Thread: Show us your mill

I got a quote up here and it was $2000 which I am going to get on before the price goes up any more. That included wires into the house (about 15mtrs) and an all new meter box fitted out.

Rc, Graziano, Matthew
I thought links to other forums were allowed myself, I am sure I have clicked on some over the time. I don't really understand it, as said all the other forums I know of allow it.

Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

I got a quote up here and it was $2000 which I am going to get on before the price goes up any more. That included wires into the house (about 15mtrs) and an all new meter box fitted out.

Rc, Graziano, Matthew
I thought links to other forums were allowed myself, I am sure I have clicked on some over the time. I don't really understand it, as said all the other forums I know of allow it.

Dave

Dave and others...a reply by the mod squad was placed in the pretty weld post
they allow links to web pages (of other forums?) but not direct to other forums

here is my mill with the DRO

Eskimo,
I thought you would of taken a picture of your mill with that new camel back strait edge in the back ground, just to tease us a bit more.

Dave

I'm not that bad a mongrel Dave...but if you want to see it again i could always post another pic....say a close up....real real close.....hahaha.......

Here is my contribution. You will notice the normal base is gone - replaced by a home made one. This means the coolant tank and the coolant pump mount went AWOL as well. Read on to see why.

When my mill arrived we checked the crate for any damage - finding none we took photos of the crate and unpacked it all. It was then we discovered two hairline cracks in the mill base. Very off and angry. Knowing it would take a long time to get a new one - if they would even supply me one - we fabricated a new base out of 300mm deep I beam and some 1" plate. We had this fly cut on a local mill and then bolted on the column and knee. It turned out to be a blessing - and it was part of our reasoning - in that the mill was now 6" higher than stock - I am 6'4" - so this was better for me. The base weighed probably 50% more than the original. My rationale was that the accuracy comes after the base - as long as the column and jack mounts are parallel to each other, there should be no problem.

Having now resolved the problem, I was in a reasonable state of mind and informed the manufacturer that the mill arrived damaged. Within a few hours they had contacted me offering a new base via air freight! I was very happy with our new base, so I thanked them but said "No thanks, I dont need it." So they have given me US$200 to spend on tools from their catalogue to compenate me for the hassles - which they will deliver free too! Not the sort of service I am used to when dealing with Aussie companies. Now to choose 200 bucks worth of gear - it will be hard to keep it down me thinks.

Anyway, we had a stainless steel tray lying around that made a good coolant catchment tray and an old stainless Bain Marie tray serves as a tank, held on an angle by timber, which ancourages any swarf to slide past the pump. It makes it very easy to remove the tank - lift up pump(not bolted down) - slide out tank. Done! The pump and drain holes were cut using a plasma and a circle cutter I made up - very nice, even, round holes resulted. The crappy drain hose from the table was reinforced by wrapping light tie wire around the hose like a spring - this stops the hose kinking and stopping flow when the table is low and to the left.

So it all worked out - I have 100kg of scrap cast iron which I will use in a foundry one day, a taller mill and more tools. Sweet!

Glad you got the base sorted out Mark...does'nt Cater tools sell lube stuff?

Hi Mark,

I can imagine how it must have felt when you found the cracked base , but you have made a brilliant recovery.

That new base is probably more rigid and accurate than the original,.... nice work.

I'm part way through the auto lubrication design. I'll post it in the other thread later.

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Mark,

I can imagine how it must have felt when you found the cracked base , but you have made a brilliant recovery.

That new base is probably more rigid and accurate than the original,.... nice work.

I'm part way through the auto lubrication design. I'll post it in the other thread later.

Regards
Ray

Ray...... I am not too happy with the spindle "slap" I have but I can manage with that..dont go high speed...I cant imagine how I would have felt if I had found a crook base

when you finish your lube design send it thru to me for approval....I might just get the same....

Hi Mark.
It makes me wonder if the damage was done at the factory before packing since there was no crate damage. It must have been a reasonable drop to crack it like that.
I think you have ended up with a stronger base than original.
Chich on cnc zone wanted to go to a new base for more rigidness for his cnc conversion. If you have a look a his mill you will see he put big braces from the column to the base.
You will see in the picture of my mill, I went up 150mm on the standard base with square tube to bring it up to height. It is probably a bit higher than yours but it's comfortable for me with a swarf mat in front of it. When I raise the head 100mm I am coming back down to 75mm square under the base.
I took out the extra spacer under the knee screw to give a bit more travel, with having the 40 taper you could benefit from this as well.
Dave

HI ALL,
Okay this is My Mill Drill it a Top-Tech DM-45 that I bought from Standaco Machinery about 1 1/2 Years ago. I have found it to be quite an Accurate Machine. I haven't made a lot on it as Yet. The Hole that You can see in the bottom Right Corner of the Head is where the Quill Lock goes. I have removed the Quill Lock, as I am trying to improve on it and get it to Lock better. You Guys have some very Nice Mills there. Hopefully sometime in the Future I can Upgrade to a HM-50 or a Bridgeport Type Turret Mill.

Originally Posted by steran50

HI ALL,
Okay this is My Mill Drill it a Top-Tech DM-45 that I bought from Standaco Machinery about 1 1/2 Years ago. I have found it to be quite an Accurate Machine. I haven't made a lot on it as Yet. The Hole that You can see in the bottom Right Corner of the Head is where the Quill Lock goes. I have removed the Quill Lock, as I am trying to improve on it and get it to Lock better. You Guys have some very Nice Mills there. Hopefully sometime in the Future I can Upgrade to a HM-50 or a Bridgeport Type Turret Mill.

keep thinking Bridgeport.....you wont regret it

OK, its a Sigma-Jones jig borer, but its the closest I'm going to get, unless someones got a cheap bridgeport or other proper mill they need to sell (Ferndale, Perth, WA, will pick up tomorrow, PM me, DON'T advertise it here. ). SWMBO has given me permission to take over the loungeroom when I need to.

Looking for advice & photos of how the rear guide pulleys and mounting (which are missing & I will have to make) arrangement is meant to be.
Cheers
Frank

Originally Posted by Franklin

Looking for advice & photos of how the rear guide pulleys and mounting (which are missing & I will have to make) arrangement is meant to be.
Cheers
Frank

HI,
I have never seen one before it looks like it would be a very Handy Machine to have. I Googled 'sigma-jones jig borer' and came up with this http://www.lathes.co.uk/bca/ I thought it might Help You with the Pulley set up.