Buying A Genuine RF-45 eMachineTool.com?

AndySomogyi

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Have any of you guys dealt with eMachineTool.com?

I’m leaning towards an RF-45, and they sell what they claim is a genuine Taiwanese Rong Fu RF-45 for $2900 whereas most other places like MSC sell them for closer to $5000. eMachineTool said this is a 100% Taiwan made one.

How can eMachineTool be that much cheaper?

eMachineTool.com RF-45 link:
http://www.emachinetool.com/new-machines/mills/drill-mill-mill-drill/rong-fu-rf-45-mill-drill

I’ve also read that quality of the RF-45 has gone downhill, per the second link.

Would I be better off getting a Precision Matthews PM-932M and just hand scraping the ways and gibs?

Note , I Don’t Have Room For A full-sized Bridgeport, I have a tiny 1 car garage that already houses my project car.

New RF-45 quality link:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/rongfu-45-not-what-they-used-to-be.70008/


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I don't know how, I think they might be a representative without a warehouse, the 'e'. The Aussies buy machines out of China that way. But that's purely a guess. I also have that site bookmarked as I need new traverse nuts. My RF-45 had been used as a CNC and all the adjustment in the nuts is used up. BTW the power feed option on the Z axis allows the mill to do boring without the ridges that hand feeding would induce. That makes it the most valuable option you can get, including X power feed and DRO. This makes it a real mill. I'm wondering if I can retrofit, likely, and sweet talk the Chief Financial Officer, more of a challenge. . We are retired so we are on a budget. In years back I would just do OT during the shutdown.

I would have a custom rifle made by Bill each shutdown. I did the stock and he the metal work. I would ship him a sad FN Mauser 98 from the early 50s or a P-17, not as easy , to rebarrel and fix the action. Besides being an excellent machinist, he could work wonders on the scrap iron I shipped. I tell you this because his mill was a RF 45. He liked it except when he had to flute barrels, chuckle. But he had bought his new from Thomas Skinner, the local importer and dealer. When I went to them to get parts to put mine back to manual, they told me they didn't handle Rong Fu anymore. I live near Grizzly so used Grizzly parts. Inside the Grizzly showroom I sure saw the difference between mine and who Grizzly bought from.
 
From what I understand, most of the Chinese ones are all made at the same factory. The difference is companies like Precision Matthews has QA inspectors on sites and the pick the best specced ones. Than Grizzly gets the rejects, then finally Harbor Freight buys the garbage that’s left after everyone else had their pick. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’ve read a number of places.

The genuine Rong Fu ones are *supposed* to be made in Taiwan.

I don't know how, I think they might be a representative without a warehouse, the 'e'. The Aussies buy machines out of China that way. But that's purely a guess. I also have that site bookmarked as I need new traverse nuts. My RF-45 had been used as a CNC and all the adjustment in the nuts is used up. BTW the power feed option on the Z axis allows the mill to do boring without the ridges that hand feeding would induce. That makes it the most valuable option you can get, including X power feed and DRO. This makes it a real mill. I'm wondering if I can retrofit, likely, and sweet talk the Chief Financial Officer, more of a challenge. . We are retired so we are on a budget. In years back I would just do OT during the shutdown.

I would have a custom rifle made by Bill each shutdown. I did the stock and he the metal work. I would ship him a sad FN Mauser 98 from the early 50s or a P-17, not as easy , to rebarrel and fix the action. Besides being an excellent machinist, he could work wonders on the scrap iron I shipped. I tell you this because his mill was a RF 45. He liked it except when he had to flute barrels, chuckle. But he had bought his new from Thomas Skinner, the local importer and dealer. When I went to them to get parts to put mine back to manual, they told me they didn't handle Rong Fu anymore. I live near Grizzly so used Grizzly parts. Inside the Grizzly showroom I sure saw the difference between mine and who Grizzly bought from.




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Mine has an '01 motor, so it would be from that period. It's got made in Taiwan on it. I'm not sure about all from the same factory, but that is a good story and does explain QC.. Between mine and Grizzlys there are differences, both in the fittings and dimensions.

