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

[pontiac428]

12. VISE (continued)
. Shars has a 5" vise (#202-1001 or #202-1022) Thoughts?

I have the Shars 5" vise, and I think it is perfect. A 6" is way too big, and the 4" is great but just a touch small, so the 5" is Goldilocks.

13. CHANGING SPEEDS

14. CHANGING TOOLS

I keep the belts *just* loose enough to be able to jockey the belt with some firm effort. I push the belt to the grove above or below the sheave I'm in while rotating the pulleys a bit so it walks into the next sheave. Easier done than explained, but it is what I do and I can face steel at .040 doc with a 3" face cutter without slipping.

Changing tools, I have never owned or made a spline wrench. I use a box wrench on the drawbar, grab and hold a handful of belt, and tighten or loosen the drawbar. Might not sound good, but it works and it's safe as long as the power is off. Again, it's what I do, and I still have ten fingers.

Changing speeds and changing tools on the RF-3x are the reason I bought a mill with a power drawbar and a variable speed head. It's a pain, and I employ techniques to make it less so. Jockeying the belts around works just fine, and holding the spindle by using the belt does too.

 

[ARC-170]

The RF-30 is no longer listed, so it's either sold or taken off the market.

15. Any one have any thoughts on this machine?
This one (AJ Tools DM-3OA Mill Drill Milling Drilling Machine 1 Phase 2HP Table 8x28) has been sitting for awhile on CL and it appears the price was raised. It's also listed on Ebay for $1750.

I think it was $1250 at one point, and I saw on older post for it for $1500 and now it's $1650. It appears to be a copy, but it has a different depth gauge.
I'm pretty sure it's overpriced and it appears to be missing a handwheel. I have an email sent to the seller, who I think is a reseller.



I'm not in a hurry, but thought I'd post machines that come up so I can learn what to look for and what's a good price so I can act when the right machine comes up.
As I think of questions and issues I will also post those. Your input is much appreciated.

 

[DavidR8]

The RF-30 is no longer listed, so it's either sold or taken off the market.

15. Any one have any thoughts on this machine?
This one (AJ Tools DM-3OA Mill Drill Milling Drilling Machine 1 Phase 2HP Table 8x28) has been sitting for awhile on CL and it appears the price was raised. It's also listed on Ebay for $1750.

I think it was $1250 and now it's $1650. It appears to be a copy, but it has a different depth gauge.
I'm pretty sure it's overpriced and it appears to be missing a handwheel. I have an email sent to the seller, who I think is a reseller.

View attachment 341363

I'm not in a hurry, but thought I'd post machines that come up so I can learn what to look for and what's a good price so I can act when the right machine comes up.
As I think of questions and issues I will also post those. Your input is much appreciated.

That's an outrageous price for a machine that needs so much TLC. To me that's $500-$600 machine.
Looks like it needs two handwheels and possibly the lever to lock the quill. The shaft is there but the lever bit is either hidden or missing.

 

[ARC-170]

That's an outrageous price for a machine that needs so much TLC. To me that's $500-$600 machine.
Looks like it needs two handwheels and possibly the lever to lock the quill. The shaft is there but the lever bit is either hidden or missing.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that. It's about an hour drive away and it appears to be some sort of reseller. I doubt they are going to deal on the price much because I bet they are monitoring CL and now see they are the only RF on the market in that area. I hope they call me so I can talk to them and get more details.

 

[pontiac428]

The table looks rotten, and it's hard to tell if the base is in the same condition.

That one has a hexagonal comumn base, which means it has the skinny column. I'd look for one with the heavy column with the squared off base casting. To me, it would be worth at least $300 on the purchase price in useful value to have the better column.

There are a LOT of these RF machines out in the wild. Save your money for a real good one.

 

[ARC-170]

16. STAND

I need to get one with a stand or make one. I was thinking to make one that is the same depth as the machine (24") with a table that is a little wider (36") so I have room for wrenches, calipers, mics, plans, etc. I have a tendency to put near the machine when I'm working. There's about 10" on either side. Is this enough? It seems to be on my mini mill, but I could go a little wider so the table is as wide as the mill table and feed screw handles, or just go an even 48". I don't have much more room than that. Thoughts?



The dimensions of the mill are rough. The red box represents a tool box I'm going to use to put all the tooling in. It's one of those end cabinets from HF. I have it on my main tool box but don't need it there anymore. The welder told me to use 2" square tubing that's 1/8" thick. The top is 3/4" plywood with 16Ga steel plate on top (not shown). I plan to bolt the mill thru the top and into the metal tubing, that's why the front and back metal tubes are under the bolt holes. There are actually 3 cross members under the mill: front, back and middle. I could also extend out the top beyond the metal an inch or two instead of flush as shown.

I may be getting ahead of myself here, since I don't even have a mill, but I want to plan it out and make sure there's room for this. That could affect my decision to even get one. I have to think this thru and make sure it will fit and not be too intrusive on Her Majesty's chariot (the wife's minivan).

Actually, what I really need to do is make something with this that saves her a boatload of money, then she'll be more OK with having it in the garage.

