I Bought My First Milling Machine!

I wondered if a 6" vise was overkill; in fact, I wondered if it would even fit! I'll be on the lookout for a 5"er. Also- thanks for the explanation on some of the other tooling!
 
Also- I'm more than a little curious: do you guys say "burk-ee" or "burk" for the pronunciation of Burke? I suspect the former, but wouldn't be surprised by the latter.
 
Hello, I have the same size Millright with the drill feed head instead of the fine feed, its an awesome machine.
As for Vises, I put a Glacern 4" on mine and so far have not had any issue with the size of work it can hold. I went down that rabbit hole with the budget vises and its just not worth it, You can buy Shars, little machine shops or eBays, but they are all the same piles of junk. I use mine in the front T slot so there is no interference with the Y axis and the hang off in the hand wheel either.
Honestly I cant stress enough about the vise, Money well spent.
Congrats On The Mill!!!
Mark
 
A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.
Img_1921.jpg


I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.
Img_7597_zpscb8b5dd7.jpg


Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544
 
I used a tach off ebay much like this one. Since this mill is powered via VFD, it was no concern to eliminate that lower cone pulley groove. Additionally, the VFD has a 10V output that I used to directly drive the tachometer- thus, no need for an extra power supply. It worked out really well.
 
A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.
Img_1921.jpg


I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.
Img_7597_zpscb8b5dd7.jpg


Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544
 
Bob Korves said:
You gave up one pulley groove to run the tach?
Click to expand...

Yes, because the mill now had variable speed via the VFD. I'm such a newbie at all this, for me, the tach is a necessity while I learn proper feeds & speeds. Without knowing how fast the mill is turning, I can't know if I'm doing things "right" or even close to right. The lower groove would be for very slow turning. I can always put the belt on the next groove up and turn the speed way down via the VFD. Sure, I've given up some torque, but it's only a 1hp motor driven by that tiny, tiny belt. I think it'll probably be just fine. The goal is to never have to move the belt anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top