Do I need a tilting mill table?

great white said:
This is interesting:

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Maybe I should just make one myself. I ran across those pics on a machinery clearance site, from the UK if I remember.

That looks like aluminum, I'd probably at least do 1018 and maybe even make the top table a t-slot table. I've got the tooling for it already. the big plus of making it myself as I can size it to my particular mill. As short or as long as I want it and the holes/slots where I need them to fit things like my rotary table, clamp kit, etc. My benchtop mill has roughly 13" of vertical clearance, so I shouldn't have a lot of problems fitting it under the head. Of course, making it myself means I can make it shorter if needed, although at the cost of tilt angle.
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Just me, but I love the gear driven adjuster on the 5x7. After 50yrs of futzing with no gear adjusters I’m all in on like z adjuster and even 24” radial arm on my drill press along with a xy RT on the drill press. I’m done knocking back and forth and endless fiddling’. YMMV.
 
In the past when I have needed to mill on an angle, I would either use angle references (30º. 45º, 60º) along with {1º, 2º, 3º, 4º, 5º, 10º,...) to get a "reasonably precise" angle.

I have not (as of yet) needed fractional degrees (once again: yet) like 129.658º. I do know how to setup adjustable parallels and use a sine table in principle, but never in practice (yet).
 
If you have a rotary table that can be mounted vertically, an angle plate bolted to that is another option.
 
C-Bag said:
Really? I didn’t know they came without adjustment.
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I think most of the 5 x 7 ones do come with the drive, but I elected to get one size smaller (4 x 5) for my mini-mill. I purchased it a little over a year ago for a project (that is still on the to-do list) for $85; now they cost more than some of the 5 x 7 tables, so they must be popular.

Earlier this year I posted how I cleaned the table up and "tuned" its operation; also made some T-nuts to fit the smaller slots:

Tilt Table Tune-Up
 
ChazzC said:
now they cost more than some of the 5 x 7 tables, so they must be popular.
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Hard to know if it’s popular or more expensive because it’s not popular. I was surprised how quickly I ran out of table space after I got the piece, clamps and blocking in place. If I had to do it over I’d probably go with the 7x10 but at the time it was a total unknown with nobody with similar work envelope to ask. It has been useful and not fallen into the stupid tool category.
 
C-Bag said:
Hard to know if it’s popular or more expensive because it’s not popular. I was surprised how quickly I ran out of table space after I got the piece, clamps and blocking in place. If I had to do it over I’d probably go with the 7x10 but at the time it was a total unknown with nobody with similar work envelope to ask. It has been useful and not fallen into the stupid tool category.
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I know – I often wish I had purchased a Bench Mill rather than a Mini, but $$ and space precluded that (plus I would have needed to take the Bench Mill "more apart" than I had to with the Mini to get it into the basement and lifted into place).

The 4 x 5 is a better size for the Mini Mill as it's only 80mm tall; per the photos on eBay, the 5 x 7 is only 10mm taller when @ 0°, but the upper edge would be ~120mm @ 45° vs. 90mm on the 4 x 5; even with the 2" column riser block, an inch+ is precious on a Mini Mill.
 
ChazzC said:
I know – I often wish I had purchased a Bench Mill rather than a Mini, but $$ and space precluded that (plus I would have needed to take the Bench Mill "more apart" than I had to with the Mini to get it into the basement and lifted into place).

The 4 x 5 is a better size for the Mini Mill as it's only 80mm tall; per the photos on eBay, the 5 x 7 is only 10mm taller when @ 0°, but the upper edge would be ~120mm @ 45° vs. 90mm on the 4 x 5; even with the 2" column riser block, an inch+ is precious on a Mini Mill.
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Yup, it’s all about scale and work envelope. I could have probably gotten by with a mini mill but my RF30 came up for $450. I’m in a 2 car garage and mini mills used were more than than $450 so I went with it. As I started researching what was possible and what was actually available the RF30 hit that sweet spot for me because it was in that no man’s between mini and BP. But still the 700#’s of the mill drill and probably 200#’s+ of the steel table along with my steep driveway presented a pucker factor I’d not totally thought through until in the thick of it. I didn’t want to disassemble so was lucky my neighbor knew a friend with a small skip loader and he transferred the mill and table down the steep incline. It’s why I passed up a MaxMill for $500. Logistics with limited resources sux when I’m more used to forklifts, pallet jacks etc.

Dealing with Z always seems something when new a hindsight experience. I have a tendency when presented with too many variables to miss something.
 
ChazzC said:
I know – I often wish I had purchased a Bench Mill rather than a Mini, but $$ and space precluded that (plus I would have needed to take the Bench Mill "more apart" than I had to with the Mini to get it into the basement and lifted into place).

The 4 x 5 is a better size for the Mini Mill as it's only 80mm tall; per the photos on eBay, the 5 x 7 is only 10mm taller when @ 0°, but the upper edge would be ~120mm @ 45° vs. 90mm on the 4 x 5; even with the 2" column riser block, an inch+ is precious on a Mini Mill.
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Meh, that's a common issue: got a mini mill and wish you had a benchtop. Get a Bechtop and wish you had a Knee mill. Get a knee mill and wish it was cnc....etc, etc, etc...

As long as you can do the projects you want to do, it's the right size for you. My benchtop will do every project i want and if/when I hit something I can't do with it, I'll pay a local shop to do it. Comes a point you just have to get off the "bigger/better" merry go round......
 
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