- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
- Messages
- 894
TL;DR version in bold at the bottom.
My brother just offered me his mill (RF-30 type Harbor Freight model; I forget the number) on the same terms as I got his lathe: indefinite loan because he doesn't know how to use them and never touches them and they make more sense in my shop than his.
Great! I'll take it! Right? Except free is never free. I don't mean in the sense of owing favors or anything like that (honestly I owe him plenty for the work he does for our vehicles already, even if I did help him build his shop). I just mean that he doesn't have almost anything for it. There's a simple angle vise (drill press table grade), a drill chuck, and nothing else I'm aware of. He's been using it as a glorified drill press and nothing more since he got it from our dad about a decade ago. It didn't feel appropriate during our phone call a minute ago to ask about tooling.
I have been frustrated without a mill as I'm setting up a lathe and I want to make my own toolholders and so forth, not to mention actual projects. But I'm cramped as it is. The only way I could take it is if I let go of the radial arm saw and the (worn out HF floor standing) drill press. And I'm a guy who actually likes a radial arm saw. And even though I have it set up well I'm not likely to get much money for it.
Which brings me to the issue: I can't afford to buy anything for a mill right now. And I would want to. I have a screwless vise for my surface grinder, which I suppose I could use on the mill. And I have about a dozen random end mills I've picked up when they were super cheap, figuring I would eventually have a mill. But no collets (R8, right?), no end mill holders, no boring head, no edge finder, no fly cutter, etc.
So here's the challenge: What is the least I would need to buy to get some basic squaring and slotting functionality from a mill? What is the barebones set of tooling to make it useful to have around? I'm not talking about the cheapest brands, just the fewest total items. I commented in a post yesterday about what tools to buy with a mill that I am VERY good at coming up with lists of things I want to buy. I am not so good at knowing what is actually NEEDED to make use of a mill (I've never used a mill), vs what is only needed for special operations, or just nice to have.
If it doesn't make sense for me financially to get this right now then I'll leave it in my brother's shop instead of having it in the way and only there to nag me to spend money on it. It's an open offer, no rush. I can take it when I want to. But I like my marriage more than I like machining, and I don't intend for that to change, so I have to take budgetary matters seriously.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
My brother just offered me his mill (RF-30 type Harbor Freight model; I forget the number) on the same terms as I got his lathe: indefinite loan because he doesn't know how to use them and never touches them and they make more sense in my shop than his.
Great! I'll take it! Right? Except free is never free. I don't mean in the sense of owing favors or anything like that (honestly I owe him plenty for the work he does for our vehicles already, even if I did help him build his shop). I just mean that he doesn't have almost anything for it. There's a simple angle vise (drill press table grade), a drill chuck, and nothing else I'm aware of. He's been using it as a glorified drill press and nothing more since he got it from our dad about a decade ago. It didn't feel appropriate during our phone call a minute ago to ask about tooling.
I have been frustrated without a mill as I'm setting up a lathe and I want to make my own toolholders and so forth, not to mention actual projects. But I'm cramped as it is. The only way I could take it is if I let go of the radial arm saw and the (worn out HF floor standing) drill press. And I'm a guy who actually likes a radial arm saw. And even though I have it set up well I'm not likely to get much money for it.
Which brings me to the issue: I can't afford to buy anything for a mill right now. And I would want to. I have a screwless vise for my surface grinder, which I suppose I could use on the mill. And I have about a dozen random end mills I've picked up when they were super cheap, figuring I would eventually have a mill. But no collets (R8, right?), no end mill holders, no boring head, no edge finder, no fly cutter, etc.
So here's the challenge: What is the least I would need to buy to get some basic squaring and slotting functionality from a mill? What is the barebones set of tooling to make it useful to have around? I'm not talking about the cheapest brands, just the fewest total items. I commented in a post yesterday about what tools to buy with a mill that I am VERY good at coming up with lists of things I want to buy. I am not so good at knowing what is actually NEEDED to make use of a mill (I've never used a mill), vs what is only needed for special operations, or just nice to have.
If it doesn't make sense for me financially to get this right now then I'll leave it in my brother's shop instead of having it in the way and only there to nag me to spend money on it. It's an open offer, no rush. I can take it when I want to. But I like my marriage more than I like machining, and I don't intend for that to change, so I have to take budgetary matters seriously.