Help choose between two mills

[mksj]

I assume it is like the Clausing 8520 below, if so you will not have the rigidity of a traditional knee head knuckle, and unlikely the alignment accuracy. There is another version of this style that does not telescope out and that should have increased rigidity (like the Grizzly G0678 below). Some people differ on the rigidity aspects of a knee are better than a bench top mill, there are many factors involved. The further the head moves out the more deflection you will see. Cute, but I be skeptical if one could make the claim that the VMC would be more rigid than the GH/RF45 style bench top mill on these size mills. Weight is a factor, but depends, the design as as well as the leverage. As I mentioned, I would see if there are other mills that might be available for you to consider.

 

[Ben17484]

I put in an order for a mill today.

I chose….. (drum roll please)….. a different mill!!

I was chatting to the guys at Warco about having difficulty choosing between the two and they pointed me at a mill that was outside of my price range. We did some haggling and I got a hefty discount to still bring it outside of my price range, but by less

Warco Super Major Milling Drilling Machine - Buy a Quality Mill

Quality Milling Machine, suitable for a very wide range of metalworking milling and drilling applications. Includes stand & fitted with power cross feed. AVAILABLE WITH OR WITHOUT 2-AXIS METRIC DRO - see 'Type' dropdown menu below to select your preference.

www.warco.co.uk

It has the best of both of the other two lathes with only a couple of the drawbacks.

It’s 420kg, the same as the VMC, it’s single phase so doesn’t need more work fitting a VFD. It comes with a DRO and power feed on the X and Z axis! And this has power feed on the quill as well.

This mill solves many an annoyance that I’ve had with previous mills. It has an R8 taper (I’ve only ever had MT3) for easier tool change. The power head removes the horrible cranking of the head up and down. This is twice the weight of any mill I’ve had until this point.

I think for my space and budget this will do nicely. It should handle anything I’m planning on throwing at it in the forseable future.

So yes, more money than I was initially planning, but I don’t have to do anything to the mill other than assemble and use. I’m happy!

Should be delivered within the next week.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I put in an order for a mill today.

I chose….. (drum roll please)….. a different mill!!

I was chatting to the guys at Warco about having difficulty choosing between the two and they pointed me at a mill that was outside of my price range. We did some haggling and I got a hefty discount to still bring it outside of my price range, but by less

Warco Super Major Milling Drilling Machine - Buy a Quality Mill

Quality Milling Machine, suitable for a very wide range of metalworking milling and drilling applications. Includes stand & fitted with power cross feed. AVAILABLE WITH OR WITHOUT 2-AXIS METRIC DRO - see 'Type' dropdown menu below to select your preference.

www.warco.co.uk

It has the best of both of the other two lathes with only a couple of the drawbacks.

It’s 420kg, the same as the VMC, it’s single phase so doesn’t need more work fitting a VMC. It comes with a DRO and power feed on the X and Z axis! And this has power feed on the quill as well.

This mill solves many an annoyance that I’ve had with previous mills. It has an R8 taper (I’ve only ever had MT3) for easier tool change. The power head removes the horrible cranking of the head up and down. This is twice the weight of any mill I’ve had until this point.

I think for my space and budget this will do nicely. It should handle anything I’m planning on throwing at it in the forseable future.

So yes, more money than I was initially planning, but I don’t have to do anything to the mill other than assemble and use. I’m happy!

Should be delivered within the next week.

Ahhh that would be very close to a PM932M-PDF, if not the same, I suspect it is the metric version of that machine with WARCO paint which is a very nice machine, I hope you bought the optional base, you'll be far happier. Congratulations! FYI, not certain about UK but in the US R8 tooling is very common, you can get a "good" set of R8 collets and tooling with direct connect to R8, I suspect you'll be happy with that. Just as a passing suggestion, one of the members here, DavidPBest has some very good information on setup of a square column mill, tramming take time but once done it is done, he also has a great deal of other good information, I would suggest contacting him.

 

[SouthernChap]

I put in an order for a mill today.

I chose….. (drum roll please)….. a different mill!!

I was chatting to the guys at Warco about having difficulty choosing between the two and they pointed me at a mill that was outside of my price range. We did some haggling and I got a hefty discount to still bring it outside of my price range, but by less

Warco Super Major Milling Drilling Machine - Buy a Quality Mill

Quality Milling Machine, suitable for a very wide range of metalworking milling and drilling applications. Includes stand & fitted with power cross feed. AVAILABLE WITH OR WITHOUT 2-AXIS METRIC DRO - see 'Type' dropdown menu below to select your preference.

www.warco.co.uk

It has the best of both of the other two lathes with only a couple of the drawbacks.

It’s 420kg, the same as the VMC, it’s single phase so doesn’t need more work fitting a VFD. It comes with a DRO and power feed on the X and Z axis! And this has power feed on the quill as well.

