Mini mills - are they worth it and which ones

I owned a X2 for several years and my main complaint was rigidity. The basic design is akin to a wet noodle, just looking at it and the thing moves around. The very limited Y axis travel was a limiting factor in what can be machined. However, it was easy to extend the Y axis travel an inch or so which greatly helped.

The head and spindle worked just fine and the variable speed was very handy. My mill had the R8 spindle which made finding reasonable priced tooling a plus.

If I were to buy another similar sized mill skip the X2 and look for an X3 or one of the other mills position between the X2 and X3 in the market. (Grizzly has a couple models as an example and they are discussed on several forums.) Rigidity is very important if one expects to get a quality finish on parts and the X2 is very much lacking in that requirement.

Robert
 
Hi theoldwizard1, I am new to the forum so I can't post a link yet. If you go to youtube and look up Frank Hoose, his channel has a bunch of very good videos about mini mills, small lathes etc. Very good channel aimed at what you asked about.
 
I started with the Harbor Freight mini mill, after having purchasing the Harbor Freight mini lathe. In both cases, they were my introduction to machining, and purchased for a hobby shop. And in both cases, they met the requirements I had set forth. Also, in both cases, improvements were made with the help of the Little Machine Shop web site, and phone consultation. On the mill, which I purchased for around $450 delivered, using sale pricing and coupons, I added the mini mill upgrade kit for around $200, which added belt drive and a lift cylinder. I found that I was able to build almost anything I needed, as long as size of the part was not too big, and I gave it the needed time (can't rush with a low power machine). So, for what ended up being less than $1000 with basic tooling, was a great way to start.

I will note, however, that today I use the machine mostly for quick cuts and precision drilling, as I have acquired a Grizzly GO463 converted CNC mill that I use for most all of the projects. The initial cost of education was nothing compared to the ongoing costs of speed, precision, and capabilities.
 
I own an X2 mill (Micromark 500W brushless motor, R8 spindle). It is far from perfect, but there are ways to improve it. It really depends on how much time you want to spend tweaking your mill vs making useful or fun stuff, and how much money you've got vs. time to spend. Of course, it also depends on what you want to do with it. I have added remote reading igaging DROs and an air lift (on-sale upgrade from LMS) changed the Y axis bearing system to thrust bearings, did an anti-backlash mod to the X axis and added a 1/2" thick steel stiffening plate to the back of the column (which also allowed me to tram the column on the Y axis). The mill is tight enough to perform climb milling finishing passes in steel without any drama so I'm happy.

A number of these mods required using the mill and lathe (along with drilling/tapping holes etc.) so they were a great learning experience. Of course if I were to do them again I'd do it "better" -- but for the most part they are Good Enough as they are.
 
You don't have any pics of the upgrades do you homebrewed? I'm pretty intrigued
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top