Milling Machines

[Rusty 0]

I'm currently researching a milling machine, or milling table for my old craftsman drill press. What I'm looking for is something that I can use to mill up some small 1 off gun and car parts, probably out of mild steel or aluminum. I am not looking for fancy or high power, and I don't need a full out CNC machine. I also probably won't be working with exotic metals or anything other than mild steel, aluminum, and occationally wood or plastic.

 

I've been looking at the micro mill that Harbor Freight carries, but to be honest, I'd rather lay out cash for an American made part (yeah yeah yeah, I know, nothing these days is made in America).

 

Anybody out there experienced with these machines? I've got a rough price range in the $200 to $300 area, with lower being preferable depending on manufacturer.

 

Thanks guys

[pistonring8 1]

Im not an expert but I did alot of mill work through Vo-tech and worked at a few fabrication jobs. I can offer an opinion.

 

I have a Bridgeport benchtop "drill mill" that I use in my shop. Its really just a nice heavy drill press with a mill table under it. I picked it up at an estate auction, nobody seemed to know what it was, so I got it for a steal. It has about 24" of travel up and down with a solid lock. The table is quite large and has tracts in it for mill clamps. The adjustments on the wheels are standard one thousandth of an inch per notch. And it came with interchangeable drill and mill heads. nothing fancy, very simple.

 

I have seen similar set ups for around $300 to $400 in Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, Granger etc. This type of equiptment can handle just about any job you need it to do and is way cheaper than buying a full sized mill machine. Even the "refurbished" floor standing mill machines are in the thou$and$.

 

One down side is that a drill mill cant handle large scale hard steel jobs like, um..... Trying to cut a 30" keyway in solid cold rolled. Or this steel called DOM (Drawn Over Mandrel) That is used alot in street rod chasis, choppers and competition motor sports. It will cut these jobs, it just takes a loooong time, and there is no automatic feed like a real mill.

 

Plus you need all your standard drill bits for drilling. You need end mills and drill bits for milling. And thoes are expensive. You will need good table clamps, either an oiler system or a squirt can and a bunch of brushes. Etc. etc.

 

I love a good bench top drill mill for light steel and small backyard shop type stuff. It can handle anything you throw at it in that department, but for production work or (alot of) hard steel, you should go with a floor stander.

 

I saw the little guy in the Harbor Freight catalog, its nice but looks kind of small and fragile to me. I couldent afford a brand new one so I waited until I could find a good used one. Sears has a real nice bench top model. So does Lowes and probably Home Depot. (They all have lines of credit!) Keep in mind that most dont come with all of the stuff you will need to start working. If you already have a big Craftsman drill press, the table idea sounds like a good one. Make sure you can get the mill head that fits in place of your drill head.

 

Did you know you can also do a little "lathe" work on a mill? Like for making flash supressors and muzzle breaks. You clamp in the piece verticaly and ream it out with a special tool. Then you can chuck your piece and spin it, useing a jig that is clamped to the table and has an adjustable tool bit, you can work your cutting tool in from the side. I dont have that particular set up yet, but it looks nice.

 

My opinion would be to save some $$$ and get the table and mill head for your press. You can spend the rest on mill bits and funky clamps. I hope this helps.

[PM2790 0]

Most drill presses have too much runout (slop) in the spindle. Adding an X-Y milling table to a drill press, even a big 20" model, will not yield good results. A mill has the spindle that is designed for the forces involved. The bearings are made to take the side load of milling in addition to drilling.

 

I purchased my tabletop mill from Homier Distributing Co. It is like Harbor Freight's and the others. Quality is good and the parts fit like they are supposed to. It came with standard R-8 collets to hold the bits. This is important because the bits don't slip and burn like they do in a Jacobs chuck. It has adequate power for small jobs. With a little bit of patience you could tackle larger jobs, you would just have to watch the feed rate.

 

If you can be in the right place to pick up a used item like Pistonring did, that is the top choice. It takes some looking but deals are out there. If you don't have the time or space, get one of the Chinese Mills.

[pistonring8 1]

Hey, good point on the slop in the drill press bearings. I never thought of that. Good thing to take into consideration. Its true, a drill press isnt really designed to take alot of side force, and might tend to walk around on your piece the more you use it. Thanks for that little bit of insight PM2790

[PM2790 0]

Yeah, I've seen guys try to make drill presses do milling jobs. They buy the X-Y tables and try to get them to work. It ends in frustration. Even a small dedicated mill is a better way to spend money.

It's probably been 20 years since I had access to a nice Bridgeport mill. I've been farming out a lot of my jobs over the years. I just got tired of having to wait on someone else to 'get around to it' on some of the little jobs I get.

[pistonring8 1]

Oh, man! What I wouldent give to have the old Bridgeport monster I learned on in tech school. That bad boy could do anything! The speeds were still the old manual change type, but wow, did it ever do its job. It was accurate to the 1/2 thousanth and never moved from its settings. the feed was smooth and flawless. Even with junky worn out 4 fluted end mills, I could whittle away anything and leave a spiral shiny finish. The bench top mill I have now works great, but no comparison whatsoever to that old stand up monster. Not to mention the big old Bridgeport had a cool set of snake neck work lights and a snake neck oiler hose. The coolant pump pressure was adjustable, so you could crank it up and spray all of the metal scrap into the catch basket. Lol!... The table was big enough to lay across! If I ever get rich, I think I will buy a refurbished Bridgeport just like it. If I had known back then that I wouldent be able to get that time to spend again on that big old mill, I would have spent all of my school days turning out parts instead of sneaking over to the data entry class to talk to girls.

[johnnymceldoo 0]

You guys are right on the money about sloppy movement in the XY axis. Its hard to do much when your machine isnt rigid. The metal finish suffers as well as poor tool wear and inconsistancy. Even on full size industrial grade bridgeports when the ways wear out and get sloppy it becomes increasingly harder to hold size and finish.

 

Why limit yourself with a small scabbed together machine when you could save a grand or two, go to an auction or trading post and find a decent used bridgeport or other industrial mill? You may have to refurbish it some but when you do you'll be prepared for any milling project.

 

You might get by with the table and drill press combo but chances are you'll be very limited to what you can cut and it will probablly take you longer to do.