could end up with a mill that has been used hard and put away wet and needs a ton of work to get up to snuff.

I've got a Smithy also and it works okay for light duty lathe work, but the mill is pretty much useless for anything heavy. There just isn't a good way to lock down the mill head without the dovetailed column to keep everything in line.

When I get a few extra bucks and a little more room in my shop, the Smithy is going down the road for a dedicated lathe- probably an older craftsman or Atlas, and a dedicated mill, probably an older 2/3 sized Bridgeport if I can find one for a decent price.

Bob

Bob

[Aussie Mike]

Look at a Geared head unit with a dove tail column if you can. The dove tail column is a lot more rigid and you will get a better finish. That being said the round colomn has it's advantages in that it alows you to swing the head left and right and cover more of the table. Also most of the geared head units allow you to tilt the head left and right where the belt drives only work straight up and down. This can be very useful on a lot of jobs once you get the hang of using a mill.

My first mill was a geared head bench top machine and I did a lot of stuff on it. I've got a pic of it some where. They are a lot of fun to use and you will amaze yourself at the things you can make when you set your mind to it.

Grizzly seem to have some reasonable Chinese and Taiwanese machines for good prices in the US http://www.grizzlyindustrial.com/pro...spx?key=480000

I enjoy using the mill so much that I've moved on to my 3rd milling machine now. I replaced the bench top unit with a big old turret mill that I restored.

This thing probably weighs 2 tons and stands 7' tall.



Restored and in the workshop



In the last month or so I sold the old turret mill and bought a brand new Taiwanese machine. This thing is awesome. I thought the old turret mill was great but this machine makes the old one look like a dinosaur.



It's got a much bigger table and more travel in every direction plus the 3 axis Digital readout makes machining dimessionally accurate parts easy.

You need a bit of floor space for one of these bigger turret machines but you can pick up some bargians with 2nd hand industrial stuff. I reccomend getting the biggest machine you can fit in there/afford. As an old machinist friend has often quoted to me "You can do a small job on a big machine but you can't do a big job on a small machine"

What ever way you go, milling machines are a lot of fun and satisfying to use. Every home fabricators workshop should have one.

Cheers

[Aussie Mike]

Here's a pic of the bench top mill I used to own.



I'm using it here to bore out the engine case for a bike I built to take larger sleeves for a big bore kit.

Cheers

[BFBurk]

HI;
I have a Grizzly G1007 mill/drill and it is adequate for aluminum but on steel it wanders a lot. I have tried cutting 1/4' slots in 1/4" steel angle and the cut moves a lot. Plunge down to start the cut and when cutting the slot it will be
off from the plunge cut. The return cut will be different, also.

I think the problem is as a previous writer stated, the round column mills flex a lot. I've tried some boring in cast iron and you can see the whole spindle flexing as the boring head rotates.

I eventually want a Bridgeport clone like the ones Grizzly sells. I just can not
justify the cost. I am retired and just putter around. I live 40 miles from the Grizzly showroom in Muncy,Pa. I like the Grizzly equipment and have a 12X36 lathe, a metal cutting bandsaw and the mill/drill.

My 12x36 Grizzly lathe has quite a bit of flex in it too. When I want to do precision work I use a toolpost grinder in my lathe.I previously had a 6 inch Craftsman lathe and it flexed a lot more than my Grizzly. If you want to do good work on steel the more massive the machine the better it will be.

I like the idea of getting a used Bridgeport clone.
Have fun.

[Aussie Mike]

I don't reckon a 1/4" cutter will ever cut a 1/4" slot. The flutes of the end mill will tend to pull into the workpiece in one direection of traverse and ride up over in the other direction. Also the cutter will move in the slot just with the flex in the tool itself regardless of how rigid the mill is.

I use a cutter smaller than the slot and cut it in several passes and cutting the 2 sides of the slot seperately. For the most accurate slotting in a mill I reckon you need to use a slotting blade.

You can still get accurate results with the lighter machines, it just takes longer because you have to take smaller cuts and more of them.

Cheers