Thread: Which desk top mill?

Probably the First but Hardest thing to take into consideration is what do you intend to do with it.
Its virtually the same scenario when people ask a similar question about lathes,what ever size you get you will probably get to small.

One important thing to look for would be the legth of axis travel,go for the one that has the most in the size mill you are looking at.

Check spindle taper and availability to source tooling.(Availability and Price).

Check to see if it is a Geared Head that they are Metal gears in the box,some of the Mills seem to have Nylon Gears and they dont seem to like intermitent cuts.

Are you likely to want to CNC it down the track?

If so, see which machines have kits/parts available, or have been successfully CNCed. OR, have a look at the factory-built CNC models coming out now.

PROMiCA - CNCKits MX3 Kits for the X3 Mill

has a bit of comment about X3 vs Super X3.

Cheers,
Andrew

I agree with Andrew, look for something CNC..

everyone loves CNC ...

its hard to chose any machine but it seems you are keen on a small mill (if you want to do larger stuff factor that in now) so why not call around all your local machinery dealers, take a look at all the possible candidates maybe take a few catalogs to compare models and dont fall into 2 traps

1) dont let the dealer talk you into something you are not looking for as they will steer you to the next model up or that machine on special that has $1000 off but you still cant afford to tool it

2) dont look at the price and go "oh its only $300 more and i get all this more capacity" you will quickly end up looking at the biggest in that range and hell why not go the whole hog and buy a knee mill

these are my problems when buying tools well i just cant resist

How much have you got to spend Ken,where will you be locating it,there have been some smaller Machining Centres for around the $8000 mark,then if you havent got 3 phase just payout a bit more of there money for a generator,sure the neighbours would enjoy it.

Don't forget to factor in tooling too. I've heard it said before to allow the cost of the mill again in tooling and from experience I tend to agree with that. A mill can be a bottomless pit when it comes to tooling. Having said that, I wouldn't be without my mill.
Poor buggers ain't going to have a lot left to inherit. Spend it while you can because if you don't they certainly will.

Well if I was buying a new mill I would go for one similar to the H&F Hm52 ,its a universal knee mill and , ie vertical / horizontal set up.But I will say that some of my projects are leaning toward more than hobby size .In fact if things get any busier I may be retiring early from the work force and working from home.

But as has been stated the machine is only a fraction of the cost ,
you will need to spend much much more on tooling to use it to it's full capability .

I reckon this machine is good value for hobbywork .
http://titanmachinery.com.au/index.p...d=35&Itemid=58


Usual disclaimer here no association with this company except that I bought some parallels from him and they are good quality.

MT3 is a good taper for an arbour and tooling for this is relatively cheap .If you go for an R8 arbour then you need adaptors for drill tapers etc. MT to Mt adaptors are cheaper than R8.
MT tapers with a draw bar are superior to R8 in my opinion because the MT has alot more contact area than R8 also they (MT) don't have that annoying little pin up inside the quill.(which usually gets lost or broken off anyway).
Of course this is only my opinion based on experience and may not be compatable with others.


Kev

Woodlee is onto something there.

Before buying my mill I actually looked closely at what appears to be the same unit at Asset machinery in Dandenong.

Hello Ken,
Another option is to import your own mill. I did this in 2007 without any problems at all but I made the mistake of not buying the accessories at the same time (I could have avoided paying the landing and port handling charges twice) . The savings are quite considerable and you could put the savings into optioning up the machine and/or buying more accessories(you could probably even buy a bigger lathe with the savings). The company that I dealt with in China is "Anhui Chizhou Household Machine Tool Company" and the contact person was Peggy Wang.(Very helpful) Would you believe that the freight from Shanghai to Sydney was $US 28.00 and insurance was $US 4.00. The machine that I bought was ZAY 7045FG/2. ($US1197.00)
Regards,
Russell

Originally Posted by neksmerj

My Unimat 3 with milling attachment, just struggles, even in aluminum.

Ken

Ken, here's one way of getting more power to the mill/drill, did this MOD many, many years ago. The only problem is, it has some attitude now and if your not real carefull, busts small drills sooo easy.

Fly cutting, no problemo, you can even whack away at steel, what with this "thingy" driving it.

Oh, made a new quill as well, got the details and drawings from the pommie Model Engineering mag, works like a charm.

About your getting a new mill, if I had to do it again, I would go for this one.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=M155

Radish,

That's one of a hell of a mod, any chance you could point me in the direction of the drawings you mentioned. My issue with the Unimat 3 as a mill, is insufficient rigidity in the saddle and bed, not to mention the column being round, meaning you can't adjust the height without losing your place.

I reckon a Sieg X3 or super X3 mill would suit me right down to the ground. Would like to hear from other Sieg mill owners for comments. There are quite a few dollars difference, is the upgrade worth it?

Ken

Hi Ken,
I didn't know the first thing about milling a couple of years ago (and I still don't know very much), but I bought a HM-10 - X2 from H&F. Now some would say it's just a toy, but for the sized stuff I'm doing, it seems to work pretty well. I've managed to shatter one of the plastic drive gears by being a bit aggressive but have solved that by fitting a belt drive kit. There are many satisfied X2 owners judging by the Yahoo group. It would be worth your while trolling through the users group forums, before making your final decision, and also deciding exactly what you expect to do with the thing. Believe me, if you haven't done any milling before, you will have a steep learning curve. Good luck.
Cheers
Graeme

Originally Posted by neksmerj

My issue with the Unimat 3 as a mill, is insufficient rigidity in the saddle and bed, not to mention the column being round, meaning you can't adjust the height without losing your place.

Ken

The rigidty is a slight problem, but, if your not greedy, then it's not a problem, get me drift. With that extra bit of weight added to the top of the column, well, just crank up the speed on that 1 horse and away you go, no issues with crappy surface finishes now, I'm working on the principle of "mass evens out vibration".

The other thing to do is tighten up the saddle and cross slide, you even get a better finish on the bits you turn, when there nipped up tight.

Round column no problemo either, made up a 'doo hicky', so that when you rise and fall the head, it comes straight back down to the exact same place. It works on a bit of key steel and runs up and down in a keyway, milled into the back of the round column, I'll have to take a few photos if your interested.

Which ME edition, well got me beat, it's that long ago, I don't know if I even have that edition anymore.