# I Bought My First Milling Machine!



## wildo (Jul 17, 2016)

Not exactly the plan I had in mind as to the order of finishing stuff up, but the opportunity (and more importantly- the money) was there and so I sprung for it! Last Friday I picked up a 1969 Burke Millrite MVN. It was located about 125 miles away and I rented a trailer to get it home. My Hemi Magnum had no problem pulling it. 

Loading it into the bedroom took some planning and a lot of time, but it went without a hitch in about four hours worth of work. The mill is currently wired for 480, but I'm going to rewire it for 220 and use a VFD to power it. I think I got a pretty good deal on the mill, in spite of the fact that it came with no accessories. It has the 32" table (only one size smaller than the largest- 36" table) as well as x-axis power feed. It is the R8 collet, so all the tooling that I buy will work with a larger Bridgeport machine if I ever upgrade in the (distant) future.

Here's some pics (to prove it happened)



Base is off the trailer, and the head/ram is separated (and my dad making a joke about holding it up)



Taking the base through the hallway



The eagle has landed! The base is set in place in my bedroom shop!



Installing the head/ram



Finally the mill is completely in place



For those curious, the floor joists had no problem holding it up. It was a little bouncy and so as a basic precaution I did choose to put some support in the crawlspace. Like I said, from an engineering standpoint- it wasn't necessary, but it really did shore up the floor and remove pretty much all bounce.



I'm excited to see what I can do with this mill! I have to say it's about the perfect size for my bedroom shop!


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## francist (Jul 17, 2016)

Looks perfect in there, that shop is really starting to take shape. Congrats!

-frank


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## woodtickgreg (Jul 17, 2016)

Very cool, congrats. And you have a nice little shop there! I have a newer version of that mill, a Powermatic, it is still stored at my work. Mine has to go in the basement, won't be quite as easy as your move. But I have a plan. Again congratulations on your new mill!


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## rwm (Jul 17, 2016)

Awesome! I think the floor reinforcement is a great idea. It will give you piece of mind. I did this for my lathe. It will prevent the joists from sagging over the years.
I want to hear how you like this mill. What is the headstock taper? How much does it weigh?
R


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## wildo (Jul 17, 2016)

rwm said:


> Awesome! I think the floor reinforcement is a great idea. It will give you piece of mind. I did this for my lathe. It will prevent the joists from sagging over the years.
> I want to hear how you like this mill. What is the headstock taper? How much does it weigh?
> R



I edited the post to indicate the taper- important info. It's an R8, which was a big selling point for me since that tooling can be used elsewhere in the future. The weight should be about 1500 pounds.


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## Bob Korves (Jul 17, 2016)

Congratulations, wildo!  That is a nice looking mill, I suppose because it looks just like mine!  Well, almost, mine has the rapid quill and a different motor.  I am on my second Millrite, traded up for a literally new and unused 1965 MVN, have added a Servo X axis power feed.  They are capable and solid machines that fit into a tighter space than a Bridgeport or clone.  Let me know if I can help you with any questions about it.  Also be sure to join the active and helpful BurkeMills Yahoo group, if you haven't already.  You obviously already know that there is a Burke forum on Hobby-Machinist, hang out there for sure, and click the "watch forum" link .

Edit:  The Millrite looks great there in your shop -- like it belongs there...


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## wildo (Jul 17, 2016)

Thanks Bob! I did find the yahoo group and it's already been very helpful- just in the "files" section alone. I also saw some of your posts over there and recognized your name.  Thanks for the comments! I'm sure I'll have tons of questions over time. For now, I'm kind of letting it all settle in. Maybe for some of you this wouldn't be a big purchase. For me, it was and I need to let the bank account recover a bit. I don't have any tooling for it yet, so I'll be on the lookout for an R8 collet set. No end mills, no mill vise, etc, etc... Really- same goes for my lathe. I guess step 1: buy the machines is complete. Now onto step 2: spend twice as much money on tooling. Oy!! I seem to find the most expensive hobbies!


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## wildo (Jul 17, 2016)

Bob- if you could recommend a mill vise size/brand, I'd appreciate it!


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## jpfabricator (Jul 17, 2016)

Nice iron brother!
 I have a 4" Kurt clone on my Burke powermatic, so far it's done all I have needed to do.

Sent from somwhere in east Texas by Jake!


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## Bob Korves (Jul 17, 2016)

wildo said:


> (snip)I don't have any tooling for it yet, so I'll be on the lookout for an R8 collet set. No end mills, no mill vise, etc, etc... Really- same goes for my lathe. I guess step 1: buy the machines is complete. Now onto step 2: spend twice as much money on tooling. Oy!! I seem to find the most expensive hobbies!


Used tooling is a whole lot cheaper than new.  Sometimes you can get tool lots for pennies on the dollar.  For collets, 90+% of what you will use is 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4" with round holes.  The others are mostly frosting -- until you need one.  You might look for those sizes I listed, even if they are well used, to keep you going until you can afford to purchase a set by 16ths, which will cover 99% of what most of us do.  Sets are much cheaper per each than individuals, and it gets pricey to fill in a partial set.  Some Chinese sets, like Interstate brand, are decent tools.

