steamingbill 17th November 2013, 10:13 PM Hello,
Anybody out there capable of taking one look at this and saying "Thats a clone of the Hafco XYZ, I bought one and its .........."
Geared Head Dovetail Milling Drilling Machine 1100W 240V Single Phase | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Geared-Head-Dovetail-Milling-Drilling-Machine-1100W-240V-Single-Phase-/350924967311?pt=AU_HeavyMachinery&hash=item51b4c20d8f)
Many people bought stuff from Ozmestore ?
Anybody seen the Sieg U1 in the flesh ? - see lower down on the same page
and the U1 is reviewed here Sieg U1 Mill (http://www.mini-lathe.com/mini_mill/reviews/U1/U1.htm)
Am currently learning about milling machines.
Bill
Big Shed 17th November 2013, 10:16 PM The big mill is essentially the same as the Hafco HM45/46 and my Standaco DM45, except mine has a 2hp motor.
I bought my previous mill, an X2, from Ozmestore, no problems.
Have bought various other bits and pieces from them, mill vise and DRO scales etc, again never had a problem with them.
simonl 18th November 2013, 08:13 AM Hi there,
My lathe (Workman XXXX can't remember the numbers) a 12x36 was purchased from that crowd. For a Chinese lathe it's reasonably well made and I have been very happy with it. In terms of build quality, it leaves my mill (not purchased through them) for dead. I have found that after sales service is zero. On a couple of occasions I have made enquires about the lathe and the answer was "Sorry I don't know"
Apart from a few mm of difference in the operating envelope, maybe the HP of the motor and perhaps slightly different gear ratios, give up trying to distinguish between any of these mills, they are all pretty much the same.
Simon
Blu_Rock 18th November 2013, 08:34 AM Hi, I too purchased an X2 mill from Ozmestore1 and it arrived well packed and everthing worked OK.
Since then, I found the mill to be too small and underpowered for my needs and I upgraded to a S/H RF-20.
While it is OK, it has a round column which makes it a bit of a pain to re-align the head with a data point if you raise or lower it up the column.
I am now thinking about getting a new dovetail column mill similar to the one you are asking about.
I've looked at the specs and prices many different mid-sized mills and the Ozmestore1 offering looks to be about the best value for money.
This Paramount (http://www.machines4u.com.au/view/advert/PARAMOUNT-MILLING-MACHINE-MMD-45/4309/) is pretty similar, if not the same.
The X3 (http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/M153) is also worth considering.
Slightly different unbranded (http://www.engtooling.com/webshop2/catalogue/machine-tools-17920/mill-drill-gh-45-g-head-1ph-110_2130?p=5) bigger machine, but similar.
A Machtech (http://www.appliedmachinery.com.au/machinery/95526/machtech-mill-drill-md30), again a bit bigger.
Regarding the U1, it looks to be a pretty versatile mill as long as it will be large and powerful enough for you needs.
Good luck with the purchase.
OLCDOG 18th November 2013, 09:52 PM Hi Bill,
It appears to be a clone of a Rong Fu 45. There are many clones of the original RF 45 around and mainly produced in China.
The original Rong Fu 45 was (and still is) made in Taiwan. They are not all exact copies of the original and some are better than others.
I don't claim to be an expert on them but did do a fair bit of research on them earlier this year. I was not at all impressed with H & F's HM46 when I actually saw it in the flesh but I would have been happy to buy the ETS WMD 45 (unbranded in Blu Rock's post) after having a look at it, but the minister for war thought otherwise. WMD stands for Weiss Mill Drill and Weiss have their own website. Incidentally the WMD 45 has a MT4 taper, where most of the others are MT3 or R8.
I ended up buying a used Taiwanese made RF 45 produced in the mid 90's in very good condition and have been happy with my purchase. It is interesting in that it has an NT30 taper which I believe to be very unusual in this size of mill.
I have bought a couple of milling accessories from Ozemestore and have been happy with them. They were definitely Chinese but they weren't junk.
Quite a bit of info on RF45's and clones on the net if you dig around.
All the best with your deliberations.
Alan
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