Dro Pros B3/B12 CNC Mills

[Jay-z]

I’m at the point in this hobby where a small CNC Mill would come in very handy. I came across these mills that DRO Pros sells as a kit. Some assembly required of course but that’s not a problem. Been searching for any information or reviews but come up empty. Anyone have any experience with these machines? I’m sure some parts could use an upgrade like the ball screws but I’m not looking for aerospace tolerance with my projects at the moment. Thanks

CNC Mills

 

[markba633csi]

I've seen those too but not sure how much work is involved-

-M

 

[Boswell]

I have no experience with this mill. I did purchase a DRO for my Lathe from DroPros and talked them once about a question I had on capabilities. They were very responsive to my questions. I also think that they excel at documentation/instructions. Overall very positive experience with the company.

looking at the Mill(s) you linked to. my first impression is that they have a very small work envelope. 7.8" of Z travel is not very much. Add a vice [Kurt DX4 is 2.250 from table to bottom of vise ways ] Then add tool stick out of say 2" that is now 4.250 inches leaving you able to clamp onto parts no taller than 3.55 inches. Of course there are probably other vises that are not as tall and you could even not use a vise and clamp parts directly to the table. My first Mill was a GrizzlyG0704 and had a maximum of around 12" or 13" of Z travel and that tended to be my limiting factor on several times. There is also a specification that they call "Spindle Stroke" that is only 1.2" Not sure how that is different than Z Travel. Worth looking into. My point is just to be aware of the work envelope size and what you are planning on making. Like most tools purchases. Buy to to fit the work you want to do. Not the other way around.

Looking forward to what you learn and what you end up with.

BTW, it says it has ball screws so you might be good to go on that front.

 

[Jay-z]

Fortunately the projects that are planned for this or another mini CNC mill are all small in size. I did take notice to the limited Z travel and feel it wouldn’t be a problem. I’m more curious to how this machine will perform when cutting metal (aluminum,steel and titanium). I don’t expect it to be the fastest but some degree of accuracy would be nice.

 

[Boswell]

It looks reasonably rigid (for a mini Mill). For small diameter tools, RPMs are your friend in order to get decent Surface Feet per Minute. I would lean to the one that goes up to 12K RPM. My PM45M-CNC only goes up to 3K RPM and while most of the time that is fine for what I do, it is too slow when I want to use an engraving bit. I can get it work by using very slow feed rate but that is not ideal and it really adds time to a run.

 

[Jay-z]

It looks reasonably rigid (for a mini Mill). For small diameter tools, RPMs are your friend in order to get decent Surface Feet per Minute. I would lean to the one that goes up to 12K RPM. My PM45M-CNC only goes up to 3K RPM and while most of the time that is fine for what I do, it is too slow when I want to use an engraving bit. I can get it work by using very slow feed rate but that is not ideal and it really adds time to a run.

Certainly leaning towards the 12k spindle model. Doing some engraving is certainly in the future list of projects.