New mill/drill just arrived, what do I need FIRST . . . then second . . . then third?

How do you like the HF? Any problems? I'm just about to order one myself. Also a question for those with experience, I was going to order some basic stock to start with. What is recommended? Hot rolled, cold rolled, something else entirely? Thanks.


Go with aluminum until you get things settled in and you are used to the machine. I have milled some fairly hard stuff but the most enjoyable steels to use are 12L14. and 1144.

I upgraded to the belt drive almost immediately. The gear in the spindle is prone to breaking. You want a bit of speed if you are going to use smaller tooling. The belt drive is quieter, faster, and more capable of dealing with the occasional catch or interrupted cut. The only real "problems" are that they are not a big mill. Capacity is always a concern along with rigidity. I push mine pretty hard at times and it does fine although loose stuff might walk off the table it is bolted to. Especially when I am using unbalanced tooling like a boring head or fly cutter. Be sure and lock down any axis that you are not moving.

In general, these are really basic but fairly rugged little machines.
 
Newbie with only low hours on the bigger round column mill drill. Couple things I ran into. The teeth in the face mill must be set even (you may not have got this in the deal). The draw bar was too long for the e 25 spring style end mill holders so I made a shorter one with some rod I had. Getting the hex head height correct so it did not prohibit the cover from dropping and was still accessible for tightening was fussy. I could not figure out how to hold the spindle while tightening so I called HF whose line was busy , but did return the email a day later. "Hold the pulley" to tighten. This is nonsense to me so I made a wrench that fits over the hex head and grabs two splines on the spindle shaft at top. Much easier. The wrench is not hard to make. Also the clips from hell on the cover catch the cover after loosening to raise it. I spaced them out a little so at droop they cannot catch the rising cover. Best mod of all. That was driving me nuts.

Biggest surprise was a problem with a purchased R8 end mill holder. It would not advance into the spindle to be tightened. At first I blamed poor SHARS who, it turn out, was guiltless. The pin in the spindle that registers in the R8 slot stuck out too far for the correct Bridgeport R8 collet dimensions. A fine gentleman at Little Machine Shop explained that victims routinely grind the pin back with a dremel. I cautiously used the half round of a sharp file with upward strokes. About 10 strokes did it. I also put a gentle chamfer on the lead in slot on the R8 collet. Fixed. In this forum I recently read the pins are often just deleted by machinists.


Since this thread is about the smaller , square column unit, perhaps this comment should be moved.
 
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