A bench top mill, or mill-drill can, in the hands of someone who knows how
to use it, do anything that will fit on its table and under a tool. The
problem is the length of time it takes to shift the metal with a small
tool, and the skill required to work around the limitations of the equipment.
The first step into "real" milling machines are the bench-top mill-drills,
with 1.5 - 2 hp motors, imported from one of the China's. Price ranges
from say $1200 C to $2400 C for what appear to be the same machine. Key
characteristic of these machines is fairly rough castings, poor rigidity,
and most importantly - a round column that the milling head slides up and
down to position the Z-axis outside of the range of the quill. The problem
is that as soon as you move the head, you loose the registration of the
point you're centered on and effectively have to start your set-up from
scratch. Major draw back. You have to move the head a lot when changing
tools - you might center drill, then drill to get clearance, then put in a
boring head - each step of which will need to head moved because the quill
doesn't have enough movement.Next up the scale are bench top "knee"
mills. Like real mills, these have gibs that the knee (or the head in the
case of some of the smaller types) slide up and down on, allowing accurate
vertical adjustments without loosing that all important registration to the
workpiece. Price is about $2000 and up, in Canada. Used real mills can
start to be had for this amount. Check out this web site for what looks to
me like a real nice little mill: http://lautard.com/myfordpa.htm. Just a
little picture, but it's a small mill that uses a gib system to adjust
height. You'd have to call to get more information.
Derek, I looked into the small mills extensively, and decided to get a used
industrial type mill. I probably have more room than you do, tho'. Just
as an aside, you should plan to spend at least $1,000 on tooling, vises,
collets, cutters, etc. You're welcome to come up to my shop and home for a
weekend or two and make your pieces on my mill and lathe, BTW. Any time
after the 24 hr race at Daytona...
Cheers, Brian
At 03:06 PM 01/22/2000 -0500, Derek Harling wrote:
>Need advice/recommendations.
>
>Some years ago, never having used a machine tool before, I bought a Taig
>micro-lathe. Since then have made or modified all kinds of things for my
>vintage race cars. Obviously mainly small parts - but I have gone "up to
>and beyond" the nominal capacity of the lathe by taking small cuts and s
>l o w feeds. Have even used the micro mill attachment quite a bit.
>
>And boy, is it nice to have more bench space by putting it back on the
>shelf when I've finished the job.
>
>Question
>
>I now need to make some suspension uprights from billet 6061. Biggest
>pieces would be maybe 6 x 4 x 1-1/2 and 4x4x5. Should I even consider a
>mini mill such as the Taig or Sherline? Obviously I'd need to take small
>cuts etc.
>
>Or do I need to spring for a $1000 "real" bench-top mill with R8 collets
>etc - such as stocked by most mail order people and local supply houses?
>
>I'm not even thinking about a 3-in-1 lathe-mill-drill; but if you think
>I should - pls tell me.
>
>Educate me.
>
>Derek
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