Lathe/milling machine Inputs

[comp-spec]

Originally Posted by 1969 SS

I'm a bit lucky that I'm about to close on a house, and there is an old benchtop lathe in the basement. I told them if they don't want to go through the trouble of lugging it out, they can leave it there. they said ok. now I just need to pick up a used bridgeport for the garage and I'll be all set!

More parts for the GTO??

[Northeast Rod Run]

Originally Posted by comp-spec

More parts for the GTO??

Nope. got to start making some for the Camaro because once you get your hands on it, I have to do A LOT of upgrades!

ok, i still need to make a couple of more small ones for the GTO

[GregWeld]

Ricer --

You're not going to get any machine that is going to make anything for $500... Sorry. That's just not a realistic budget. I have a Jet Mill/Drill (about $1800) and the tooling alone is 3 times your budget and I can't make anything. LOL

At this point - take your idea or piece to a machine shop and just have it done.

[GregWeld]

I should add -- that my Mill/Drill is a really nice drill press - very accurate - very stable - easy to maneuver parts precisely once you're set up...

As a Milling machine - it's next to useless - not enough power to do any "hogging off" -- and the belt slips if you make to large of a cut (and we're talking TINY cuts here) and it chatters on steel - the head is on a clamp set up on a round stock - and there's no way you're going to hold that head still..

So on aluminum it works pretty well - and if I'm just modifying a part - it's fine... But to call it a mill - is only a dictionary version of what a mill is... <grin>

It's a 2 hp - single phase - 220V machine... and that it is a total ho hum...

What we were saying about your budget -- is that, for a decent vise - or v blocks - or cutters - or any additional collets etc - you're going to blow your budget just on that minimal stuff.

[John S]

Looks like I am going to go against the grain here but this is my experience.
Many of the previous comments are correct but you need to decide on a machine based upon your needs. And a budget of $500 is not going to get you much if anything.
I bought the HF44991 which is a Seig x3 clone similar to the grizzly you mentioned. I bought this mill for a specific purpose keeping in mind that I did not have the power or space available for a larger unit and especially a knee mill. And I never intended to mill anything very large. The carry over to car support would be in the way of various brackets and mounting tabs all of which an X3 clone are very capable of making. Since having my mill I have put it to a lot more use than expected and so far I have not run into anything I could not make or modify within reason.
I did add a few upgrades to mine which combined exceeded the cost of the mill itself but I found that the upgrades proved to be worth the expense since they increased reliability, repeatability and precision.
If you have the room and power definitely go for the biggest you can afford but do not dismiss the versatility of the mini mills.
Pics of my setup;

[Garage Dog 65]

Hi John,

Can you give us more info on the setup and use please ? I don't have the space for a bridgeport machine and would prefer the mini - but have consistantly been told I can't perform auto hobby level type work with it. (steel, 4130, stainless, etc)

Can you show us some projects you've completed, type materials, project size, manual usage or is it cad/cam process, what software, etc ? Just looking for the real truth out there from someone who actually owns one.

Thanks much !!

Jim

[John S]

Jim,
The only material that I have worked with so far is aluminum, brass and UHMW. I primarily bought my machine to machine gun parts and have made 8 AR-15 lower assemblies so far as well as some brackets and mounts. Unfortunately The only things that I have pictures of are the AR-15 parts. Here is a link to a website that I have been getting a lot of info from as well as where I have bought some equipment. http://littlemachineshop.com/ in addition to the main site you can visit their information page here http://littlemachineshop.com/Info/links.php which has links to a lot of different user information.
Another great source of information for me was the forum at cncgunsmithing.com. Here is a link to their machine shop forum http://www.cncguns.com/forum/index.php?board=9.0
I should let you know that prior to purchasing my mini mill I had no machining experience but the information I got from online resources was enough to get me going and now I am very confident in my abilities to machine to tolerance.

The three main upgrades I performed on my machine was to replace the gear drive with a belt drive, this allows for smoother running and forgiveness should you take too large of a bite and lock the bit up. I replaced the torsion bar support with an air strut support which allowed for additional working height and smoothness. And the most costly addition (more then the mill) was to install a three axis DRO. The DRO is great for being able to get the precision I needed for machining the gun parts.

I believe that as long as you work within the size and power limitations of the machine there is nothing that you can not do with it. You may need to take smaller cuts but I do not see why you could not machine most metals including stainless steel. The largest bit that I have used is a 1/2" end mill and on aluminum I have taken up to .125" roughing cuts and the largest fly cutter I have used to date cut 2.5" with a perfect finish.

Another thing to keep in mind is that tooling is transferable. My mill uses standard R8 collets and everything else I have could easily be used on a larger machine.