Rutland Mill Model 26660531 Any Good?

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Malinkalauran

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Currently I have a HF mini mill and am looking for something bigger for knifemaking. A Rutland mill is for sale near my home but I am a novice and know nothing about this brand. Does anyone have experience with this mill?
 
This looks like many of the round column Mill Drills.

Your HF mill is a "square column" mill. These allow you to move the mill head up and down the full length of travel and still stay aligned in "Z" ("zero'd" in). Many people like these, but I want to make that apparent to you.

If it is a really good deal, it will definitely increase your machining capabilities. It is much beefier than your HF Minimill, and has a much greater work envelope, table size and movement.

Just be careful that the 5 inches of spindle travel is enough for the work you are doing. Otherwise you have to move the head up on the round column and "zero" it to your work again.


Bernie
 
I am fairly sure that the Rutland (now part of MSC) is a Rong Fu if that helps you any.
 
Malinkalauran said:
Currently I have a HF mini mill and am looking for something bigger for knifemaking. A Rutland mill is for sale near my home but I am a novice and know nothing about this brand. Does anyone have experience with this mill?
Click to expand...

I have owned a Rutland model 26660515 mill for about 15 years or more. I think it is the same basic mill as the 26660531, but I am not sure. They had numerous variations - power down feed, tapping setups, etc. Mine is a basic unit. I have no idea how old the mill is - I bought it used, mainly because of the variable speed drive. No need to change belts to vary the speed. Rutland is a tool importer in Southern California. Rutland no longer imports (or supports) this mill. It was made in Taichung, Taiwan ROC and is serial No. 70278. I needed quill bearings for mine. Rutland couldn't help me, but they were able to provide me with copy of a "generic" manual that covers the mill with all the whistles and bells. Bearings were no problem from a local bearing supply house. Other than replacing bearings and the belts it has been trouble free and does better work than I'm capable of doing. It's a very heavy and rugged beast for a mill-drill. My only complaints are those common with a round column mill. Some setups need some serious advance planning - ask me how I know!! Maybe if you could post a picture I would be able to tell more. Oh, one other thing - the top speed is around 1500 rpm, somewhat slow for some carbide tooling, but I mainly use HSS tooling so that is not much of a problem. Good luck!
 
I have a Rutland 26660630. Mine is a three phase, two speed motor version, 12 spindle speeds.

As jbrubaker said it's very solid and massive. I've had no problem whatsoever with it and I'm also pretty sure it was manufactured by Rong Fu.

Top speed in 4 pole mode is 3,000 RPM.
 
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