G0704 Questions

[tjschweizer]

Hey everybody,

I posted a month or two ago about wondering which type of mill I should get. I started my summer job again, and with my first paycheck I got a Grizzly G0704. Grizzly received my money on Wednesday, the mill was set up and in my house on Friday. Very fast service. The mill looks great, now I'm just waiting for more paychecks to start purchasing cutters and measuring tools. Patience is not my virtue.

Anyways, this is now the only piece of shop machinery I own. I would like to eventually get a lathe, but college is not cheap, and can only put in so many hours. I have heard things about people using the 90 degree tilt of the G0704 head and using it as a lathe, while not necessarily the best way of doing things, it seems to be a cheaper route for the time-being. How exactly would I get a cutting tool mounted to the table? If anyone knows where I can find some good information about something like this, please let me know.

Also, I cleaned all of the cosmoline off of the mill, and the next day there were spots of weird coloration. The color is almost the same as the "THE HOBBY-MACHINIST" logo at the top of the screen. It is flat, it does not look or feel like rust, I am just curious as to what it is.

Finally, if anyone has any advice as to what to purchase first for tooling, I am open to opinions. I have some measuring tools, a family member runs CNC machines and is willing to loan me some tools, so I am not too concerned with that as much as end mills, drill bits, stuff like that. So far, I have nothing besides the mill, oil, lapping compound, and degreaser. There are so many things I want to buy, but some opinions on what should be a priority would be appreciated.

I will be posting some pictures of my setup soon. My first step is to make a enclosure and coolant system so it won't make a mess out of my living space, so I will make sure I update when I get that built.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, or just want to share a story about your mill, I'm all ears. This project is addicting, the more things I do, the more I want to do, it is going to be a fun project.

Thanks for your time!

 

[kd4gij]

Some R8 collets and a 4" vise should be first on the list. If your not going to cnc it then some Igageing scales from grizzly for a cheap dro. I would go with cheap endmills to start with to get the feal for it. I also added a power feed to my x axes, turning cranks got old quick. If you give us an idea of what you plan on making with the mill we could better help with tooling. Oh and WE NEED PIC'S. There is pic of my G0704 in the albums.



Good luck and injoy the mill
Marty

 

[Splat]

Get a 4" or 6" machinist vise. The vise doesn't have to be a Kurt but get a good Kurt clone. I bought this 4" vise from Phase II after reading other guys' reviews of it and am very happy with it. To secure your vise and other things onto the table get a cheap clamping kit like this one from LMS.

If you don't have access to a good DTI then get one. The DTI will allow you to tram your mill and you'll find other uses for the DTI down the road. If you think you might not be careful enough with it then get a lower-cost DTI like a Mitutoyo 513-518 DTI set or if you watch what you're doing then get a middle-of-the-road DTI like a Bestest 599-7031-3. The Bestest is what I bought and glad I did. I'm careful of handling it since I don't want to buy another.

Of course you'll need some R8 collets (3/8" and 1/2" are good sizes to start with). I would get HSS end mills to start with because you may break a few in the beginning and they're inexpensive.

Make a set of table covers and some way covers, ensure you have adequate lighting for when working on the mill, and ensure your mill is always properly lubricated. They don't always come from the factory lubricated. Last but not least, have fun!

 

[tjschweizer]

Thank you! I only have a few pictures from when we unloaded the mill. I am uploading them now.

I plan to make Stirling Engines and items of that nature (little trinkets that are fun, but have no real purpose) but I won't be able to make those until I have more machines and tooling. My friend makes custom MIDI controllers and wants me to make the base for the controller, just drilling some holes and such. I need some things for my mechanic tools, think an allen wrench stand, and I need some brackets for the electronics in my car. Simple things, nothing too complicated until I have more tools. My next step is obviously to get a lathe, but I need to finish with this mill first. But if I can figure out how to use this mill as a make-shift lathe...

I do plan to convert this to a CNC machine. I hope to have the conversion done by this summer, but we will see how it goes. I need to build a shroud around it first for chips, if you look at the pictures you will see I am actually inside a house, not a basement or garage, so I can't have chips flying everywhere. A coolant system would be nice. I will have to draw up some prints for those and make them, I will be sure to update on my progress, as well as my progress with the CNC conversion.

I will make sure to upload pictures and update my progress.

Here's to a good summer!

 

[tjschweizer]

Hi,



Consider getting a small flycutter that can use HSS lathe tool bits. A 1" or 1 1/2" sized on is good enough. While not as fast at metal removal as a regular shell face mill, they are inexpensive to buy or make. And even a good piece of 8% cobalt HSS lathe bits are disgustingly cheap and easy to resharpen at home.

I actually have a flycutter I made in my Tool & Die class. I still have it.

I will be ordering a 4" vice soon. Are the clamping kits worth the money? I only ever used a clamp set once during my entire year in the program, and it was for an odd job.

 

[jumps4]

hello and congrats on your new machine
everyone pretty well covered the basic list so i thought i'd give you a set of enclosure plans.
I'm going to buy a zx45 when i get the money and had these plans. I thought a mini hass enclosure would be kewl for mine.
just to give you some ideas
steve

 

[tjschweizer]

Thank you everybody for the advice. I am a little confused as to what a t-nut is. I know what a t-bolt is, not a t-nut. I will probably end up ordering a Grizzly 4" vice as I enjoy doing business with Grizzly. Then there is no ordering until my next paycheck .

Those plans for the enclosure are amazing! I will probably do something a little less fancy... Plus I still need to be able to operate the mill manually until I convert it. But it looks sweet!

I have always used collets, and I will probably stick with them for familiarity reasons. I will get some cheap ones to start off, and we will see how well they hold up.

I am located in north Iowa.

I've been putting in an extra 5 hours of over-time in at work on top of the 50 hours I already put in just to afford this mill, totally worth it!

 

[ScrapMetal]

The t-nuts go in the t-slots just like the bolts but are threaded so you can use different heights of "posts".



-Ron

 

[tjschweizer]

Hey guys, it's been a busy week. I'm still waiting on my lapping compound so I can lap the ways, then I need to level it and the whole works.

I am pretty sure I am going to just go with the Grizzly G7156 4" vise, seems like a pretty safe bet. I have been extremely impressed with Grizzly's service this far.

I made a chip pan for the mill, I've seen a few pictures online with some blueprints, but they were for a machine that was already CNC, so I lengthened the pan and made the angle a little less steep so my hands can still turn the handwheels. I made it out of 1/2" plywood, pretty cheap stuff. So far I have $20 of wood invested. I still need to make the sides, but the hard part is done. Check out the picture!



View attachment 95328

 

[jumps4]

it looks like you did a nice job that should keep the mess off the floor.
steve