Last year I bought a new Taiwanese lathe here in New Zealand from Machineryhouse (Hare and Forbes) and since then I’ve been looking for a mill. This is a new hobby so I’m looking for a basic machine to learn some skills.
Space constraints means a turret mill isn’t suitable so my only option is a bench mill. I watched the second hand market for a year or so but nothing interesting came on sale. There are not a lot of mills on the second hand market here in New Zealand, so when Machineryhouse had their June sale I couldn’t resist a good price on an entry level mill drill. I got the HM-46 which is a Chinese built 1 1/2 HP unit sold generally under the model ID ZX7045. I was rather apprehensive about buying what is often described as a POS but a good look at the machine before purchase convinced me it is a value for money start to milling. I’ve read many posts and seen a number of videos of all sorts problems with these cheap Chinese mill drill units so my expectations were in line with the cheap price.
I picked up the machine a few weeks ago and here’s where I’m up to so far:
Unit was well crated. The rust protection coating of metal surfaces was rather minimal but there was no rust on any surfaces.
The sheet metal stand is quite lightweight but nevertheless strong enough for the task. My concrete floor is a little uneven and I didn’t want to have uneven packing under the stand so I fabricated an adjustable base - the side benefit is the mill is now 75mm higher so that suits me much better.
So the mill is now mounted on its stand and reasonably level with a slight slope towards the coolant drain.
I’ll let it settle for a couple of weeks and then check the level and tram the mill and vice.
So what to do while I wait. With all the previous comments on Chinese mill drills I wanted to make sure there was grease in the bearing, oil in the headstock, no casting sand anywhere or metal chips etc.
Bondo type filler is used on the castings to fill defects and make the unit look smooth and sleek. I’m not against fillers, it does make a smoother surface so it’s easier to keep clean but a little paitence and care would give a better result. Filler has been added over poorly prepared surfaces so chips off easily. The unit was spray painted after assembly and again not enough care in masking areas so there is overspray in places it shouldn’t be - on ways, gibs etc.
So the table was removed so I could clean up and repaint properly. The castings look to be machined and ground quite well but the finish is rubbish. It looks like the casting was cleaned up with an coarse wheel on an angle grinder. Half an hour with a die grinder had the table casting tidied up.
The lead screw bearings were well greased but got a clean and new grease- just to satisfy my perfectionist nature.
The surfaces on the ways are not great and will get a scraping in the future.
Other observations so far:
The mill seems to be a solid unit
Poor finishing but looks like it will be quite functional
Electric motor sounds to be good running unit but time will tell.
Electric switch feel fragile so will get replaced sometime soon.
So having uncovered what I found so far am I happy with my purchase?
Yes I am. It’s probably better than I was expecting.
More details to come when I break out the DTI - hope there are not too many surprises.
Space constraints means a turret mill isn’t suitable so my only option is a bench mill. I watched the second hand market for a year or so but nothing interesting came on sale. There are not a lot of mills on the second hand market here in New Zealand, so when Machineryhouse had their June sale I couldn’t resist a good price on an entry level mill drill. I got the HM-46 which is a Chinese built 1 1/2 HP unit sold generally under the model ID ZX7045. I was rather apprehensive about buying what is often described as a POS but a good look at the machine before purchase convinced me it is a value for money start to milling. I’ve read many posts and seen a number of videos of all sorts problems with these cheap Chinese mill drill units so my expectations were in line with the cheap price.
I picked up the machine a few weeks ago and here’s where I’m up to so far:
Unit was well crated. The rust protection coating of metal surfaces was rather minimal but there was no rust on any surfaces.
The sheet metal stand is quite lightweight but nevertheless strong enough for the task. My concrete floor is a little uneven and I didn’t want to have uneven packing under the stand so I fabricated an adjustable base - the side benefit is the mill is now 75mm higher so that suits me much better.
So the mill is now mounted on its stand and reasonably level with a slight slope towards the coolant drain.
I’ll let it settle for a couple of weeks and then check the level and tram the mill and vice.
So what to do while I wait. With all the previous comments on Chinese mill drills I wanted to make sure there was grease in the bearing, oil in the headstock, no casting sand anywhere or metal chips etc.
Bondo type filler is used on the castings to fill defects and make the unit look smooth and sleek. I’m not against fillers, it does make a smoother surface so it’s easier to keep clean but a little paitence and care would give a better result. Filler has been added over poorly prepared surfaces so chips off easily. The unit was spray painted after assembly and again not enough care in masking areas so there is overspray in places it shouldn’t be - on ways, gibs etc.
So the table was removed so I could clean up and repaint properly. The castings look to be machined and ground quite well but the finish is rubbish. It looks like the casting was cleaned up with an coarse wheel on an angle grinder. Half an hour with a die grinder had the table casting tidied up.
The lead screw bearings were well greased but got a clean and new grease- just to satisfy my perfectionist nature.
The surfaces on the ways are not great and will get a scraping in the future.
Other observations so far:
The mill seems to be a solid unit
Poor finishing but looks like it will be quite functional
Electric motor sounds to be good running unit but time will tell.
Electric switch feel fragile so will get replaced sometime soon.
So having uncovered what I found so far am I happy with my purchase?
Yes I am. It’s probably better than I was expecting.
More details to come when I break out the DTI - hope there are not too many surprises.