How About That Mill?

[rake60]

Most of us have some sort of a milling machine.

Mine would best be described as cheap and primitive.
Of course a lot of people who know me would say those words also
describe ME! :? But that's another story.

My mill is a China made mini mill that I bought at a Cummins Tool Truck Sale
for about $400. No DRO's just three dial indicators to get to where it
needs to be. Even in soft metals .060" is a heavy rough cut,
yet it serves my needs quite well.

It's the exact same machine that Harbor Freight sells for $480 and Grizzly
for $525.
OK enough of that...
So what do you do your mill work on?

Rick

 

[tattoomike68]

My mill is the head on my Smithy Midas 1220.

It does Ok for the home shop but lighter cuts like .025" are more the rule. 50" with a .250" endmill and more like .020" with a half inch endmill.

Its not a great miller, the lathe does a better job.

 

[wareagle]

This is my mill. It was a rescue. Summit 10x50. I found it behind a hydraulics shop sitting in the weather uncovered. :shock: When I stopped and asked about it, they said it was going to be sent to the scrap yard.

They let me look it over, and the electrics were very much done. The bare surfaces had surface rust on them, and the table had some slop in it. Everything else looked okay. The motor, I guessed, was bad. But it was actually just fine. I made an offer, they accepted, and I brought it home and started giving it some TLC.

After buying it, reworking the electrics, rebuilding the head (to make sure no water was inside), installing a VFD, and some other minor things, I have less than $1000 invested.

I will eventually give it a coat of paint, but I am too busy making chips with it right now! :lol:

 

[tattoomike68]

Nice mill wareagle, it dont need paint just keep the oil to it and making chips.

Thats cool you saved an orphan machine.

 

[lugnut]

Rick, I have Grizzly's version of the same one you have. It's ok for the little bit of stuff I do, but I am keeping an eye out for a larger one.
My machine was a Grizzly three in one machine until I bought a table from Little Machine Shop and separated the mill from the lathe.
Mel

 

[wareagle]

Thats cool you saved an orphan machine.

You know, that was a fun venture. Resurecting some old iron was indeed rewarding in many more ways than one. A side note to the story is I had looked for a lathe for several years and never could locate one that was the size I wanted in rebuildable (or affordable) shape or close enough to feasibly get, so I bit on a new 13 1/2"x40" Grizzly. No longer could I wait!

That saddened me a little because of the prospect of getting an old lathe and bringing it back. The darnest thing, though, was there was more than once that I could have had some lathes for free or a song and dance! Problem there was they were a little too big for my needs. One was a 24"x80" (IIRC) and was German made. The guy wanted $50 for it, and it was a monstor! The lathes in my size range were either so worn out that they were not rebuildable, or they were in decent shape at obscene prices. :roll: As my luck usually runs....

 

[Tin Falcon]

Rick:
I have the micromark version of the SEIG 2 there is grizzly green paint peering from under the black and red HMM.
Tin

 

[rake60]

They are sold under many names. Decent machines for the price!
They DO have one weak point. That would be the nylon gears that drive
the spindle. I still can't understand that bit of engineering.

There is an answer to it. Little Machine Shop sells a belt drive conversion
kit for them that really turns these little machines in to a quiet, more stable mill.
You can see the kit at Belt Drive Conversion Kit

Rick

 

[BobWarfield]

Looks like the "What is you mill?" thread didn't get as far as the lathe thread. I'll add my Industrial Hobbies mill to get it going again.

You can see several accessories I've cobbled together including:

- DRO's on X, Y, and quill

- Power feed on X

- Air-powered drawbar: the mill equivalent of a QCTP

- The massively overbuilt welded table it sits on

A couple of other thoughts. I got a big box of "arrow" welding magnets of eBay for cheap, so I use them to keep chuck keys in their place. There's one (barely) visible on the mill, and you can clearly see the one on the drill press. There's even one on my little lathe.

This mill is destined for CNC conversion if I ever get done converting my lathe.

Cheers,

BW

 

[1Kenny]

Here is my mill. It is a TEST.1U made in Italy.

Kenny

 

[Philjoe5]

I started with a Harbor Freight X2 Minimill a few years ago. After checking out upgrade possibilities I settled on a Grizzly X3 Mill/Drill. It's pretty much at the maximum size/weight I could accomodate. Pictured here:

With a 4" milling vise and a 1" roughing end mill I have 7 inches of z axis between the bottom of the end mill and the base of the vise jaws. This is a nice improvement over the X2. But I kept the X2 and still use it for precision drilling and small milling jobs. It gets the job done.

 

[Brass_Machine]

Ya know I really like the IH mill. Would have bought one but my current shop will not support it. I don't even think I could get it down in the basement without completely disassembling it. The CNC videos on the site are nice.

Currently I have a Sieg X2...

A few mods. Belt drive. DRO.

Cheers
Eric

 

[Jadecy]

Bridgeport J-head. This is a fairly well used machine with marks and holes in the table and a fair amount of backlash but it is true and cuts great.

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Hmmm, couldn't find a wide shot but I do my milling on an X-3 from the Grizz. I love it so far! It's a hard working, accurate machine for the money. I'd like an IH mill like Bob's but my pockets weren't that deep at the time I bought it....even worse now!

The pic shows my homebrew head counterbalance/pulley system with a couple old brake discs and scrap iron for a weight. I can spin the head up & down with 1 finger now.

 

[gilessim]

I have a "no name" chinese mini mill that looks just like Rake's one, the model no. is XJ9512 and the top speed is 2500rpm, I haven't had any problems with the gears (yet!), but the pulley conversion takes the speed up to over 4000rpm is that possible?, and I like the idea of that!.

Would anyone happen to know of a UK ,or European distributor ,as I live in Italy and even though I bought the mill here there aren't many hobbyists here and even the very few suppliers aren't very helpful!, also ,when I get stuff sent from the States they charge a fortune in import tax and the customs sometimes hold on to things for weeks! (they still have 4 tiny boca bearings since the 15th of december!)....thanks for now...Giles

 

[Brass_Machine]

gilessim,

That 'no name' mill is more than likely the Sieg X2. It is manufactured by Sieg and is sold by others.

Can't help you on a supplier for the belt kit. Maybe LMS will ship internationally. If not, I do know where you can get the plans to build your own. Try HERE It is the Yahoo group for that mill.

If you have trouble... I have some plans somewhere I can send you.

Cheers
Eric

 

[BMyers]

I use a #12 Van Norman and a vintage B&S No 0 Mill with a Bridgeport head

 

[gilessim]

Thanks Brass machine!, the bearings I was moaning about arrived today!, so maybe I'll go for the LMS kit, as I'm in no hurry and it's cheap enough, I can wait!, I don't have much time to go in the shop anyway for a month or so because of my work....Giles

 

[lathe nut]

Here is my Steinel Mill, restored it even had the hand wheels re-chromed, love you alls mills, Lathe Nut