Mid-sized Mills - suggestions and comments?

[AlfJones]

Hello all.

I am currently looking for a mid-sized mill. Something bigger than a bench mill like an X3, but smaller than a Bridgeport.

I am currently looking at the GH Universal mill from Warco, but I have not managed to have a hands on play with one yet. I was also suggested to look at a Chester 626, but I HAVE now managed to have a play with one of these, and found that I didn't get on with it very well.

I don't want to break the bank, but I'm ready to spend an acceptable level of money to get the right machine, and I'd rather spend a bit of time finding the right one, than buy something quickly and regret it.

I was hoping anyone with a Mid-sized mill could give me your thoughts. What are the must have items? What do you wish was better? What were the reasons you brought the mill you did?

Many thanks

Alf

 

[Omnimill]

I was after the same sort of thing and considered several machines. Budget for me was ideally sub £1K but I ended up getting the Warco VMC (Chester 626 that you don't like) at £1.5K. My reasoning was that I had only used industrial machines in the past and all of them were knee mills so I figured I'd get frustrated with any other way of working. Glad I spent the extra £500 as I really like my machine. FWIW, one of the reasons I bought from Warco was that they were the only company offering free delivery.

Vic.

 

[Blogwitch]

Alf,

All I can give you is my dealings with a mini Bridgeport, about 2/3rds the size. Table is 36" long and 8" wide.

http://www.chestermachinetools.com//Products/Product.aspx?productID=73

I have now used it for over 3 years, and in it's early life with me it did a fair amount of production work.

In all that time I have found it to be extremely rigid and accurate, plus I have had to do no adjustments on it at all, not even the gibs in all that time.

The one repair I had to do was the top support bearing for the spindle pulley, and that cost me about £3 off ebay and took 10 minutes to replace.


John

 

[AlfJones]

Hello John,

I've just had a chat with Chester. The 836 does look good - better than the web, it turns out a number of specifications have been upgraded but not put onto the web.

I'm a bit imtimidated by the weight of the thing though - it's 3/4rds of a ton, and I would need to shift it about 75 feet from the delivery point. Can I ask how you got it from curb to workshop?

Vic,
The VMC is another mill that I looked at. I got the feeling that the VMC is the lowest cost entry into the Knee-mill world, and the GH Universal is at the high end of the column mill world. For about the same money, you seem to get less goodies and gadgets, but ( I think?? ) a more robust design?

Can I ask how you chose between the two worlds? What were the pro's and con's that tipped the balance for you?

 

[rhankey]

I'm sure we all have interesting stories of getting our machines into our respective home shops. Earlier this year I had to get a roughly 2000lb lathe and then a 1000lb mill down a 100ft gravel driveway, over some rough and soft terrain, and then down about 8 or 9 steps with a tight doorway at the bottom to get them into the basement. A rented lift jack made easy work rolling the machines along smooth surfaces, and even in getting up/down/over small steps/holes. I had to lay down planks for the driveway, rough terrain and the stairs. I used some well anchored straps to control sliding the machines down the stair ramp, augmented with some pry bars to steer the beasts. I had 3 helpers for the lathe, and 2 helpers for the mill.

Be aware, mills have a rather tall centre of gravity relative to their very slender base and they will tip over very easily, as I discovered when we started sending the mill down the stairs. I had the straps attached fairly high up on the mill, which allowed it to tip over in slow motion, but obviously the straps were not attached high enough. Fortunately, nothing got damaged when the mill tipped over as I had previously removed all handles and as much other stuff that I could, and once it was slid down the stairs, we had to attach straps to the basement ceiling joists to hoist the machine back upright.

Whether you're dealing with a 500lb or 2000lb machine, the methods are pretty much the same, and deserves much the same respect for safety.

 

[Omnimill]

Alf, I was used to a belt change knee mill and I guess another reason I got the VMC is that (superficially at least) it was similar to the old Elliott Omnimill I had to sell when I moved house.

Dave at Warco offloaded the mill onto a couple of blocks of wood at the kerbside and wheeled it straight into my workshop with a pallet truck. The two of us tipped it off the blocks to where it now resides - simple when you (Dave!) know what you're doing!

 

[Jasonb]

Alf, this post shows a 826 being delivered to Johns.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2314.msg23091#msg23091

 

[Entropy455]

Budget to rent a forklift. Your back will thank you.

As far as going into a basement - - - make sure your steps are load-rated for the weight of the machine. Most home stairs are not designed to take more than five or six hundred pounds. Thus when you point-load several thousand pounds on a step, VERY bad things can happen.

You can also dig next to the house and install a concrete ramp with door into the basement wall. This permits safe and controlled rigging of very heavy machinery into the basement, and is much safer than going down wooden stairs. . . .

 

[Mainer]

That looks a lot like the Jet JVM-836. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007M6GK4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I've seen a JVM-836; it looks like a very nice machine. It's about $6000+, but IMO worth the cost.

I take it you are in England so you may not have the Jet brand, but the same basic machine seems to be sold under a variety of names.

As far as moving it: Remember the Egyptians built the pyramids. It can be done as long as you take it slowly and think through the process. If the intervening space is smooth and paved, sweep it clean and use some lengths of pipe as rollers. If necessary, lay down some planks to make a track. You would need four planks so you could take out the rear planks and move them to the front as the mill advanced along them. Or, rent a pallet truck. As somebody said, a mill tends to be top-heavy, so try to keep it low to ground. Lower the knee as much as possible and tilt the head over.

And you can always take pieces off to make it lighter, if necessary.

 

[Blogwitch]

I had no trouble at all getting it into my shop, I hired a professional machine mover to do it for me. He picked it up from Chester UK and positioned it into my shop where I wanted it. He also took my lathe in as well at a later date.

I think it cost either £300 or £400, it is too far back for me to remember little details like that.


John