This mill solves many an annoyance that I’ve had with previous mills. It has an R8 taper (I’ve only ever had MT3) for easier tool change. The power head removes the horrible cranking of the head up and down. This is twice the weight of any mill I’ve had until this point.

I think for my space and budget this will do nicely. It should handle anything I’m planning on throwing at it in the forseable future.

So yes, more money than I was initially planning, but I don’t have to do anything to the mill other than assemble and use. I’m happy!

Should be delivered within the next week.

Nice.

I guess you decide that the max RPM 1600 wasn't an issue then?

Oh, and if I'm buying a new machine tool from Warco in future, I'll be sure to give them a ring and sound unhappy about the price!

 

[Ben17484]

Nice.

I guess you decide that the max RPM 1600 wasn't an issue then?

Oh, and if I'm buying a new machine tool from Warco in future, I'll be sure to give them a ring and sound unhappy about the price!

The 1600 max rpm was a compromise I had to take. I’ll see how it goes. When everything else was so good, this problem is something I’ll let go.

I actually didn’t phone them. I emailed them about both the GH and VMC asking questions about them last week. They emailed me yesterday asking if I’d made a choice and I told them I was torn about the decision and wasn’t sure what to do. They then said if I ordered this week they’d give me a big doscount. I think they must have sales quotas to get to maybe?

Either way, im a happy chappy

 

[Ben17484]

Ahhh that would be very close to a PM932M-PDF, if not the same, I suspect it is the metric version of that machine with WARCO paint which is a very nice machine, I hope you bought the optional base, you'll be far happier. Congratulations! FYI, not certain about UK but in the US R8 tooling is very common, you can get a "good" set of R8 collets and tooling with direct connect to R8, I suspect you'll be happy with that. Just as a passing suggestion, one of the members here, DavidPBest has some very good information on setup of a square column mill, tramming take time but once done it is done, he also has a great deal of other good information, I would suggest contacting him.

Thanks!

Yes, I did get the base. It came as part of the package and I’m glad it did.

I think I’ve seen David’s posts on setting up a mill somewhere on here before. I’ll have to dig it out and go through it to get mine set up.

 

[dabear3428]

I’ve been going through the Pros and Cons in my head, but as some have mentioned, it’s good to write them down:

GH Universal:

Pros:

- Plug and play - no wiring a VFD, just plug in and use
- good Z height.
- Already 100kg heavier than the largest Mill I’ve had before.

Cons:

- No as sturdy as a knee mill
- Only 6 speeds, with the max being fairly low. Something Id have to figure out how to change one day
- Gear Head - loud

VMC

Pros:

- Heavier
- Knee mill, so probably sturdier
- belt drive, so quieter
- looks cooler

Cons:

- more expensive
- needs VFD (and when fitted lose some torque but gain variable speed) so can’t use it straight away
- low Z axis gap. Would need a spacer.

That was a good excercise. Still no closer though…

the VFD will not cause you to lose torque, you will still have all the gear ratios as before but only need to use them if you need the torque.
both mills are a compromise, get a bridgeport LOL JK. I think either would do what you want but for me the VMC offers more upside and future growth.

 

[SouthernChap]

Any news? Have you got it yet? Have I missed the "It's here!" thread? (or worse still, did I see it, comment on it and have now forgotten I commented on it?! )

 

[Ben17484]

Right. It has arrived!

It took me a looooooong time to get it in place. It had to go down a thin alleyway down the side of my house and through an awkward single door, but it’s in:



To say I’m excited is an understatement.

I know it’s still a small mill compared to a lot on here, but I genuinely didn’t think I’d be be able to get something this size and weight through the size restricter (and therefore moving equipment size limited) space I have.

All I’ve done is bolt the mill to the stand and that’s it.

I need to clean all the grease off, cut the rubber mat oht from under it and get some levelling feet on the concrete, attach the hand wheels, power feed and then do the run in prodecure.

Then tramming etc.

The main thing is that it’s here and in my workshop!

Thanks for everyone’s help on this thread. I know I chucked a curve ball when I ordered a mill that wasn’t one of the two I originally posted on here, but the points you all made lead me to spending a bit more to reduce the limiting factors that the other two mills have.

I’ll continue posting about the set up etc in my general purpose thread:

Thread 'Adventures of a newbie'

Nov 10, 2023

Hi All,

I've decided to start a thread to show the projects I'm going to be working on whilst learning.

For a bit of background, I've had a couple of lathes and a couple of mills in the past but never really did much with them, but did do enough to know I enjoy the hobby and I wanted to get more in to it.

I've finally got to the point that I have my home hobby workshop set up to the point that I can start doing some projects with the machines I have, so I wanted to document what I'm doing.

My set up:







I've a ToolCo VM32 Milling Machine and a Warco GH600...

• Ben17484
• Replies: 58
• Forum: PROJECT OF THE DAY --- WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR SHOP TODAY?

• 

 

[WobblyHand]

So clean and shiny! Go make some chips, the shine is hurting my eyes!