Well guys, it has been a long afternoon. As expected, everything was packaged well. The fit and finish of the machine was great; it was right on par with my 1127vf-lb lathe I got back in January.
Uncrating was they typical chore. They do a really good job at the factory of crating these things. Once I got the crate all stripped down, I took some quick measurements of the stand and approximate height to the table. The stand is 27" tall, and the table sits about 8" above that. That is a little low for me. I whipped up a temporary stand from 4 ×4's and 2×4's, that gave me 5" more height.
I hoisted everything up into position (except the chip pan which I forgot in my excitement) and bolted it all down. The first thing I noticed is that the y axis was almost impossible to move. It was bound up tight. I inspected the tapered gib and it appeared to be a little long. I sanded it some using the mill table as a flat surface. Then I filed the notch for the gib adjustment screw a little deeper as I realized the screw on one end was only about 2 threads in. This gave me more peace of mind that the screw would hold. I also turned a spacer for the other side adjustment screw as it was bottomed out and not engaging. This allowed it to actually make contact and secure the gib.
The only other issues were simple. The t-slot bolts included in the tool box were too wide for the slots, and for the slots in my new 4" vice. Ground those down to fit and filed the slots on the vice accordingly. Then I noticed that the draw bar was not threaded long enough to fully draw the R8 collets into the spindle. I slapped a couple of washers on there for now. I plan to turn a bushing this weekend. At the same time, I found that the collet wouldn't actually go into the spindle. I remembered a thread on here where Matt commented about simply backing out the small screw in the side of the spindle. I found that screw, removed it, cleaned it and the hole, and put it back in with some blue loc-tite and adjusted it so the collets would slide right in.
The left hand knob on the table had a bit of slop in its engagement and every time I turned the right side know, the left knob made a clunking sound as the handle went over the top and the weight shifted. I shimmed that with some aluminum foil folded over a few times. To me, all that is minor stuff. It is a Chinese machine after all.
With all that said, I did mill some bar stock just a few minutes ago just to see what she would do. Man, it is a beast. My frame of comparison is a little X2 mill, so the bar was not set very high. It plowed through the steel at .030 deep with a 7/16" hss end mill at 600 rpm. I know that isn't a massive cut, but the X2 couldn't even dream of that cut.
The thing that will take some getting used to is the sound of the gears. My X2 had a belt drive. But, this mill isn't really loud at all.
I am very happy with my purchase. I think that this size machine is perfect for a hobby guy like me that doesn't have the room for a full knee mill. It should serve my purposes very well.
Uncrating was they typical chore. They do a really good job at the factory of crating these things. Once I got the crate all stripped down, I took some quick measurements of the stand and approximate height to the table. The stand is 27" tall, and the table sits about 8" above that. That is a little low for me. I whipped up a temporary stand from 4 ×4's and 2×4's, that gave me 5" more height.
I hoisted everything up into position (except the chip pan which I forgot in my excitement) and bolted it all down. The first thing I noticed is that the y axis was almost impossible to move. It was bound up tight. I inspected the tapered gib and it appeared to be a little long. I sanded it some using the mill table as a flat surface. Then I filed the notch for the gib adjustment screw a little deeper as I realized the screw on one end was only about 2 threads in. This gave me more peace of mind that the screw would hold. I also turned a spacer for the other side adjustment screw as it was bottomed out and not engaging. This allowed it to actually make contact and secure the gib.
The only other issues were simple. The t-slot bolts included in the tool box were too wide for the slots, and for the slots in my new 4" vice. Ground those down to fit and filed the slots on the vice accordingly. Then I noticed that the draw bar was not threaded long enough to fully draw the R8 collets into the spindle. I slapped a couple of washers on there for now. I plan to turn a bushing this weekend. At the same time, I found that the collet wouldn't actually go into the spindle. I remembered a thread on here where Matt commented about simply backing out the small screw in the side of the spindle. I found that screw, removed it, cleaned it and the hole, and put it back in with some blue loc-tite and adjusted it so the collets would slide right in.
The left hand knob on the table had a bit of slop in its engagement and every time I turned the right side know, the left knob made a clunking sound as the handle went over the top and the weight shifted. I shimmed that with some aluminum foil folded over a few times. To me, all that is minor stuff. It is a Chinese machine after all.
With all that said, I did mill some bar stock just a few minutes ago just to see what she would do. Man, it is a beast. My frame of comparison is a little X2 mill, so the bar was not set very high. It plowed through the steel at .030 deep with a 7/16" hss end mill at 600 rpm. I know that isn't a massive cut, but the X2 couldn't even dream of that cut.
The thing that will take some getting used to is the sound of the gears. My X2 had a belt drive. But, this mill isn't really loud at all.
I am very happy with my purchase. I think that this size machine is perfect for a hobby guy like me that doesn't have the room for a full knee mill. It should serve my purposes very well.
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