Milling Machine Advice - Looking at a used machine

[Jake P]

Update:

I am no longer the mill-less!

After my last post on June 7th stating that I was likely going to purchase an 833TV new from PM I decided that I would place my order in the morning and I made up my order inventory.

I woke up on the 8th and saw that I had a message from David Best. A friend of his had just posted a mill with tooling for sale on Craigslist. This was a machine upon which David himself had installed the DRO's, and was a known entity as to the machines usage history.

Long story short, I made an offer that was accepted and arranged a pickup date/time. I left my house at 0500 on the 10th and arrived in Bend Oregon that afternoon, loaded and got back home at 0300 on the 11th.

The mill is a Rong Fu 45 N2F with a Newall DRO for XY and a Mitutoyo DRO for the quill. The mill has had a motor upgrade with VFD enabling a speed range up to 2800+ RPM. The mill also came with a lot of tooling as well as a very nice stainless steel rolling tool cabinet. There is a Kurt D688 vice, an Albrecht 1/32-1/2 Jacobs chuck, R8 collet set, R8 ER40 collet chuck, ER40 collet blocks and a 3-26mm ER40 collet set (most still wrapped). Numerous extra hard and soft jaws for the Kurt, parallels, speed handle, gauge blocks and much more.

There's no way I would have been made aware of this deal without the assistance of David! Thanks again David!!

Here's the load ready to leave Bend (I got a couple of sheet rock carts the seller was wanting to get rid of for a friend that is a dry waller.)

Got the crated mill into the shop:

Ready to get up on the stand!

Started cleaning it up and assessing the machine.
I have a lot of re-arranging to do in my small shop to make proper space, and I still have the 1340GT to get in! I need to get my shop addition (metal working area) built, but that will likely be a couple of years down the road.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

very cool! those are solid mills for their size and it sounds like you got a complete set up too.

 

[Papa Charlie]

There you go, sounds like you made one heck of a score. Congratulations.

May I ask why you have installed a wood floor in your garage? Is it to keep the cold from coming up from the cement in the winter?

 

[Jake P]

There you go, sounds like you made one heck of a score. Congratulations.

May I ask why you have installed a wood floor in your garage? Is it to keep the cold from coming up from the cement in the winter?

Thanks!

I built this into a dedicated wood working shop, and ten years ago I did not envision getting into metal working.

I wanted dust collection for all applicable tools including the table saw (which I like in the middle of the shop) to be under the floor and not on the wall and ceiling. As well as the wiring and compressed air for the island that the saw creates with the associated outfeed table. The dust collector and air compressors are on the back wall outside of the shop in an enclosed area.

So the floor is 1 1/8 ply on 2x6’s with 12” centers. I have the 5” metal ducting for all of the dust collection as well as some of the air and electrical running under the floor. It’s a small shop, so it helps utilize the space better. The ceiling in the shop was almost 9’ off the original concrete floor, so raising the floor a little more than 6” was doable as I can still turn a 4x8 sheet without hitting the ceiling.

I have the space to extend the front of the garage out in the direction of the garage door maybe 14-15 feet. That would give me another maybe 275-300 sqft in which I will have a concrete floor and then move the mill, lathe and what ever else is metal working associated into. But there are many other house projects in the que ahead of that day!

 

[Papa Charlie]

That sounds like a great solution to running the different systems around the shop. Would also get you off the concrete and be easier on the legs.

Seeing your garage, I now understand why space was a major concern. I am not sure a full size mill would do well on the wood floor. Some nice looking tools and a well laid out shop you have.