Thread: Advice on a small Mill

Hi
I am looking at purchasing a Mill/Drill for my home workshop. From what I have read I think I would prefer something with a power feed, however I am open to advice and suggestions; I was hoping to spend no more than $2500 on the machine as I understand even basic tooling is very expensive. I have no experience with milling but would appreciate any help with this and tooling.
Thanks
Tony

For the price that you have tp play with you have a wide selection that would fall in that range.


You could go for the cheapest or the most expensive.

A lot will depend on what you want to do.

You maybe lucky and find a New Mill with power feed in your range but I feel that you would probably have to purchase that seperately,either here in Australia or from overseas.

You probably have 2 real choices to make after you know what you will be useing it for.

1 would be belt or gear drive,the other round or dovetail column.

The other factors to consider when decideing would be Table size and travell and the amount of clearance from under your quill/spindle to the table.

For the money you have to spend unless you look for 2nd hand you would not be able to get a knee type mill(where the table gets raised to the cutting tool rather than the cutting tool being brought down to the job).

My prefference is for a geared drive and round column .

Reason being there is no need to change belts for speed,the range of speeds available are suitable to my needs,whether milling or drilling,you get no slip when taking heavy cuts.

The round column because I can swivell the cutting head from left to right to accomadate larger jobs when I dont quite have enough travel in my table,it also allows me to be able to set jobs at extremities of the table.

Some with the dovetail column will say that you can keep the cutter in line with your work if you have to raise the head during opperations,I have not yet found this to be of a concern as when I am milling something I allways check that my tooling will suit my work or that the head is adjusted to suit the range of tooling that I will be using.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

For the price that you have tp play with you have a wide selection that would fall in that range.


You could go for the cheapest or the most expensive.

A lot will depend on what you want to do.

You maybe lucky and find a New Mill with power feed in your range but I feel that you would probably have to purchase that seperately,either here in Australia or from overseas.

You probably have 2 real choices to make after you know what you will be useing it for.

1 would be belt or gear drive,the other round or dovetail column.

The other factors to consider when decideing would be Table size and travell and the amount of clearance from under your quill/spindle to the table.

For the money you have to spend unless you look for 2nd hand you would not be able to get a knee type mill(where the table gets raised to the cutting tool rather than the cutting tool being brought down to the job).

My prefference is for a geared drive and round column .

Reason being there is no need to change belts for speed,the range of speeds available are suitable to my needs,whether milling or drilling,you get no slip when taking heavy cuts.

The round column because I can swivell the cutting head from left to right to accomadate larger jobs when I dont quite have enough travel in my table,it also allows me to be able to set jobs at extremities of the table.

Some with the dovetail column will say that you can keep the cutter in line with your work if you have to raise the head during opperations,I have not yet found this to be of a concern as when I am milling something I allways check that my tooling will suit my work or that the head is adjusted to suit the range of tooling that I will be using.

Thanks Pipe
I intend to use the Mill initially as a learning tool, although I play around restoring old Bikes so would use it as a drill, for making shafts with flats, cutting keyways and general facing. Check the attached link, these Mills seem to get a good write up and there is a power feed available for $300 extra.
I know this sounds a little silly ,but I am not really sure what I want or need. Thats why I am here
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...tockCode=M155#
Cheers Tony

At the end of the day the choice is yours but he one listed before it would give greater work capacity.

Have a look at
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=M153
for a popular mill. And at
LittleMachineShop.com - tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists
for accesories, bits and pieces, and hints & tips for the X3 and Super X3 mills.

And, for a couple of X3 vs. Super X3 discussions:
Sieg Super X3 Mill
and
• View topic - X3 or Super X3: which to convert and why?

I have the X3 mill (went halves with my dad), not very much tooling, and have done enough to have had fun on it, but am nowhere near an authority.

Cheers,
Andrew

One other thing to consider in your search for a suitable machine is the machine weight.
Generally the heavier the machine the more ridgid it will be.

Some with the dovetail column will say that you can keep the cutter in line with your work if you have to raise the head during opperations,I have not yet found this to be of a concern as when I am milling something I allways check that my tooling will suit my work or that the head is adjusted to suit the range of tooling that I will be using.

The round column can be a bugger for me at times to setup (125 mm of quill travel soon gets eaten up). I tend to chop and change tooling that I am using a lot, ie facemill to collet chuck, drills of varying lenths, workpieces etc...

Recon tho unless one is using it to make a living then spending a little time mucking around with the round column is of little concern. As pipyclay said, there are advantages to the round column.

Clearance between quill and table. Put a vise, R/T etc.. onto the table and see how much space u loose.

The biggest, most rigid machine u can afford and fit into ur shop. Table size definitely is a factor to consider too. I'm always running out of space on mine.

Hi Tony,
This subject comes up regularly on many forums and it is always split. One camp is with the round column mills and the other is with the square dovetail column mills.
Both have merits and disadvantages, but the square column does have more mass.

With the round column think of a pedestal drill, and when you move the table up or down the table goes from side to side, thats what a round column mill does, but when milling, you need to return to the exact spot, which can be difficult and time consuming.

I nearly bought a square column mill myself, as I think they are a good machine, but ended up going with the HM52 because I had some extra money at the time.
I would recommend the HM46 or for a bit more money this one
Titan Machinery - TM45FGB
It has longer travels that equal to the HM50/52, a larger collar on the head etc.
.
It's your choice but, if your thinking of something to go with your lathe and cut steel forget anything smaller than the HM32-46, they will do it, but very slow and small cuts.

Regards Dave

PS
We never got to see pictures of your new lathe, or what you think of it.How is it going?

Hi Guys
Thanks for all your advice. I am a little away from a dicicion yet, but will look at you suggestions and link and get back to you.
Dave
I have really only finished my Lathe in the lasy couple of months. When I received it I pulled it down and checked all geraboxes,( full of sand,swarf and dirty poor quality oil) screw feeds etc, Cleaned, replace a couple of bearings and with assistance of an old machinists friend aligned it all. I also made a pair of trilloies with jacking screws so it can be easily moved to get at the motor and electrics. I then fitted a 3Ph Motor and Altivar 31 VSD and rewired it to suit.
I am very pleased with it, although in saying that I am learning as I go and really do not get a lot of time to spend on it, called work and a 14 hour a day job. When I work out how to do it I'll post a couple of pictures.

Thanks again
Tony