First milling machine

jpfabricator

jpfabricator

Active User
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Messages
3,063
Can anyone give me some suggestions for a first time milling machine? I have a 9x20 lathe and would like to purchase a mill, Im wondering what would be decent. I plan on upgrading the lathe to a 12x36 as soon as posible. I have no experience with a mill and very little with a lathe. would a good used machine be better that a new import? Any info would be greatly apriciated
 
Hi JP,

This sounds a lot like where I am right now. So many choices and opinions and no next door neighbor to ask. I'll be following this closely.

Are you looking just at new machines or considering used as well? There has never been a whole lot of manufacturing around here to the used choices are few and far between.

Dale
 
My first DECENT mill was an old USA made Burke #4 horizontal. Small,but it was rigid enough to actually mill steel with. I had to have the table recut on both the top and underneath,dovetail included. It had 1
"T" slot,which had been tightened down so many times that the table took a downwards slight bow. The metal in the T slot gets compressed over thousands of bolts being tightened,and bows the table. Table was something like 4" X 18"-ask Nelson. He has 1.

It is impossible to recommend anything new or old. Old depends upon condition. Look up UNDER the table,and see if the scraping marks(IF there ever WERE any) are all erased. Place an accurate steel rule down the length and check for bowing.

If you can find a TAIWAN made mill,it is a lot better than made in China.

I made a simple power feed for the Burke. If you could find 1 that still has the original,it would be great. There was also a simple vertical head made,though I never found one for mine. The guy who bought it did find 1 somewhere. I'd LOVED to have had it. A vertical mill is much more useful than a horizontal. Remember this-VERTICAL IF POSSIBLE.
 
A lot more info would help ---

What are your uses in a machine, just piddlin around or are you gonna possibly get into some serious work?
What are your size wants/limitations? - small/medium (benchtop?) Knee mill? (best choice..) full size mill (like a Bridgeport)
What is your funds range? IMO a decent mill starts at about $1500, but say a BP or clone is gonna be more.
Are you skilled enough to buy a used machine and tackle the 'unknown'? - which can range from needing a general cleaning (not many of these) to a full blown overhaul.

You and I are what is called the "Ark-La-TeX" and it is not known for used machinery and what little does show up tends to have come out of the collapsed oil patch industry back years ago meaning they are WELL used (Ive bought several).

I would keep and eye out on Craigs list/local papers, etc, just in case, but I would start researching the Chinese import machines, there are several that get good reviews. My personal mill is an Enco Chinese 9x42 BP clone and I am very pleased with it.
 
Follow Craigs List and Ebay and look into some bankruptcy auctions in your area. A good used full size mill will generally be better than an impot mill because it will have true inch leadscrews and be accurate when following the markings on the wheels. Converted metric to imperial machines have some cumulative errors associated with converting metric to inches. You can also expect the tooling and fixturing to be a signifigant part of your machine tool investment. It is not unheard of to have more invested in tools and fixtures than you paid for the machine. Depends on your addiction and how strongly it drives you to open your wallet and debit card. In the long run we don't really care what machine you buy because we have them all, it will just be dictated by your budget, desire and patience. A good rule of thumb for machine tool purchases is to get as large a machine as you can afford, that will forestall the cheap tool buyers remorse and allow you to learn more before you decide that you want a bigger more sturdy machine. I have made the mistake of buying too small based on budget and ended up replacing the machine again in short order. So I didn't really save any money because I was in the market looking for bigger too soon to get any real payback on the initial machine. The trick here is to look around, keep an ear to the ground and solicit your freinds and associated to do the same. You might find the old shop that is closing or an old hobby machinist who is replacing his machine with something different and needs the room. Welcome to the group and I hope to see a lot of you in the future. And remember, If you have a question do not be afraid to post it up and ask. We don't do the rude or ridicule thing here and you won't be told to do a search either. So welcome aboard and enjoy!!!
Bob
 
jpfabricator said:
Can anyone give me some suggestions for a first time milling machine? I have a 9x20 lathe and would like to purchase a mill, Im wondering what would be decent. I plan on upgrading the lathe to a 12x36 as soon as posible. I have no experience with a mill and very little with a lathe. would a good used machine be better that a new import? Any info would be greatly apriciated
Click to expand...

To get good advice you need to specify:

1: What you want to do with it. Is it to learn on and play with (nothing wrong with that), or have you a specific task in mind?

2: What's your budget?

3: How much room do you have? (a full size BP type machine can be pretty big, both in height, depth, and width).

4: Do you have a friend who's knowledgable about older US made machines? If not I'd concentrate on buying a new import, preferably with a dovetail column.

I know just enough to be dangerous, so take account of what others say too.


M
 
My intint is to learn and play. I have an engine valve grinding machine and figured somthing maybe big enough to resurface a head(18" stroke). My funds are super tight right now but I have a job prospect that should ease the budget burden. Im looking at building a shop in the future so size really isint a hinderance.
 
Jake,
If you go 2nd hand there is a good chance you will pick up tooling as part of the deal, but may be missing some of the accessories. Depending on who is selling there may be lots included of cutters or perhaps just a little.
If you go new then you should get all the accessories for the machine but little to no tooling.
Something to consider.......

Cheers Phil
 
industrial aluminum cylinder head mills for late model cars requires a mirror finish and the manufactures say to replace or totally rebuild the equipment every 5 years as per usage. head temp and block temp change and the gasket has to slip on a smooth surface to maintain a good seal. the newer gaskets do not adhear to the surfaces and a rough surface would wear them out in short order due to the movement.
to do cylinder heads you have to have a machine that will stay in tram perfectly or it will dish the surface. i cant see a home type or used bridgeport ever holding the required specs. if this is a lawn mower or really small head you could probably get by with it but not an 18" x 6" head.
i was just looking into about the same thing to use an 8" face mill i found on ebay and i dont think i could hold tram that well with my new zx45 mill my 3" after tramming still shows signs of the tail end of cutter removing material.
but anything is possible
i'm not a machinist, i was an auto mechanic for 37 years.
steve
 
The man at the local auto machine shop used a mill to rough in the head then used a granite block with self adhesive sanding strips to polish. On most heads if the warping wasent to severe he would just us the granite block. If the head required to much removal to flatten it it would be junked. I would also use the mill to ream valve guides out for rbushing, again it would be a hobby machine with the porpose of a few light "paying" jobs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top