 

[Aaron_W]

12. VISE (continued)
David and Chuck: Thanks so much for the timely response! I was concerned about the size because my current mill vise only opens to 3" and I thought 4" wasn't much bigger. Shars has a 5" vise (#202-1001 or #202-1022) that is not too much bigger, about 1.2" longer (measured along the Y-axis), including the handle, about 1/4" wider (X-axis) and about 3/8" higher (Z-axis). The 4" vise looks good, but what about the 5"? It gives me lots more room, but maybe it's just a little too big, meaning limits to the Y-axis travel. I'll have to see if I can get that dimension. I figure I'm considering a bigger mill to make bigger parts; no sense in having the vise be too small. Thoughts?

I edited the posts to number the questions so we could keep track.

Not an RF-30 / 31 but I recently got a 4" vise as the 5" that came with my Clausing is just a tad large and cuts into the already small Y axis travel. I have a shot of the 4 and 5" side by side showing the difference in size, 5" on the right in case it isn't obvious.



My mill is a 6x24, and in the furthest back slot the 5" still overhangs the front of the table by about 1-1/8". The 4" in the middle slot has about 3/4" overhang, and in the rear slot is nearly flush with the front of the table. With the larger table on the RF-30/31 the 5" might just fit flush in the rear slot, so it could be an option.

I won't be getting rid of my 5" vise because it is usable on the mill for large objects, its just not as useful day to day as I think the 4" will be. The Glacern vises are very nice, and almost 1/2 the price of a Kurt.

15. Any one have any thoughts on this machine?
This one (AJ Tools DM-3OA Mill Drill Milling Drilling Machine 1 Phase 2HP Table 8x28) has been sitting for awhile on CL and it appears the price was raised. It's also listed on Ebay for $1750.

I think it was $1250 at one point, and I saw on older post for it for $1500 and now it's $1650. It appears to be a copy, but it has a different depth gauge.
I'm pretty sure it's overpriced and it appears to be missing a handwheel. I have an email sent to the seller, who I think is a reseller.

View attachment 341363

I'm not in a hurry, but thought I'd post machines that come up so I can learn what to look for and what's a good price so I can act when the right machine comes up.
As I think of questions and issues I will also post those. Your input is much appreciated.

At $1000 or less I think the RF-30/31 mills are a decent value, some drawbacks but you get a fairly large and hefty mill for the price. Once you start getting up past $1300 I think there are better options. The Grizzly G0704 and PM25 are $1600-1700 new, only a hair smaller and have a square column so you don't have the issue of indicating after moving the head. At the $2000-2500 range (RF-31 new) you have a lot of moderately compact options.

 

[DavidR8]

16. STAND

I need to get one with a stand or make one. I was thinking to make one that is the same depth as the machine (24") with a table that is a little wider (36") so I have room for wrenches, calipers, mics, plans, etc. I have a tendency to put near the machine when I'm working. There's about 10" on either side. Is this enough? It seems to be on my mini mill, but I could go a little wider so the table is as wide as the mill table and feed screw handles, or just go an even 48". I don't have much more room than that. Thoughts?

View attachment 341399

The dimensions of the mill are rough. The red box represents a tool box I'm going to use to put all the tooling in. It's one of those end cabinets from HF. I have it on my main tool box but don't need it there anymore. The welder told me to use 2" square tubing that's 1/8" thick. The top is 3/4" plywood with 16Ga steel plate on top (not shown). I plan to bolt the mill thru the top and into the metal tubing, that's why the front and back metal tubes are under the bolt holes. There are actually 3 cross members under the mill: front, back and middle. I could also extend out the top beyond the metal an inch or two instead of flush as shown.

I may be getting ahead of myself here, since I don't even have a mill, but I want to plan it out and make sure there's room for this. That could affect my decision to even get one. I have to think this thru and make sure it will fit and not be too intrusive on Her Majesty's chariot (the wife's minivan).

Actually, what I really need to do is make something with this that saves her a boatload of money, then she'll be more OK with having it in the garage.

That seems a good size to me. I have zero space around my mill because the stand it came with didn't have any. I have plans to weld up a new stand but...projects abound

 

[mickri]

16. stand
The top on my stand extends out 8" on each side of the base. It is very handy to set stuff on while using the mill/drill. I wouldn't want it any narrower but don't think that it needs to be wider either. My stand is made out of 2" angle iron and the top is made out of 2x6 douglas fir.

I looked at the HF end cabinets. They seem to be pretty beefy and have a capacity of over 300 lbs. 2" x 1/8 wall square tubing is probably way over kill strength wise. I think that you could weld 2" angle iron to each of the corners and along the top front, back and sides. Extend the front and back pieces out to whatever width you want the top to be. The mounting holes on my mill/drill are set in 1" from the sides, 1 3/4" from the front and 3 1/2" from the back so the mounting bolts would go through the top of the cabinet. Did a quick sketch in Sektchup for you and broke it down to 3 views One the end cabinet with the angle iron and top tray. Two just the angle iron and three the top tray.

 

[ARC-170]

16. STAND (continued)
Chuck, thanks, that's awesome. The welder I talked to suggested I use the 2"/1/8" thick material since he uses a lot of it and has it lying around. I asked about thinner material but he said he wouldn't recommend it (probably because he has lots of the other stuff! Ha!). He mentioned angle iron, but didn't think it would be as stiff as the square tubing. Also, I'd like something that doesn't have the sharp corners.