Looking for my perfect size hobby mill....

[verbotenwhisky]

Been reading and researching a lot lately and the variable speed machines seems to be the ones every one is going with even on lathes any more... but my understanding was low end torque was an issue with VS motors for milling steel, especialy on these smaller machines.?

The 940 and even the 932 are not suffering a torque deficit, My 940 is powered by a 2HP 3 Phase motor which the speed controlled by a VFD, I haven't bogged it down yet and I have used my 3" face mill in steel for 2" facing .100 deep no problem... I do have a gear head lathe and I like it very well, it sees a lot of use.

 

[wrmiller]

I use the quill for fine adjustment, I like to get the head within a few inches then the fine adjustment on the quill makes me more precise. My quill is 3" in diameter so as long as I am not working at its extents rigidity isn't an issue.

This...^^^

Using a bench mill, I bring the head down to where the cutter (w/quill fully retracted) is a few tenths off the surface to be milled. I then lower the cutter until it is just touching the surface to be milled, lock the quill, zero my z-axis, and then lift the head off the workpiece with the z handwheel.

Move slightly off the workpiece, lower the head down past the desired DOC, raise the head to the target number (this way everything is loaded against gravity and always in the same direction) on the z-axis, and lock the head.

I do the same on a knee mill except I'm moving the knee instead of the head.

 

[dabear3428]

Hello Sir...
I was planning on the mill doubling as the shop drill press as well.

So with a square column mill you put the part in then the drill bit then run the head down/ knee up to close, this is a lot diff than using a drill press or a round column where you lose alignment when you move the head. So long story short a short quill is not that big of an issue yes it is nice to have more quill travel but far less important than x y or z travel or hp or rigidity. That being said either the pm932 or940 will have more than enough

 

[dabear3428]

Been reading and researching a lot lately and the variable speed machines seems to be the ones every one is going with even on lathes any more... but my understanding was low end torque was an issue with VS motors for milling steel, especialy on these smaller machines.?

Either the 932 or 940 v or s will have more tq than you know what to do with also the 940 is a 2 speed pulley so hi and low gear.
I do like gear changes better than swapping pulleys but that is a minor issue. Good luck with your shop and keep posting photos
Also 3phase vfd motors have full tq at low speed unlike dc motors

 

[dabear3428]

Keep in mind that mills need clearance for table movement the space is like a T in that regard not much side to side space needed on the side away from the operator

 

[verbotenwhisky]

So with a square column mill you put the part in then the drill bit then run the head down/ knee up to close, this is a lot diff than using a drill press or a round column where you lose alignment when you move the head. So long story short a short quill is not that big of an issue yes it is nice to have more quill travel but far less important than x y or z travel or hp or rigidity. That being said either the pm932 or940 will have more than enough

The time the quill travel really matters is when you have power down feed for boring operations, then (no innuendos intended) every inch counts....

 

[Larry$]

There are must haves and nice to haves. If the work & tooling can't fit in the available Z it's not going to work. But for X & Y it is always possible to relocate the work to gain machining area. Not fun, slow and always a compromise but doable. Castings have been my biggest issue with lack of Z on my 9x49 knee mill. I have a mill with a Reeves VS head, which I really like. I added a 6" KURT vice, knee power feed and a DRO. I got the mill used.

 

[Aaron_W]

I use the quill for fine adjustment, I like to get the head within a few inches then the fine adjustment on the quill makes me more precise. My quill is 3" in diameter so as long as I am not working at its extents rigidity isn't an issue.

Right but you are talking about a fraction of an inch of extension, so 2" or 5" of quill range won't matter much except for drilling. Even with drilling it just adds a step, retract the quill and lower the head or raise the table as appropriate. My Clausing has 3" of quill extension, but I don't think I've ever maxed it out. For one thing drilling a hole more than 3" deep would be pushing the limits of space for the mill anyway, with only 16" spindle to table.

I have used the quill for fine adjustment, but talking about thousandths of travel. Personally I find using the knee to set height to be pretty accurate. My Sherline doesn't even have a quill, and it manages to be pretty accurate.

Quill is nice, but quill extension isn't the place I'd be be drawing a line between one mill over another unless it was one has a quill and the other doesn't.

 

[Aaron_W]

Hello Sir...
I was planning on the mill doubling as the shop drill press as well.

In that case you might want to look more at how the quill operates than just reach. My Clausing has a rapid feed and a fine feed for the quill. The rapid feed works like a drill press, just a handle you pull down to drill. The fine feed is a hand wheel that feeds very slowly and maintains its position accurately.

My Sherline has no quill, so drilling is accurate but slow, drilling is done by moving the head down with the feed wheel.

The Clausing does a fairly decent job as a drill press, a larger mill that works like my Sherline would be a terrible drill press from a production stand point.

I thought having a larger mill would send my drill presses packing, but it hasn't worked out that way. Mills and drill presses are similar, but they have different priorities.
The Clausing has largely made my small benchtop Craftsman drill press mostly redundant but I've added a Delta radial drill press, because the Clausing is still relatively small as drill presses go. The Delta is nice for some of my wood working needs, light duty but with a long reach (31").
I'm still casually watching for a nice heavy duty drill press. No rush, just biding my time for something in the 15-17" size that is local a good deal, and preferably older than me.

 

[matthewsx]

Here you go.