New member would like some milling machine advice.

dabear3428 said:
Do you have a good vise? and work holding?
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I have 2" and 3" precision screwless vises that will get me by until I decide which 4" vise I will get. I already have a bunch of 1/2" T-slot nuts, 3/8" studs, clamps and blocks.
 
tominboise said:
I bought a 728VT back in April, 2024 and have been pleased so far. I should probably have bought a bigger machine but that's all part of the fun. The DRO that PM installed has worked fine for me but I am still getting my feet wet.
I also bought the R8 collet set, the high precision vise and the hold down kit. Everything has worked fine, the biggest irritation is the hold down kit comes in a blow molded case that is a PITA to use, in that it has to open up and lay flat on the bench to get something and it takes a lot of space to do so. I took everything out and threw it in a box that I dig through now....LOL.
I mounted the mill to my bench, cleaned it and did the break in run, put the vise on and squared it up and have been using it ever since. Don't tell anyone but I have yet to check and tram the head.
The next thing I am going to do, is add ball valves to the way lube system since it leaks all over the place, and by a powered Z axis kit because cranking the head up and down gets old after awhile.

I have spent a bit of money on stuff like end mills, drill bits, face mills, way oil, etc. The machine itself will end up being the cheap part.
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Good info Tom. Thanks.

I already have a mill so this will just be an upgrade. I've accumulated a bunch of end mills, fly cutters, drill bits, etc. over the years.
 
I would stick with the MagXact MX-200M package/display. The display is by Electronica, I have the same display on my knee mill and it does everything I need it to do. If you are new to machining then probably easier to have PM/QMT do the DRO install and you are up and running. I personally like to do my own DRO installs, I end up making all my mounting brackets that are custom fit to the machine. If you can fit a slightly larger mill, you may consider the PM-833TV which will give you a bit more capacity in the long run. It is not only the size of the mill but the travel (X,Y,Z) that is more of a limiting factor as well as the size vise that works with the table size and travel. Most people that buy smaller mills quickly outgrow them and wish they purchased something bigger. Moving the mill is also a factor. Buying quality accessories is worthwhile, including a high quality keyless chuck, the one below is new and has very little runout. PM/QMT has some of the best warranty and post sales service support.

1/64-1/2 Ultra Precision Keyless Drill Chuck, 2 Handed Grip – Precision Matthews Machinery Co.

www.precisionmatthews.com www.precisionmatthews.com

PM-833TV Ultra Precision Milling Machine – Precision Matthews Machinery Co.

www.precisionmatthews.com www.precisionmatthews.com
 
Ok here goes, 1st one I got total & complete junk, jumped threw hoops to get an exchange. 2nd machine better. Drill chuck is good very little run out.... get the DRO pre installed.
Glacern vise https://www.glacern.com/gsv_440 don't cheap out
You will need to spend lots of time getting the machine level in order to get it ti cut true flat & square
 
I bought a PM-833TV a couple of months ago and will offer a different point of view on the R8 collet set.

I bought one. And then I returned it and bought an ER40 collet.

My rationale is that I tend to buy metric cutters. And R8 collets have a very limited grip range. So, when you have a set of R8 collets and want to use a 12mm cutter.....or a 4mm...or a 6mm, you're out of luck. An R8 collet set with a few collets doesn't even come close to clamping all the possible sizes in the 0 to 1" range. Conversely, a good metric ER40 set will clamp any diameter between zero (or thereabouts) up to 1". Much more flexible.

And, an ER-40 holder can be opened or closed with wrenches right in front of you. You don't have to reach to the top of the machine and you don't have to remove/inset the collets from the spindle......you just loosen the nut and swap the collets. Seems far easier to me.

Finally, I already had an ER-40 collet set up (for my lathe). So buying a holder was my only expense to be able to clamp any diameter up to an inch. Far less money than the 100s of R8 collets you would need to cover every diameter up to an inch (An R8 is only supposed to clamp a range of .002 to .005" depending on who you ask)..

Downside on a smaller mill would be that the ER40 holder consumes a couple of inches of vertical travel over using an R8 directly.
 
Hi @ad701xx

I have a couple of the PM precision keyless chucks (0-1/2 and the 1/8-5/8 "Ultra Precision Keyless Drill Chuck" they did not offer the 1/64-12 two hand version when I purchased mine) and they have both been fine and are always in use. They save a lot of time over changing collets for each size cutter.

However, I find that I almost always need to use the key as well as a spindle lock to keep it from turning while removing a tool. My machine does not have a spindle lock so I use a spline wrench to keep the spindle from turning.

I have a 6 inch PM ultra precision vise. The size is nice for clamping, however, as I have aged I can no longer bench press what I once could. This vise comes in at about 90-100 pounds and it is getting difficult to lift on to the table! https://www.precisionmatthews.com/s...tra-high-precision-milling-vise-wswivel-base/

My mill is CNC and so I did not get the external DRO that is mounted to the lathe. The CNC computer is suppose to keep track of the position via the number of steps the stepper motors are driven, but it would certainly be nice to have the external DRO. Sometimes the CNC system looses track for one reason of another. However, to date it seems that all of the external DROs provide relative measurements and a zero must be set. For example, if set up your DRO and then turn off the power and the machine is manually changed a bit, the zero and all other positions are no longer valid.

Have fun.

Dave
 
rronald said:
My rationale is that I tend to buy metric cutters. And R8 collets have a very limited grip range. So, when you have a set of R8 collets and want to use a 12mm cutter.....or a 4mm...or a 6mm, you're out of luck. An R8 collet set with a few collets doesn't even come close to clamping all the possible sizes in the 0 to 1" range. Conversely, a good metric ER40 set will clamp any diameter between zero (or thereabouts) up to 1". Much more flexible.
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How many shank sizes do you have on your cutting tools? I have a set of 7 inch size R8 collets, and a metric one for the 6mm shank cutters I have. I might need a couple more metric ones, but I will likely never need any more inch sizes. I can get any size end mill I need in a standard shank size, including metric, you don’t need to buy hundreds of R8 collets, just the standard sizes.
 
Ischgl99 said:
How many shank sizes do you have on your cutting tools? I have a set of 7 inch size R8 collets, and a metric one for the 6mm shank cutters I have. I might need a couple more metric ones, but I will likely never need any more inch sizes. I can get any size end mill I need in a standard shank size, including metric, you don’t need to buy hundreds of R8 collets, just the standard sizes.
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Good point.

I often put drills into my collets. And those can be be oddball sizes. Tap drills at 4.2mm, 10.5mm are a good example. I suppose that's just me being lazy, since I could use a drill chuck.

I do have mills that are 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12mm. So, I could buy an metric R8 set along with an fractional inch R8 set and be able to clamp all the milling cutters that I use. And use the drill chuck for all drills that aren't an even number.

Even if I had a set of metric and fractional inch R8s, I still would use the ER-40 set. I find it much easier and faster to change ER-40 collets than the R8 collets.
 
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