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Thread: Someday a mill

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
    Posts
    16,622
    Spindle to table

    I think the gap between the spindle-nose and the table at its lowest position is around 16 or 17 inches on my knee mill. However, I can clamp a long work piece off the edge of the table, swing the head over, and have spindle-nose to floor capacity.
    I have used that setup for long pieces numerous times.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
    Andy Rooney



  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Marietta GA
    Posts
    1,120
    I too would like a mill/drill. Something with 110V and less than 800 pounds...something around 500 pounds should be plenty. I would like to use it to make a few infill wood planes of a design I've been thinking about for a while. I've watched CL and Grizzly and it looks like such a machine would cost around $700 to $1500 just for the machine. A good vice will run another $300 or a little higher. Tooling, oil, stock etc....the total bill would be around $2000.

    Divide that by Ron Brese's kit and that would be 4 or 5 kits and not have to buy/store/expend/etc.

    So unless I'm willing to make infills in competition with the other makers ( that assumes skills I don't have yet ), I'd be better off just buying 5 kits from Ron and select one for each day of the week...hoot!

    I guess the real issue I'm struggling with is that outside of infill planes ( milling steel and brass ), I really don't have a need for a very accurate mill/drill. My current chinese drill press has a Grizzly X Y table ( not the cheap one ) and it really does every thing I've asked of it. It's just on the cusp of not being able to mill brass effectively as there is no micrometer control of the vertical cut. It's a swag eyeball kind of thing.

    I've looked at Mr. Rodregez's website ( http://tool20895.homestead.com/jose7x10taig.html ) and even bought one of his dvd's on converting a drill press to a very lite duty mill. With all the labor and skills required, I doubt I could make such a drill press mill. Probably simpler to bag groceries a while, save up, and buy something that would put such a device to shame.

    So what would one use a mill/drill for if one already has a good xy controlled drill press?

    By the way, I saw Ron Brese at the LN tool event in Marietta GA and he's a real master craftsman. Just holding one of his planes is a reality check to what good really means IMO. Here's a couple pics from the event.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Central WI
    Posts
    5,666
    Take a look at used millrite, burke, or powermatic mills. Powermatic bought out Burke in the early 70's and continued production of the millrite under their name. They are about 2/3 the size of bridgeports and take up about the same space as a drill press with a million times more flexibility. You want the r8 collets, not the b and s. Three phase is preferable because for a couple hundred you can wire up a vfd and not have to change belts often. Dave

  4. #19
    Try the Grizzly G0619 6"x21" bench top mill. It is no Bridgeport, but it takes R8 tooling, fits in roughly the same footprint required by a bench top drill press and has a very powerful brush-less motor. For my purposes it has proved plenty stiff, accurate and powerful. I use it primarily to make parts when repairing older wood working tools and for the occasional bracket, etc.... It has proved more than sufficient for these purposes and has been a great way to learn metal working. It also doubles as 18" drill press which can be useful when my 15" floor standing drill press isn't quite big enough. By all means get a knee mill if you can swing the space, power requirements and price. I hope to have one someday. Fortunately, any R8 tooling you buy for the G0619 should work on an R8 knee mill.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Marietta GA
    Posts
    1,120
    That G0619 looks like just the ticket for my needs. Now to save up the bucks!

    Do you recommend getting the metal cabinet shown with some of the other Grizzly mills? Will a cutting oil system be required?

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