What kind of machine is this?

[Ron Bott]

Looking at the following video at 1:40-1:45:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVBf1hd5ZvQ

I'm curious what this machine is called that is doing the inletting on a rifle stock?

[David Hawxhurst]

looks like a milling machine. not sure of the make.

[Ron Bott]

I thought milling machines were for metalworking, and did not have high enough rpm's for woodworking?

[Brad Shipton]

Some use them for woodworking even with the lower RPM's. The guys I know that do were ex-machinst's. Grizzly makes a version with higher RPM's specifically for woodworking.

[Bruce Page]

It looks like a generic light-duty benchtop mill.


The “High RPM” requirement for woodworking is mostly a myth. I have cut a ton of wood on my metal working turret mill at 700-1000 rpm. The only time the mill is at a disadvantage is when milling pockets and relying on the bottom of the cutter to leave a router smooth finish on the pocket bottom.

[Jim Rimmer]

looks like a milling machine. not sure of the make.

+1 for milling machine

[Ron Bott]

Grizzly makes a version with higher RPM's specifically for woodworking.

I was looking at a few of the Grizzly benchtop mills that look quite interesting. A couple of questions:

1. Would a mill double as a drill press?

2. What kind of bits do they use? Router bits or are there special milling bits?

[Halgeir Wold]

It's called motor hanger... drill,mill etc....
like this http://www.foredom.net/motorhangers.aspx

Used by jewellers, etc. etc.

[Timur Aydin]

A couple of questions:1. Would a mill double as a drill press?

The mill in that video would do most of the tasks that a drill press can do. However, some drill presses give a much larger Z axis capacity by moving the table down.


2. What kind of bits do they use? Router bits or are there special milling bits?

Milling machines use collets, which give much higher clamping power, more rigidity and more precision. But there are collet adapters that allow drill press mandrels to be attached to a milling machine spindle.

[David Hawxhurst]

my small mill uses r-8 collets and i got a r-8 drill head. the draw back to using a mill to drill with is the z-axis. in my case it limits me to about 16" and thats before you put the drill bit in the chuck.