- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3
Hello all. I have been lurking for a while after purchasing an HF mini mill earlier this year to make gun parts. Turns out, machining is a lot of fun, so it kindof usurped firearms as my primary hobby! Now, naturally, I have decided I want something more substantial. I have largely settled on the two mills listed above due to their work envelop. I don't have any particular need for the large envelop, but I remember back in my days of playing with cars wishing I had the capacity to, for example, mill an intake manifold flange out of aluminum that might require 24+" of travel to face it in one pass (for an I6 engine).
I figure I can comfortably swing around 3k for the mill. My biggest limitation is weight. The .mil makes me move every few years, and while I am confident I will always live in a house with a garage, I figure around 1000lbs would be the most I want to deal with moving as much as I will have to. Further, ideally I would be able to disassemble the machine into major components for moves so, worst case, me and a friend or two could at least move pieces short distances onto and off of horizontal dollies, etc.
I have seriously looked into the smaller knee mills as well, but between the significantly smaller travels, and the fact that the machine bases make up such a significant portion of their mass means they offer few advantages and additional disadvantages to me. From what I have found, their only two advantages over the higher-end RF45 clones are the ability to move the spindle off centerline, and the arguably larger weight capacity on the table. I don't plan on machining any automotive engine blocks any time soon, and having 8-10" more X travel certainly goes far to offset the advantages of twisting the spindle off to one side. And, like I said, it seems that a greater portion of their mass is located in the base casting, which does not help when it comes time to move.
So, as to my original question, does anyome know or have a way to measure the weights of the base, column, and head of these large RF45 clones? Anecdotally, I have found numbers suggesting 150-200lbs for both the base and head, and Id assume roughly the same for the column and then a little less for the table and saddle assembly. Does that sound right?
Thanks a lot!
I figure I can comfortably swing around 3k for the mill. My biggest limitation is weight. The .mil makes me move every few years, and while I am confident I will always live in a house with a garage, I figure around 1000lbs would be the most I want to deal with moving as much as I will have to. Further, ideally I would be able to disassemble the machine into major components for moves so, worst case, me and a friend or two could at least move pieces short distances onto and off of horizontal dollies, etc.
I have seriously looked into the smaller knee mills as well, but between the significantly smaller travels, and the fact that the machine bases make up such a significant portion of their mass means they offer few advantages and additional disadvantages to me. From what I have found, their only two advantages over the higher-end RF45 clones are the ability to move the spindle off centerline, and the arguably larger weight capacity on the table. I don't plan on machining any automotive engine blocks any time soon, and having 8-10" more X travel certainly goes far to offset the advantages of twisting the spindle off to one side. And, like I said, it seems that a greater portion of their mass is located in the base casting, which does not help when it comes time to move.
So, as to my original question, does anyome know or have a way to measure the weights of the base, column, and head of these large RF45 clones? Anecdotally, I have found numbers suggesting 150-200lbs for both the base and head, and Id assume roughly the same for the column and then a little less for the table and saddle assembly. Does that sound right?
Thanks a lot!