Jerry, Thank you for your suggestions. The mill I am looking at does have an R8 spindle and is one of the many rebranded Sieg X2 mills. I will look into the Sieg X3 more, but my quick research shows that it would more than double the price, and I am having a hard time justifying the $500 + extras. Since space is a primary concern, a full size mill is out of the question, but that X3 might be small enough to fit in my work area. As far as the CNC aspect, I see it more of a project for fun than a tool I would end up using often. Regardless of what I decide, I will make sure it has the R8 spindle, so if I upgrade later, all of my accessories will be able to be used on the new one.
Thanks again, Jason On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 12:58 AM Jerry Biehler <[email protected]> wrote: > If you have the room and can afford a bigger mill, do so. You run out of > room fast on a mill, even as large as the one I have and when you go that > small it gets tiny fast. Whatever you get, make sure it has a R8 spindle > and not a MT3. If you do need to get a mill that small look at the Sieg X3, > it is a lot better machine. http://www.mini-lathe.com/X3_mill/X3rvw/X3.htm > > Figure a lot more in tooling than just getting a couple end mills. You > will need clamp kits and vises, collets or tool holders. And when you buy > end mills do not cheap out and buy the crappy TiN coated things at harbor > freight. Do yourself a favor and buy name brand quality end mills, you dont > need carbide, HSS will be fine. > > For aluminum you need cutting lube of some kind. I use Bijur spray mist > units on my cnc mill and lathe. They work well and can be found used on > ebay for pretty reasonable prices. > > If you want a cnc mill, buy a cnc mill. By the time you spend the time and > money on ballscrews and everything else to retrofit a manual machine you > will be right there with buying one complete and ready to run. This > especially applies to the larger bridgeport mills, when you retrofit a > bridgeport you just killed the value of the machine. The best deal for a > cnc mill is to get a used cnc knee mill like a bridgeport boss or interact > with a dead control and either fix the control or install a new one. The > mills can be often had for scrap prices. > > -Jerry > > > On Mar 2, 2015, at 12:25 AM, Jason Barnett <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > I have been toying with the idea of getting a cheap desktop "mini mill" > for some time. I think I am finally ready to pull the trigger and buy a > harbor freight 44991 mini-mill. It's reasonably priced for the little bit > that I will ever use it and there are a ton of people that have hacked them > into CNC machines. This sounds like a fun project sometime down the line. > > My question is this, is there anything I am missing that should change > my mind? I know it is a very low end mill, but for my needs (cutting > notches in aluminum extrusion, making aluminum stepper motor brackets, etc) > I think the accuracy is good enough. I can get one for ~$500 delivered + a > bit for some mill ends. > > Has anyone had experience with this mill or with doing the CNC > conversion that can give me an opinion? > > _______________________________________________ > > dorkbotpdx-blabber mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber > > _______________________________________________ > dorkbotpdx-blabber mailing list > [email protected] > http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber >
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