- Joined
- Jan 12, 2019
- Messages
- 96
About three days ago, I set about tightening up my RF 30 mill. This is the third of these mills I have owned and the fourth with which I have had experience. I have never paid more than 400.00 for one of these mills. You might ask why I am on my third of these mills. It has nothing to do with failure or lost performance of the mills but was prompted only by long distance moves. I knew I could replace the mills cheaper than I could move them. While these mills may suffer from a less than stellar reputation, I find that they can be an economical answer to the home shop mill function.
The internet is replete with videos and descriptions of upgrades to the mill and with instructions for keeping the mill tight. I am an untrained home machinist and so my comments could not possibly add to the comprehensiveness of the information that is already available.
My reason for making this post is to simply express that I was able to tighten the backlash on the two axes of the work table with relative ease. The table came off easily. When it was removed I realized that the cross nuts and feed shafts were in good condition and the adjustments on the cross nuts could be relied upon to reduce backlash to an acceptable (to me) level.
I am going to make a more substantial base for the mill but one which will allow access to the Y axis nut adjustment without removing the table. I may try to put wheels on the base for ease of movement around the shop. I did this on a 12 inch lathe weighing about 1100 pounds so it should work for this 600 - 700 pound mill.
Sorry for not really adding anything to the RF mill discussion.
The internet is replete with videos and descriptions of upgrades to the mill and with instructions for keeping the mill tight. I am an untrained home machinist and so my comments could not possibly add to the comprehensiveness of the information that is already available.
My reason for making this post is to simply express that I was able to tighten the backlash on the two axes of the work table with relative ease. The table came off easily. When it was removed I realized that the cross nuts and feed shafts were in good condition and the adjustments on the cross nuts could be relied upon to reduce backlash to an acceptable (to me) level.
I am going to make a more substantial base for the mill but one which will allow access to the Y axis nut adjustment without removing the table. I may try to put wheels on the base for ease of movement around the shop. I did this on a 12 inch lathe weighing about 1100 pounds so it should work for this 600 - 700 pound mill.
Sorry for not really adding anything to the RF mill discussion.