Thread: Small Mill Machine - Looking To Buy

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

Great thread. Could be very dangerous for my wallet!

Hey mods, any chance this thread could be moved to "Tool Time" so I have a hope of finding it again in the future?

Chris

Good idea and quite possible. Diplomacy dictates we ask the OP. What say you, Chilly .

Originally Posted by pop058

Good idea and quite possible. Diplomacy dictates we ask the OP. What say you, Chilly .

Hi,

I did not even know there was a 'tool time'!!!

More than happy to have it moved to a more suitable location.

Thank you for asking.

Chilly

Originally Posted by Chilly

Hi,

I did not even know there was a 'tool time'!!!

More than happy to have it moved to a more suitable location.

Thank you for asking.

Chilly

You thread is now in "Tool Time". I have left a redirect in the old location for a month just incase someone looks there.

Sighhhhh

My dad has a her less drill / milling machine , very handy and I have used it to mill down a 3.5 manifold for a holley conversion and for defacing a timing cover after having it welded.

I'm in a similar boat, need a decent drill press but could definitely use a mill. When you look at the price of a quality drill press, the drill/mill that Goingbush has isn't much dearer, and would be a lot more flexible.
I've been told that you should buy table to spindle height in a mill as its quickly used up. Once you take into account a vice/fixture and a cutter a small machine may not have much room left for the job itself. Again, that same machine that Goingbush has seems to have a decent height for its size/cost.

The HM30/RF30 style machine is another single phase mill/drill thats quite common and I've seen some go for less than $1000 used recently - at least one had some basic tooling with it.
Also a reasonable amount of info online on them.

There's definitely a bunch of keen DIY CNC guys around with the Sieg's so probably not a bad option if you really want to go there.
My personal view is that if you're older (assumption from your "no longer working" comment) and have no prior CNC or milling experience - as awesome as it would be - you'll likely to never get to the point where you end up spending the time/effort/money doing a CNC conversion.
If you do happen to get there, its quite likely that things have moved on - either there are better/easier models to convert, or you've found you need a different machine than you initially thought so will be looking at upgrading.

Keen to hear what you end up getting

Steve

Good point on the height Steve, Also when looking at low end Mill/Drills try to steer clear of a tubular , (drill press style) vertical post, they are not rigid enough . The biggest criticism you read about Chinese Mills is they are not rigid which is why the Dovetail frame has it all over the tube . Its quite solid , well its no Bridgeport but it certainly does what I need & can envisage needing.

The photo showing the full view of the mill with stand the head is only 2/3 the way up the column, so it got some height left . I wanted one that would take the full height of an Iveco Transfer Case under it & it certainly does that.

Totally new to the field I bought my gear on the basis of thread comments made by hobby machinists...'It's a nice machine, but a bit small now'...'gee, I wish I had a larger machine to start with'...'stretch the budget and get the biggest you can'...etc.

As others have said, once you start adding vice clamps, rotary tables, milling tools etc, the deck space quickly disappears.

CNC - throw it in the back of your landy with some stock and get the part you need anytime.

Pocket NC Company

It's a slippery slope - you'll want a CAD program next!

And there's 'making the tool to make the tool'.