I'm still relatively new to the machining world. I've been watching all the usual suspects on the Youtube for years now. Have picked up a lot of tips and tricks, and have always admired what folks are able to create in their own shop. Last year I picked up a small turret lathe. Though it's not made any chips yet, it's getting closer to that point.
Though I'm sure there's lots of stuff I can accomplish with my drill presses, welder, grinders, band saw and lathe, there's still the hole in the tools collection of not having a mill. Being able to make surfaces relatively smooth, flat and parallel would sure be handy. Being able to cut keyways and make splines in shafts would open up more possibilities for projects I could do myself, instead of relying on being able to buy exactly what I need, or paying a machine shop to do it for me.
So, the question is, what do I keep my eyes open for? Horizontal mill, vertical mill, benchtop, floorstanding, mill/drill? How much am I looking at spending? How big of a table is useful? What kind of spindle attachments is most common/affordable? R8, 40, 50? Is a rotary table a must?
I'm in Southern Ontario, around Guelph and Waterloo Region, so there does seem to be a fair amount of selection of used stuff. I'm not scared to drive a little for the right deal. All seems to be in the range of about $1000 - $5000. Some with lots of tooling, some with a little tooling, most with none. Idealy, whatever I get will be 120v or 240v, single or three phase. There's lots of stuff running 600V, and I'd rather not run a step up transformer and a VFD. That gets pretty expensive.
Though I'm sure there's lots of stuff I can accomplish with my drill presses, welder, grinders, band saw and lathe, there's still the hole in the tools collection of not having a mill. Being able to make surfaces relatively smooth, flat and parallel would sure be handy. Being able to cut keyways and make splines in shafts would open up more possibilities for projects I could do myself, instead of relying on being able to buy exactly what I need, or paying a machine shop to do it for me.
So, the question is, what do I keep my eyes open for? Horizontal mill, vertical mill, benchtop, floorstanding, mill/drill? How much am I looking at spending? How big of a table is useful? What kind of spindle attachments is most common/affordable? R8, 40, 50? Is a rotary table a must?
I'm in Southern Ontario, around Guelph and Waterloo Region, so there does seem to be a fair amount of selection of used stuff. I'm not scared to drive a little for the right deal. All seems to be in the range of about $1000 - $5000. Some with lots of tooling, some with a little tooling, most with none. Idealy, whatever I get will be 120v or 240v, single or three phase. There's lots of stuff running 600V, and I'd rather not run a step up transformer and a VFD. That gets pretty expensive.