Bench Mill choices

[Oldseabee]

Nice job Mike. Make sure to plug the old hole


Cutting oil is my blood.

I will not forget that. I'm waiting for the new oiler to show up so I can ream the hole if needed. And then I'll drill and tap the old oil hole and put a flush fitting allen plug in it.

 

[Oldseabee]

Today I'm working on the dro Y dro. And my electrician will be here this afternoon to run a 220 line into my garage.
Can't wait.

 

[twhite]

Good for you. You are moving along nicely. At this rate you will be making chips next month.


Cutting oil is my blood.

 

[palada]

How much Y travel will you lose after DRO install?

What brand/model of DRO?

 

[Oldseabee]

How much Y travel will you lose after DRO install?

What brand/model of DRO?

I may loose about an inch of travel is all.
The Lunear scale is an Eason from DRO PRO sold on ebay at a big discount. I had to cut it as it was too long. Cutting was easy except then I had to purchase a 2mm tap and drill set to re install the end cap.

 

[Oldseabee]

Well the electrical is slow going. We were going to use a breaker marked cooktop which would work sine we now have a gas cooktop. But someone way back when tied that breaker into other items. So now we have to go circuit by circuit and pair a few up to give a 20 amp breaker or larger for my 220. So probably 2 weeks away. Plus I still have to purchase the

 

[Damn Yankee]

No dog in this race...

I was faced with the same problem. Had no means of moving a knee mill so decided upon a table top - hmm, which one? I purchased a Weiss from ToolLots - $2,700 delivered with 3 - axis DRO. I absolutely love it. I had some small issues (expected with a Chinese import) and Weiss took care of them promptly and without pulling teeth. I mounted it on a HF US General toolbox. Perfect match - strong, no chatter, mobile.

I considered the PM, but I don't need the higher speed for carbide - HSS is just fine for me, and the price difference was huge. I do miss torque on harder material, but it was expected and I just must be patient. Just my 2 cents...


Oh, that is an 8" RoTab on the table for those who always wondered how to scale a RT to table depth (7" in this case).

Cheers!
John

 

[Oldseabee]

More electrical work. Service disconnect mounted.

 

[Oldseabee]

Mill is now operational. Both belt covers installed. And it's nice and quite with the Baldor 1hp dc motor. Next when I have more time theDRO system.

 

[OTmachine]

Looks Good! I just finished installing Ditron Mag scales on my son’s BP. The provided screws were M3 x .5. Had to dig thru taps to find the correct ones. Still wondering about chip guards.