Considering a round-column mill, advice requested.

[Robert LaLonde]

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It arrived a few days ago, the driver was apparently in a hurry, before I could get back with the bobcat he'd vanished into the sunset.

In the uncrating I found a few damaged parts for which I am awaiting replacements.

I wonder if those statements are related. The last couple years I can't recall receiving a crated delivery that wasn't damaged. The drivers don't like it, but I always write visible damage if I see so much as a scrape on the crate.

I never sign the way bill until I am happy with the shipment. They won't run off on you that way. Had a driver who wanted to just throw a bunch of steel (1x6x144 4140) on the ground a while back instead of waiting for me to bring my tractor around to unload it properly. I told him if he did that I would refuse the shipment and then he would have to figure out how to load it back up himself. Each piece was about hundred pounds. He decided to give me a minute to bring the tractor around with the bucket forks on for unloading. Then he tried to overload my tractor by wanting to put it all on at once. Sigh. LOL. I get it. They don't want to sit around waiting. Time is money, but the few minutes it takes to let me unload safely for me and my shipment is nothing like the hours some shipping warehouses will make them wait. When its all done, no matter how grumpy they got about it I thank them for their help and understanding.

 

[dtsh]

I wonder if those statements are related. The last couple years I can't recall receiving a crated delivery that wasn't damaged. The drivers don't like it, but I always right visible damage if I see so much as a scrape on the crate.

The crate itself was in pretty good shape and the damage/quality issues are almost certainly in manufacture; I give the freight company a pass....this time.

I never sign the way bill until I am happy with the shipment. They won't run off on you that way.

Ha! He didn't wait for me to sign anything, so if there's paperwork to be done he either signed it himself or no signature was required. I was surprised by it to be honest, figured I would sign for it when it was offloaded, but he seemed to have buggered off as soon as it hit the ground.

When its all done, no matter how grumpy they got about it I thank them for their help and understanding.

He wasn't even around long enough to thank!


I'm looking forward to finishing the stand and making my first bits of steel into smaller bits of garbage.

 

[Hawkeye]

How do you use that? Have a reference target on the wall?

I added a pointer to mine as well. I have a thin white string hanging on the opposite wall, with a piece of black cloth behind it. The laser lights up the string very brightly and makes it easier to see. I always bump the head to put the laser on the string before I tighten the clamp bolts. Same alignment every time.

 

[Robert LaLonde]

I added a pointer to mine as well. I have a thin white string hanging on the opposite wall, with a piece of black cloth behind it. The laser lights up the string very brightly and makes it easier to see. I always bump the head to put the laser on the string before I tighten the clamp bolts. Same alignment every time.

I like that. The string will always hang straight. Hard to be sure you painted a line on the wall straight. Just have to make sure you level and tram the mill.

 

[dtsh]

I appear to have hit a snag in getting replacement parts. I followed up today with the Warehouse (WarehouseChecks@Harborfreight.com) and it appears they do not keep replacement parts, they in turn punted me to the Product Support number.

My first call did not go well, the person I spoke to said my only options were to ship it back to them or to return it to the local store and they would refund my purchase price. The idea of paying more for shipping to return it didn't sit well with me and I have serious doubts that the local store would accept it, but he insisted these were my only two options. I asked to speak to a manager, but he insisted that also was not an option. Pretty terrible customer and product support, so anyone considering ordering a large item from them take note.

After Jared disconnected, I called back again and spoke to Valerie who was much more accomodating, she said they could ship another one to me, that I could then strip off the needed parts, then return that one with a provided shipping label *at no cost to me*. It seems incredibly wasteful to ship a 750lb item halfway across the country so I can take 2 parts off then ship it back. I'm somewhat dubious that I will receive either the other mill, or the shipping label (supposedly being emailed to me), but we will see what the next few days brings.

I have to admit, I'm starting to regret buying from HF.

 

[Robert LaLonde]

I appear to have hit a snag in getting replacement parts. I followed up today with the Warehouse (WarehouseChecks@Harborfreight.com) and it appears they do not keep replacement parts, they in turn punted me to the Product Support number.

My first call did not go well, the person I spoke to said my only options were to ship it back to them or to return it to the local store and they would refund my purchase price. The idea of paying more for shipping to return it didn't sit well with me and I have serious doubts that the local store would accept it, but he insisted these were my only two options. I asked to speak to a manager, but he insisted that also was not an option. Pretty terrible customer and product support, so anyone considering ordering a large item from them take note.

After Jared disconnected, I called back again and spoke to Valerie who was much more accomodating, she said they could ship another one to me, that I could then strip off the needed parts, then return that one with a provided shipping label *at no cost to me*. It seems incredibly wasteful to ship a 750lb item halfway across the country so I can take 2 parts off then ship it back. I'm somewhat dubious that I will receive either the other mill, or the shipping label (supposedly being emailed to me), but we will see what the next few days brings.

I have to admit, I'm starting to regret buying from HF.

I had a broken pulley on my bandsaw. They gave me a credit for more than the cost of buying a new pulley. It is what it is.

What parts were broken on your mill?

Yeah shipping a machine twice compared to just sending you the parts seems a little bit of a boondoggle doesn't it. What if it arrives with the same broken parts? LOL

 

[HBilly1022]

I've got a clone of the RF30. Adding the cheap igauging battery DRO's made using it WAY nicer. I replaced the front cover with a sheet metal one and mounted the Z axis scale behind it, with the X and Y readouts below the Z.

Added a power X feed too but the DRO's are more important IMHO.

 

[Kernbigo]

buy it and don't move the head

 

[dtsh]

What parts were broken on your mill?

Honestly, it's nothing that can't be fixed and nothing critical, the motor is dinged up and the little plastic cover for the column is busted, it's nothing that will keep me from using it. Perhaps my expectations are higher than what they should be for Harbor Freight. I'm otherwise satisfied with the machine itself.

 

[stioc]

To start, I would suggest:

• An ER-25 or ER-32 chuck. This is a more accurate way to hold milling cutters. Buy decent collets. I suggest you look at the Tormach TTS system. Their collet chuck is just a little over $30.00 and is pretty accurate. It also allows you to buy boring head adapters, drill chuck adapters, slitting saw arbors, etc. and they will all fit the TTS R8 arbor. This makes tooling changes quick and easy.
• If you buy an ER-32 chuck, consider buying the ER-32 collet block set from ArcEuro Trade. It allows you to mill flats on round stuff in a square or hex pattern and this comes in handy at times. Much faster than an indexing head for simple jobs.

@mikey, I'm interested in this but not clear on what I need from Tormach. FYI, I have a bunch of R8 collets already but I'm hoping to make the tool changes easier. I was thinking about making a power draw bar or switch to an ER (32?) collect chuck so I can make the tool changes down low. Not sure what the advantage of TTS R8 adaptor is over just a plain R8-to-ER32 chuck? Also, if the power draw bar is a better option?

Now that mine is converted to CNC I'm hoping to use it more and looking to make some improvements to it such as:

- Power head lift (although Paul mentioned above that you can make tool changes by simply moving the head, tool changes is usually the reason to lift the head).
- A stop to keep the head from moving (and if I move the head for tool changes as Paul suggested, then I'll need this to be on one side vs. something that doesn't allow the head to move at all.)