Husky A1S - 8x30... Just purchased my first mill.

[MikeInOr]

Hello.... New here. Like many others on here I have wanted a mill for hobby use for the greater portion of my life. After many (20+) years of keeping an eye out the stars finally aligned and I found a mill that will fit in my shop, I believe will be big enough for most of what I want to do, and I had enough money in the bank to cover the price. I just got home from purchasing a Husky A1S 8x30 mill for $1000 and another $200 for a Kurt vise... I am pretty excited. The seller is going to bring it over tomorrow evening and help me unload it. After watching a million youtubes I think it is in good enough shape to suite my purposes. The spindle was quiet on high speed. There were scrape marks on the ways. The table appeared pretty tight. I could not detect any runout on the spindle with my dial indicator. I know the Husky is a generic Taiwanese mill and the big brother to many generic 6x24 mills. I have been close to purchasing mill drills many times... I think this 8x30 will be a bit more capabable for what I want to do. I hope I did ok!

Like everyone else I want to learn about machining (I have had an Atlas 12x36 lathe for 30+ years now that I am somewhat proficient on). Make some odd parts and maybe do a little gunsmithing. I am an old machine junkie but mostly in the wood working world. I have dragged home old machines and restored them just because I have felt sorry for them. I have a bit of a weakness for old radial arm saws and a late 40's Redstar 16" 7.5hp turret arm RAS is the center of my woodworking shop.

I will post pictures when I get it unloaded tomorrow.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Welcome to the Forum!
i can't wait to see your new girlfriend!
congratulations!!!

 

[richl]

Welcome to the forum.
Ras are not my favorite machines, I've owned a few, worked on many. I guess it's because I'm getting older and know just one "senior moment" and you are missing a body part
Looking forward to seeing the mill though! Congrats!!
Rich

 

[middle.road]

Welcome to the forum.
Ras are not my favorite machines, I've owned a few, worked on many. I guess it's because I'm getting older and know just one "senior moment" and you are missing a body part
Looking forward to seeing the mill though! Congrats!!
Rich

Heck I've felt that way about RASs since I was in my twenties.
There are though, some magnificent designs in the old ones.

-=-
Welcome aboard Mike!

 

[MikeInOr]

Thank you for the welcomes!

My new mill comes with no tooling. The seller got a great deal on a Bridgeport so he is keeping all his tooling.

My new 8 x 30 has an R8 taper. I "Believe" I need a set of R8 collets. A couple end mills to practice with. Probably a R8 shank to mount a chuck. I have a pretty nice Jacobs chuck for my Atlas lathe. I think it sits on a #2 Morse Taper for my lathe. Should I get a #2 MT to R8 adapter? Or just pick up a R8 shank and a good used Jacobson to dedicate to the mill? Where should I get a set of collets from? I am a fan of Grizzley tools shaper cutters for woodworking... is there mill tooling acceptable? Should I look on ebay? Any other suggestions? Any other tooling I should pickup to start with? A set of parallels?

P.S. I spent a year watching a Walker Turner geared head RAS rotting under someones carport. I finally offered them $40 and it followed me home. Lots of work with a wire wheel and all new bearing... she turned out beautiful! I feel ashamed about running an abrasive blade on it to cut metal... but I already have 2 nice RAS's for wood. The WT has the nice cast iron base on it.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Hi MikeInOr,
Yes a set of R8 collets is a good idea
Some r8 Weldon Tool Holders are very nice, but not completely necessary at first(unless you have the endmills with a flat machined in the tool)
Parallels is a must too, or at least some very accurately ground material ( HSS tool blanks can be substituted in a pinch)

Grizzly's tooling is import, some is good, others not so good- but they really don't sell junk.

I'd think about using 5/8" or 3/4"shanks on your different tooling, like drill chucks and fly cutters and use a collet in the spindle for quick change outs

you can buy quality used collets on Ebay
or
new sets are inexpensive from Shars (http://www.shars.com/products/toolh...?collet_category=Collet+Sets&collet_series=R8), or All Industrial Supply(http://allindustrial.com/all-indust...1-for-bridgeport-with-r8-collet-rack-12-slot/) or JTS Machinery (https://jtsmach.com/jtswebshop/Workholding/CH044.asp)

i hope the info is helpful

PS, i always wanted a WT drill press

 

[MikeInOr]

Ulma, thank you. Very helpful! I was just looking at a set of the Shars collets on ebay last night and realized I had no idea what to look for as far as quality tooling that I would not regret purchasing later. The recommendations are very helpful! Thanks for the tip on using a collet to hold a drill chuck for quick tool changing... something I hadn't thought of but it makes a lot of sense.

A couple pics from the CL add.

 

[MikeInOr]

What do you guys think of this chuck? $96 on ebay... $200+ new w/o arbor. The arbor on this chuck is 3/4". To me it looks dirty but in good shape... it looks like it hasn't had much use to my eyes.

Ball Bearing - Taper Mount
■ Ball Bearing Construction Maximizes Gripping Force and Drilling Accuracy
■ Jaws Center-Ground for Straightness and Alignment
■ One-Piece Sleeve Eliminates Crack Between Driving Teeth Often Found in Other Designs
■ Through-Hardened Sleeve Teeth Plus Hardened Nose and Keyholes Provide Outstanding Wear Resistance
■ Fluted Sleeve Standard
■ Each Chuck 100% Inspected for Performance and Precision
■ T.I.R. 0.003"

Model: 14N
Min Capacity: 0.040 in
Max Capacity: 0.500 in
Closed Length: 3.88 in
Open Length: 2.97 in
Sleeve dia: 2.97 in
Weight: 2.44 lb

 

[Dave Paine]

That looks very similar to my Grizzly G1008 mill which also has 8x30 table. I purchased this second hand end of Jan 2017 so almost 1 year ago. The seller purchased this new in 2000.

Mine came with a set of R8 collets. I purchased a Jacobs chuck with R8 mount. I have purchased a number of items from Shars in the past year.

My Grizzly does not have a quill lock, so I need to hold the quill pulley to tighten or loosen the collet. Not a problem.

You will need a mill clamping kit. Available from many places, even Harbor Freight. Just measure your slots so you get a set with correct T nuts.

 

[MikeInOr]

Yes Dave, very similar mills. I couldn't find much info on Husky mills so I ended up doing a fair bit of reading on your Grizzly before making my decision. Most owners had pretty positive reviews on the Grizzly 8 x 30 mills. Are you pleased with yours? Did your mill come with the DRO and power feed? Both options I would like to add eventually. The one feature my mill doesn't have that really bothered me is the one shot lube. It seems like a mill would have probably received better lube over its life if it had a one shot lube.

Do most people prefer the Keyless chucks over keyed chucks? I see a lot of pictures of mills with keyless chucks. All my drill presses have always had keyed chucks.