I have a Bridgeport 6" vise on my Millrite, it came with my first mill and looked really nasty, cleaning it up, making new jaws for it, and fitting it closely made it into a very nice vise,  but it is definitely overkill on a Millrite.  I think a decent quality 5" Vise would be about ideal on your machine, depending on anticipated projects.  You can do small and light work in a big vise, but not necessarily do big and/or heavy work in a light vise.  Kurt makes very nice vises, but $$$.  Most of the 4 and 5" vises you will find used or cheap will be Asian imports of marginal quality.  I would find something inexpensive that works and then be on the lookout for the right one at the right price, used, or new on a super sale.  The better brands are definitely better vises.

Craigslist is your friend!  Ebay, sometimes...


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## wildo (Jul 17, 2016)

I wondered if a 6" vise was overkill; in fact, I wondered if it would even fit! I'll be on the lookout for a 5"er. Also- thanks for the explanation on some of the other tooling!


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## CraigB1960 (Jul 17, 2016)

Nice!


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## wildo (Jul 18, 2016)

Also- I'm more than a little curious: do you guys say "burk-ee" or "burk" for the pronunciation of Burke? I suspect the former, but wouldn't be surprised by the latter.


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## Bob Korves (Jul 19, 2016)

burk


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## wildo (Jul 19, 2016)

Bob Korves said:


> burk


Thanks for the clarification!


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## starion007 (Jul 30, 2016)

Hello, I have the same size Millright with the drill feed head instead of the fine feed, its an awesome machine.
As for Vises, I put a Glacern 4" on mine and so far have not had any issue with the size of work it can hold. I went down that rabbit hole with the budget vises and its just not worth it, You can buy Shars, little machine shops or eBays, but they are all the same piles of junk. I use mine in the front T slot so there is no interference with the Y axis and the hang off in the hand wheel either.
Honestly I cant stress enough about the vise, Money well spent.
Congrats On The Mill!!!
Mark


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.




I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.




Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

I used a tach off ebay much like this one. Since this mill is powered via VFD, it was no concern to eliminate that lower cone pulley groove. Additionally, the VFD has a 10V output that I used to directly drive the tachometer- thus, no need for an extra power supply. It worked out really well.


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## Bob Korves (Mar 6, 2017)

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.




I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.




Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

Bob Korves said:


> You gave up one pulley groove to run the tach?



Yes, because the mill now had variable speed via the VFD. I'm such a newbie at all this, for me, the tach is a necessity while I learn proper feeds & speeds. Without knowing how fast the mill is turning, I can't know if I'm doing things "right" or even close to right. The lower groove would be for very slow turning. I can always put the belt on the next groove up and turn the speed way down via the VFD. Sure, I've given up some torque, but it's only a 1hp motor driven by that tiny, tiny belt. I think it'll probably be just fine. The goal is to never have to move the belt anyway.


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.




I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.




Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544


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## bss1 (Mar 6, 2017)

That is a really nice Millrite you have there. Good job on the refurb and update with the VFD. I have one almost exactly like it and have thoroughly enjoyed using it for the past ten years. 

The spindle speeds are usually shown on a placard riveted to the side of the motor mount. I think the slowest speed on mine is 250 RPM which is really fast for drilling steel. I have a VFD and use the two slowest pulley grooves most of the time.  But to get max speed, which is over 3000 rpm, requires using the upper grooves. 

I can post a pic of the spindle speed placard if you like.  Even though I have a VFD, the placard gives me a point of reference. With the vfd set at 60HZ, I know I should be turning RPM's close to the speeds posted on the placard.  You will need to change the pulleys to get the full potential out of your machine since it has such a wide operating RPM range. The motor will stall if your not careful with large drills with the VFD turned down. This may being too cautious but I don't use a setting less than 30HZ for this reason. Since you have a tach If you have a chance, please post what your spindle speed is on the slowest pulley setting with the VFD at 30HZ. Since I don't have a tach on mine, I would be interested to know the slowest usable RPM. 

Thanks for sharing your build.


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.




I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.




Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544


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## bss1 (Mar 6, 2017)

Thanks Will!  That's a big help. 

I think I have my start up speed set for 4 or 5 seconds. It gives me a soft start and a few seconds to react when I realize I forgot to release the spindle lock .  


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## tweinke (Mar 6, 2017)

Nice mill Will! Say being that's the bedroom shop you were building earlier does the bed still fit? Just razzing ya !  I have learned quickly how this hobby not only causes empty wallet syndrome it also causes all extra space to be filled.


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## wildo (Mar 6, 2017)

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.




I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.




Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544


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## tweinke (Mar 6, 2017)

You have a nice shop there! My wife just saw your setup and said she wished my shop was as clean and orderly. I then told her yours was in a bedroom and she told me to forget that idea because she hates when I track chips into the house.


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## brino (Mar 6, 2017)

Thanks @wildo , I am enjoying the ride!
-brino


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## wildo (Mar 7, 2017)

brino said:


> Thanks @wildo , I am enjoying the ride!
> -brino


Glad you've liked the updates, brino. The shop is in a good place now. The lathe is complete and operational. The mill is complete and operational. Really, at this point, the only thing stopping me from making stuff is having no tooling. I'm working on it, but this stuff is so expensive. I have a single 1/2" endmill and a full R8 collet set. Otherwise, I'm starting from complete scratch. It'll be a while, but hey- as long as that floor holds up, the machines aren't going anywhere. (That was a joke.)


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