What accessories did you add to your PM Mill?

My newest accessory I just purchased is a 6" Grizzly rotary table.

I am trying to establish myself as a gunsmith, and one of the things that I would like to get into is slide cuts for red dot sights. I was under the assumption that I would have to bite the bullet and purchase a CNC mill to handle a job like that. Then I found an internet forum post that outlined how they made it work with a manual mill and the rotary table. Which saved me about 20 thousand dollars, lol.

I've also invested in the factory installed DRO, and a X-axis power feed for my PM-25
 
I went basic and added an aftermarket DRO and the factory power feed for the X-Axis.
Consistent feed rates really help create quality finishes on the metal.
 
I had a PM935TS and added a 3-axis DRO with digital touch probe, power feed on the X and Z axis, a VFD, a rotary table, and a dividing head.
 
wrmiller said:
I had a PM935TS and added a 3-axis DRO with digital touch probe, power feed on the X and Z axis, a VFD, a rotary table, and a dividing head.
Click to expand...
What type touch probe did you use.
 
I have a Jet knee mill. My really nice to have is a 3 axis DRO that I've added. The machine came with X axis feed, I added a Z (power knee) Cranking the knee up & down as tooling was changed was a killer for my old body. I pitched the cheap vice and put a 6" kurt on. Most commonly used tooling other than drills and milling cutters is the 3" boring head. It's an import and works quite well. I have an 8" Vertex rotary table. Considered the 10" but too heavy for me. I cast an 11" aluminum disc and machined 8 T slots since I found the 8" diameter limiting by the time work holding was added. I have an 8" face mount chuck that fits the RT but rarely have used it. A toolmakers vice is handy since you can hold it in the main vice at any angle. I machined the base on a spin indexer true to its axis so I can just mount it quickly in the vice. I also reversed the collet end to getaway from the indexing plate when milling. For many things a set of collet blocks will do some of the things you might do on the spin indexer. A fairly large 90º plate to mount work to, gets used once in a while.

I have lots of other stuff for the mill that can't be described as truly "needed."
I used my mill to fix stuff and make things mainly just to see if I could.
 
Geswearf said:
I'm curious, but beyond the basic mill, what did you add? I'm talking about attachments to the mill, not tooling. I consider a keyed or keyless chuck and collet set to be part of the mill since you cannot do much without them, but the items I've listed below are not mandatory to use the milling machine.

I think a DRO, power feeds on x,y, and z axes, as well as a power drawbar are all very nice, but add around $2000 - 2500 to the cost of the mill. Any other attachments, customizations that you have added?

If you bought your mill with a DRO or some of the items I mentioned above installed by the vendor (if you don't have a PM), please mention this.
Click to expand...
Beside the accessories you mentioned, I really like my Fogbuster coolant/lube system. Does what is says...no fumes in my shop and very easy to adjust. I have two matching Kurt machine vises (DX-6). Tremendous flexibility if you work with larger stock. Found a 2nd hand rotary/super-indexer for cheap (super heavy but very good for production work). Made some leveling feet with a wider stance - very stable and easy to set up. Next projects are better lighting and a better, more sophisticated chip guard.
 
wnchstrtnfldvlle said:
My newest accessory I just purchased is a 6" Grizzly rotary table.

I am trying to establish myself as a gunsmith, and one of the things that I would like to get into is slide cuts for red dot sights. I was under the assumption that I would have to bite the bullet and purchase a CNC mill to handle a job like that. Then I found an internet forum post that outlined how they made it work with a manual mill and the rotary table. Which saved me about 20 thousand dollars, lol.

I've also invested in the factory installed DRO, and a X-axis power feed for my PM-25
Click to expand...
Would you by chance have a link to that post?
 
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