New Poster, Want a Mill

davidpbest said:

I know at least 10 woodworkers who have Tormach 1100's to do precision joinery on a milling machine. The needs is out there and there are machines mills that work well at it.

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I think we just shifted gears a bit.... the OP seemed to be looking for a manual mill..... if he wants to upgrade to CNC, he'll get the spindle speed he wants. Seems like duck hunting with a Howitzer, to me, but to each his own.....

ewkearns said:

I think we just shifted gears a bit.... the OP seemed to be looking for a manual mill..... if he wants to upgrade to CNC, he'll get the spindle speed he wants. Seems like duck hunting with a Howitzer, to me, but to each his own.....

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Definitely looking for a manual mill right now. Someday I may be interested in CNC but not right now. As to your analogy, I don't think it fits the situation. More appropriately, I'd liken it to duck hunting with a sniper rifle. I'm after high precision. I don't want to just hit the duck, I want to pierce the left ventricle.

Thanks for all of the replies. Sounds like if I go PM, I'll need at minimum, the 935. I really want the largest work holding capacity my dollar can get me. Additional replies are appreciated.

Whats your budget? Why not a small cnc router? Or a bigger used one?

I've milled wood several times with my PM727 at 1,700 rpm's. With a sharp end mill, it worked very well. I did one of my kids pinewood derby car this way and it work fantastically. I used a carbide wood router bit that has a 1/4" radius to round the corners and again, it worked great. I'm sure that the higher spindle speeds may help some, but the rigidity of the metal working machines definitely make up for the speed loss.

When needed, for routing wood with small diameter router bits, why not simply devise a way of hanging a router over the X-Y table of an ordinary mill, if all you need is the table?

+1 When needed, for routing wood with small diameter router bits, why not simply devise a way of hanging a router over the X-Y table of an ordinary mill, if all you need is the table?

As another alternative, I've seen folks make some fairly simple spindle mounts and mount a high speed spindle or variable speed router to their mill. Just get the mill you want and add a air or water cooled spindle and VFD. Something with a quick connect mount and you'll have the best of both worlds. You can get the import spindles and VFDs for fairly cheap and there's lots of info and help on the web about them.
I haven't personally seen a manual mill with a stock spindle that covers the rpm ranges needed for both wood and metal. Do some research on the best mill to add CNC to and then down the road you'll be ready. Lots of folks covert the smaller PM's and Grizzly's to CNC.