Drill Press versus Mini-Mill

[Aaron_W]

Thank you all for the great replies and ideas!

I don't see anything like a RF 3x in my future, the price may be close but I can't imagine dealing with a 600-700# machine at this life stage.

After working with my DP the last couple days, I don't want to let it go. Not because I have so much energy invested in it, it's just so easy to use, produces great results, and it's paid for .

Let me refine my question a bit: would a mini-mill, like a Sieg X2D or clone, out-mill a DP regardless of how hot-rodded the DP might be?

Depends on what kind of work you do.

There is a wide range of small mills out there from really small to smaller than a Bridgeport. There are probably at least a dozen popular machines even keeping the weight to 350lbs or less.

If you mostly drill holes with an X-Y table, then a small mill may not actually do much for you.

If you choose a small mill that is too small for your needs, it may not be much if any improvement. Even if it is much better at milling than the DP it still does you no good if the work doesn't fit the mill, but it fits the DP.

I don't see any DP being better at milling than a mill that is properly sized to the work being done.

 

[matthewsx]

Thank you all for the great replies and ideas!

I don't see anything like a RF 3x in my future, the price may be close but I can't imagine dealing with a 600-700# machine at this life stage.

After working with my DP the last couple days, I don't want to let it go. Not because I have so much energy invested in it, it's just so easy to use, produces great results, and it's paid for .

Let me refine my question a bit: would a mini-mill, like a Sieg X2D or clone, out-mill a DP regardless of how hot-rodded the DP might be?

Yes

 

[SouthernChap]

Thank you all for the great replies and ideas!

I don't see anything like a RF 3x in my future, the price may be close but I can't imagine dealing with a 600-700# machine at this life stage.

After working with my DP the last couple days, I don't want to let it go. Not because I have so much energy invested in it, it's just so easy to use, produces great results, and it's paid for .

Let me refine my question a bit: would a mini-mill, like a Sieg X2D or clone, out-mill a DP regardless of how hot-rodded the DP might be?

I'd expect so.

Ultimately the engineers in charge of the design of any given drill press are going to have had, first and foremost in their mind, forces applied parallel to the spindle (and the vector of the forces mostly applied upward). Sure, you can change the spindle bearings out for angular contact or taper roller bearings, ensure the spindle and sleeve it runs in is a good, tight but smooth sliding fit, you can add a drawbar and use a collet chuck, but ultimately, it's still a drill press.

If nothing else, the head casting will have been designed to remain more or less (less with modern, cheap Chinese drill presses!) rigid when encountering mainly upwards vertical forces. If any forces that don't have that vector as their main component are applied, then well, it's a coin toss whether that head casting will handle it well and not flex.

Okay, the older, more solidly built drill presses (Meddings, Fobco, Walker Turner Causing, etc.) are better candidates for converting for light milling duties but nonetheless, they certainly weren't designed with milling in mind.

From what I've read from other people who have HiTorque machines, it may be worth being willing to spend a little more and consider the HiTorque versions of mini mills.

Here's the equivalent to the X2D http://lmscnc.com/3990

Or if you can rustle up the cash or wait until you've saved up, something from the perennial forum favourite Precision Matthews. The PM25 is generally well thought of by those who have it.

PM-25MV Milling Machine – Precision Matthews Machinery Co.

www.precisionmatthews.com

Or the HiTorque version of the SEIG X3 for a little bit less than the PM mill:

HiTorque 6500 Bench Mill 6500

Milling Machines 6500 750 watt (1 hp) brushless motor/gearless spindle; Clear and precise spindle controls; Large X-Y table 27.5" x 6.25"; True quill ...

lmscnc.com

 

[rwdenney]

....

Okay, the older, more solidly built drill presses (Meddings, Fobco, Walker Turner Causing, etc.) are better candidates for converting for light milling duties but nonetheless, they certainly weren't designed with milling in mind.

...

My Delta drill press from around 1970 has an integral JT33 taper on the end of the spindle, as opposed to the Morse 2 receiver usually found in Chinese drill presses these days. To facilitate chuck removal, it uses a chuck with a locking collar that is also used to drive the chuck off the spindle. It serves to lock the chuck onto the taper, explicitly stated in the manual to facilitate "light milling". That solves one of the main problems with milling on a drill press--the tapers aren't designed for vibrating lateral loads and have a tendency to release.

The spindle itself is half the diameter of a Bridgeport mill, and the quill is 2" versus 3" on the Bridgeport. The quill is machined for a good working fit, while on the mill it it is lapped in for a precision fit. Both have about the same quill travel.

I've used the Delta for light milling in aluminum, and though there was chatter it worked. And I've used it with a center-cutting end mill to plunge counterbores and even ovalize holes. I think a really decent sliding table firmly mounted to the base casting with the head lowered on the column as needed could do some reasonable light milling in soft materials, but I wouldn't go any further than that.

On the other hand, my Bridgeport will drill 3/4" holes in steel without breathing hard. I recently used it to drill the pilot hole for a 1/8" set screw in 1/4" 4140, and it was precise enough to do that. The Delta might have done as well, but the Chinese drill press would have broken the drill. And that's after I custom-machined a chuck arbor for the Chinese drill press to reduce it's 0.060 spindle runout down to about .006" (depending on quill extension). The Delta is within a thou, the Bridgeport is within 2 tenths. With tiny drills, that makes a big difference.

It's still handy to have the drill press available--it's fast for non-precision hole drilling.

Rick "getting kicked out of my hotel room" Denney

 

[ChazzC]

Rick "getting kicked out of my hotel room" Denney

In the dog house again??

 

[jonf]

I had a mill/drill and I would suggest you save your nickels and dimes and get a knee mill. Although "Blondihacks" on YouTube seems to turn out a lot of things that I would not attempt with her PM equipment.

 

[rwdenney]

In the dog house again??

You know how it is.

But this is a work trip.

Rick “120 days of travel so far this year” Denney

 

[Ultradog MN]

For drilling and tapping large holes, Nothing will outperform a good drill press. And a morse taper DP is fast for changing bits.

 

[SouthernChap]

My Delta drill press from around 1970

Well, quite!

Plunge milling and counterboring will result in forces which have, as their overwhelmingly main component, an axial vector, so I'd expect a quality drill press like yours to handle that well.

That you can get away with light milling on your drill press isn't really a surprise, but it's definitely 'getting away with it' rather than something one would want to be relying on for regular milling operations.

My question to you though, is: was the existing setup on your Bridgeport so complex or onerous to tear down that you felt compelled to do the milling on your lovely Delta drill press? I mean, I can almost hear it sighing with a heavy heart "I will shoulder this burden you cruelly put on me"

 

[SouthernChap]

@dml66

We all have our own budget and space constraints and neither should ever be a source of shame (and if someone tries to make it so, you can happily dismiss them as being a no-mark bell-end).

To avoid us suggesting machines that are all either unnecessarily small and cheap or trying to get you to buy something you'd need a NASA launch vehicle transporter to move, could you give us an idea of your maximum size machine (i.e. does it have to be a benchtop mill or can you fit in something like the smaller end of the knee mill market) and what your maximum "I felt a bit antsy spending this much, but in the end didn't regret it" budget?