Which mill on 2k budget

erikmannie said:
My two cents:

I have bought 3 new machines (2 lathes & a mill) in the last 12 months. In all 3 cases, I bought new Precision Matthews machines. So far, I have had zero problems. In fact, it has gone very smoothly, although I should mention that I ended up flattening the family finances.

I am sure that previously owned machines can deliver tremendous value, but the machine school that I go to uses (and sells) used machines, and I have seen a lot of slop (!) and issues that would not arise on a new machine. Working on these large but tired machines is usually great, but many are missing levers (and functions). Working on such worn machines may not provide as good of an operator experience as working on a machine that is new (even if that machine came from China or Taiwan).
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Two new lathes??? There are very few operations on a lathe that take much time to change setups. To each his own, I was just curious.
 
I hope what I have will be of value to the op and others. I was in your position about two years ago. Originally I purchased a micro mark mini mill and a Chinese lathe that’s approximately 9x22. I had a lot of fun making things with those machines and they were mostly problem free but very quickly grew out of them. I also ran out of patience with the mill and it’s lack of rigidity. I now own a full sized knee mill 10x52 and a 12x36 lathe both purchased used. I am much happier with them and their abilities. They were both serviceable when I bought them but have done some repairs and upgrades to them both and a lot of cleaning. No my machines aren’t perfect and have some problems that I have to deal with but they get my projects done. I still have the small mill and lathe but haven’t touched them since I got the bigger machines. In the end take into account your space, available power, budget, and patients with your projects then do your best to decide what’s best for you. For me it was buying used larger machines that get things done quickly. For you that may be different. If you’re patient with your projects then a smaller machine probably won’t bother you as long as what you’re working on will fit on or in the machine. I hope what I have offered here has helped you in some way. Good luck in your search for the right machine for you.


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Larry$ said:
Two new lathes??? There are very few operations on a lathe that take much time to change setups. To each his own, I was just curious.
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He bought a 10x30 last year, then decided he wanted to go bigger and just bought a 16x60.
 
Larry$ said:
Two new lathes??? There are very few operations on a lathe that take much time to change setups. To each his own, I was just curious.
Click to expand...

The first lathe I bought was a 10X30, and I found that I wanted a larger swing.
 
I started out with a RF-30 Tiawan made mill. I could make stuff on it but it was difficult, add to that the dial measurements on a import mill are not very precise. The head would shift under heavy loads usually breaking the endmill and messing up the work, changing belt speeds was a pain. I would not use over a 1/4 inch endmill and would not mill anything harder than Aluminum. The vibration when cutting was also pretty serious.

If you have the space I would not buy a tabletop mill. DRO's are a must have for me.

It took me over a year to find the mill I wanted. Paid $2200 for a Bridgeport step pulley J head.

There are mills out there be prepared to travel 100 mile plus with a trailer.
 
PM-30mv is my final choice unless I find a used machine very soon. Leaning toward DRO but not 100% on that. I know my budget has been blown.
 
I've used both a Central Machinery and Enco table top mill. I've also used several floor model knee mills.

All cut metal.

However both benchtops have significant rigidity issues. That translates into having to take VERY light cuts and still getting vibrations at the cutter that make accurate results almost impossible.

A solved the benchtop accuracy problems somewhat by adding a DRO and making table adjustments constantly as I cut stuff.

If I had the space (and the 3-phase power) I would have skipped the benchtop completely and gotten a knee mill.

Gary
 
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