Gear Head Milling Machine - enough speeds?

[cooper1203]

ummm silly question but doesnt the quill work on the z axis

 

[Ben17484]

ummm silly question but doesnt the quill work on the z axis

There’s two Z axis adjustments on most vertical mills. One by moving the head up and down on the Z axis, and one by moving the quill in and out of the head. The quill is generally just for drilling and minor adjustments to Z height. It usually wants to be fully retracted for milling.


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[GeneT45]

There *are* VFDs available for single-phase motors: https://www.ato.com/single-phase-vfd but that won't help your top speed. I have a belt-change mill with a top speed of 2400 that I find adequate, and it's most often set for 1700 rpm, which works for a great many things (including insert mills). I wouldn't be too worried, but if you could find something with higher speed, it would be nice, especially for tiny endmills.

GsT

 

[Eddyde]

FWIW, I only had 6 speeds on the lathe I've had for 25 years, I never felt I needed more.