Thinking of joining the RF-30 club, but I got some questions...

I totally agree, you have to run what you can and what you can find. However there are some smaller knee mills out there (Grizzly, Clausing, Milrite maybe) that don't take up all that much more space. Admittedly I have mine angled to that I have to move my drill press table if I'm doing long parts and suck my gut in to get past it if the wife parks a few inches over, but it's manageable :)
 
I’m very happy with my RF30 clone.
It does everything I need and I have space for it. I could fit a knee mill in my shop but they are rare as hen’s teeth where I live.


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I thought of getting a smaller knee mill. It takes up about the same footprint as an RF. They come up from time to time on CL, but it usually seems to be resellers, not individuals, so the prices are on the higher side. They are so heavy you need to hire a rigger/machine mover to pick up and deliver them. I think I heard that's about $500 or so. They tend to sit for awhile, which I suppose is a good thing; I could offer less to pay for moving it. But, I think they know what they have and that it will take awhile.
I could probably rent a trailer and maybe a winch and use a crow bar to lift the mill enough to get blocks under it to be able to get pipes under it to roll it into the trailer. That's risky, and I'm not strong enough. So, a mill I can left by hand or with an engine hoist it will have to be.
Knee mills have no storage space under them, either. Another advantage of a smaller, bench top mill.
 
10. MOVING THE MACHINE
BTW, speaking of moving a mill: where does one put the straps when lifting an RF-30? Is this the only way:

RF-30 moving.jpg

Would 1" wide straps in a pickup bed hold it down sufficiently? I'd probably use at least 2 in each location. In other words, I'd double-strap it. Thoughts?
 
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I moved mine recently and put the straps under the head and the motor for balance there is a risk of bending the sheet metal shroud around the drive system so I put blocks of wood under the straps so they cleared the shroud.


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What about putting the straps up thru the column? Seems like it would be balanced.
 
BTW, speaking of moving a mill: where does one put the straps when lifting an RF-30? Is this the only way:

View attachment 341092

Would 1" wide straps in a pickup bed hold it down sufficiently? I'd probably use at least 2 in each location. In other words, I'd double-strap it. Thoughts?

Put a block of wood on the table for the quill to rest on and crank the head down as low as it will go. That lowers the centre of gravity.
Then strap on the column above the head.
When I bought mine home it was bolted to a pair of 2x6’s that were the length of my truck box. So there was no chance for it to move forward or backwards. And the column straps held it vertically secure.


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I took mine apart into three pieces to move it. And it came with a stand that had wheels. The seller had an overhead hoist which made things easy to load into my pickup. I took off the motor and separated the column/head from the base. The motor and the head/column went into the bed first followed by the base. The stand went in last. Did the reverse when I got home. Stand out first followed by the base. Slid the head/column to the edge of the tailgate and tipped it up onto the base. The head was as low as it would go. Attached the motor and wheeled it to the back corner of the garage. The only tooling that came with my mill/drill was a 15" Walther rotary table. It had to weigh well over 200 lbs and wouldn't fit on the table. It was a bear to move. Sold it to a local machine shop. The guy who came to get it picked it up like it was no big deal and set it on the back seat of his truck.

Some of these RF 30's have a lifting eye by the column. The owner's manuals also have lifting instructions. The owner's manual I have shows lifting like in the above picture. Recommends using 2 inch straps.
 
I thought of getting a smaller knee mill. It takes up about the same footprint as an RF. They come up from time to time on CL, but it usually seems to be resellers, not individuals, so the prices are on the higher side. They are so heavy you need to hire a rigger/machine mover to pick up and deliver them. I think I heard that's about $500 or so. They tend to sit for awhile, which I suppose is a good thing; I could offer less to pay for moving it. But, I think they know what they have and that it will take awhile.
I could probably rent a trailer and maybe a winch and use a crow bar to lift the mill enough to get blocks under it to be able to get pipes under it to roll it into the trailer. That's risky, and I'm not strong enough. So, a mill I can left by hand or with an engine hoist it will have to be.
Knee mills have no storage space under them, either. Another advantage of a smaller, bench top mill.

My Clausing actually sits on a storage cabinet, although you do have to allow for the knee screw infringing on that space. I don't actually find the cabinet all that useful though being so low to the ground, so I mostly just keep the rotary table and dividing head down there since they are kind of large and less frequently used items.
I think the Rockwell mills also sit on a cabinet. Both the Clausing and Rockwell mills can be easily disassembled for moving, and they weigh about the same as an RF-31. Not easy to find though and at the $2000+ that they often sell for, there is a good selection of brand new bench mills to consider.


If the extra effort indicating the head on the RF mills isn't a major issue for you, they can be a pretty good bargain. There are quite a few members here who have them and seem to make them work.
 
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