Machine tools should be hand fitted not just assembled. Even with Chinese labour rates , that costs. One of the local tool stores brought in some lathes, QC6125, a 10x22, or more correctly 250x550mm. They were welders not machinists so they didn't know what they were doing . To get a lower unit cost from XIMA ,they didn't add options , like the thread dial , so as to compete with BusyBee ( Canadian Grizzly) . It didn't work out for them and they clearanced them. My son and I went together to get one. To find the options I researched the web and found out there were two factories making them, SEIG and XIMA . The SEIG ones that were sold by Grizzly and others was merely assembled where as the XIMA ones had excellent test numbers,suggesting hand fitting. I found another importer and got the options. When my son moved out, he took it with him, that's why I have DF 1224g,a better lathe, now.
 
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You are in Indiana, why would you want to spend $5000 of a chinesium machine like that you can find a real American old iron machine within 200 miles for far less than $5000 and then spend the rest of it on tooling...

Clausing 8530 Vertical Milling Machine

I have a friend with that exact same mill at his shop by his is branded by Baileigh and he absolutely hates it he was been beging his boss for a more ridged machine for the past 4 year now...

His machine is like this one but without the power feed...

https://www.baileigh.com/vertical-mill-drill-vmd-45g
 
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Even a new Bridgeports are not considered ridged by machinists. Baby Bridgeports take 50% more floor space than a RF 45 or a clone. From my experience with my well used mill, it has almost paid for itself I've used it that often, I would suggest new. Any slop will directly shows up in your results. I'm thinking I may have to learn scraping. chuckle. Really, I think the problem your buddy and I are having with the RF-45 or his clone, is the combination of the powerful motor and the gearhead, there is no belt slippage to smooth out the cut. I'm not a machinist, but I am a millwright.
 
I’ve got about $3000 max to spend on a mill.
All my tooling is R8.

If I could find a decent Millrite or Rockwell, I might go for one of those. The Clausing looks nice but only has Morse taper, and they have a tiny motor. I’ve looked into a used Enco (Taiwan copy if a Clausing) but it was in **** condition, every single part worn out and like 0.05 slop in the spindle, spindle splines worn, etc...

You are in Indiana, why would you want to spend $5000 of a chinesium machine like that you can find a real American old iron machine within 200 miles for far less than $5000 and then spend the rest of it on tooling...

Clausing 8530 Vertical Milling Machine

I have a friend with that exact same mill at his shop by his is branded by Baileigh and he absolutely hates it he was been beging his boss for a more ridged machine for the past 4 year now...

His machine is like this one but without the power feed...

https://www.baileigh.com/vertical-mill-drill-vmd-45g




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Mills are handy, I find I use mine more than my lathe. In comparison to mill tooling , lathe tooling is peanuts. I would go with something with power Z axis, being able to bore expands your horizons. Oh, BTW that PM shown is lighter duty than my RF-45
 
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Agree on issues encountered with the current production Rong Fu RF-45, it ended up getting returned, maybe contactFc91c. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/rongfu-45-not-what-they-used-to-be.70008/#post-586612

Seems like the older ones were better made, but the newer ones have more quality issues. Without getting photos or inspecting a current production model, I would be hesitant to recommend it. Other mills in this category, but more expensive would be the PM-833T and equally expensive PM-932 PDF. The Chinese machines have gone up in price due to the tariffs, so the price gap has decreased relative to similar Taiwanese machines.
 
I’ve read Fc911c’s thread about the RF45. But I’ve also looked at the detailed parts list of the PM932 vs. the genuine RF45, and all of the bolts are bigger on the genuine RF45, it uses more bolts, and is heavier.

The one thing I really don’t like about the RF45 is it used a rack and pinion instead of a lead screw for the Z, which means you won’t be able to acuratly position the head.

I don’t know, I’ve spoken with precision Matthews, and the seem like really straight shooters. But the extra rigidity of the genuine RF45 is very very appealing. But I can’t seem to find much info about eMachineTools, as to how reputable are they.
 
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