Thinking Of Getting A Facemill For My Fr45 Clone

[Bray D]

11 bucks a bottle is pretty steep, but if it works as well as they advertise, it would be worth every penny.

I put casters on my table this spring ($$$$$$) but it's awesome being able to quickly scoot it out of the way if I need the extra space. My entire shop is only 12 x 20, so I frequently need the extra space, haha.

I know this is all friendly banter, but let's all remember that it's not the tool that defines the quality of work - it's the craftsman. I enjoy my mill and fixture table, but it wasn't all that long ago that I was doing my layouts with masking tape on a concrete floor, notching tube with cutoff wheels, and welding everything together with an old AC stick welder. Primitive tooling coupled with creative methods can yield excellent results.

All work surfaces have their place. I'm sure I could find a use for that Northern table in addition to my 4x4 BuilPro.

 

[sanddan]

Well I ended up scoring a Glacern 3" face mill on ebay. I'll post a picture when it gets here.

 

[sanddan]

Fast shipping from ebay, I got my Glacern 3" face mill today and gave it a test drive. It came with one set of inserts installed, no idea what kind as there weren't any markings. I made a light pass on some steel (.010"), no noise or drama during the cut. I next tried a .030" cut and you could tell the inserts were dull by the finish. I rotated all of the inserts to get a fresh cutting edge and retried a .030" cut. Very smooth and the finish was very nice. I think it's a great buy for $113 shipped to my door.

 

[Bray D]

Pics man, pics!

 

[sanddan]

Ok, here are the pics.




The plate on the left was machined with the new (to me) Glacern using fresh cutting edges on the inserts, taking a .030" cut. The plate on the right was machined with the face mill that came with my mill taking a .010" cut. A little hard to tell in the pic but the left has a very smooth surface whereas with the right one you can feel the grooves with your finger nail. I have inserts on the way for steel and aluminum that I will try out when they get here, this test cut was on HRS using mystery inserts that came with the facemill.

 

[Bray D]

Nice! Finish looks pretty good. I plan to do some facing tomorrow. I may throw up a few pics of the finish I'm getting with my 3" 5 insert Shars.

 

[Bray D]

As promised, here are a few pics from yesterday. I had planned to make some soft jaws for a project I'm working on, but only had time to start cleaning up the stock. I'm getting a mirror finish, but I can still feel the machine marks. It's sufficient for now, but I may play with different inserts in the future. These were just some cheapo's to get me started.

 

[tmarks11]

Tmarks here's the Northern Tool welding table vs the Buildpro just in case you wanted to compare them side by side. (Coolidge takes off running and ducking)

No, my Northern Tool table isn't even "that nice". They don't sell this model anymore. And it is even less functional than its picture would make you think.


I pulled this thread up again because Coolidge keep taunting me with his table.

Miller has a special right now, buy a Welder, get $200 rebate. Buy $400 in accessories, get another $200 rebate. Which makes the Miller table (which Coolidge hates) a cheap add-on ($572-$200=$372). And this deal includes their cheap spool gun when you buy a Millermatic 211, so it is a good time to buy, since I have been waiting for awhile on that MIG. I don't really need anything else right now in accessories to maximize that rebate.

I wanted to take another look at what Build Pro table Coolidge has, and what the difference in prices were, and see if I would hate myself for not spending another $730 to get the Build Pro table instead of the Miller table.

 

[coolidge]

Which makes the Miller table (which Coolidge hates) a cheap add-on ($572-$200=$372).

Dude if you spend even $49 on that warped-o-matic Miller table I will be forced to mock you. Seriously I was in my LWS store just hours ago picking up a bottle for Argon for my new TIG welder and I again mocked the counter guy for having that lame ass Miller welding table on display. The Buildpro may be out of your price range okay, but I think you will kick yourself for wasting even $372 on the Miller table.

As for the Millermatic here's some news. The LWS counter guy was asking about my Lincoln PowerMIG 210MP and he says this Lincoln is putting a serious beating on the Millermatic. He said the Lincoln is outselling the Millermatic 10 to 1 (they sell both Miller and Lincoln) and that Miller is so discombobulated they are considering making a cheaper version of the Millermatic to compete.

 

[tmarks11]

But then I would have to buy a rattle can of blue paint...

Thing is that I don't need a multiprocess welder, since I have a Dynasty 200DX TIG. And if I did get a multiprocess, I would want one with AC TIG capability (which the 210MP doesn't have). I think I am going to keep the dynasty for TIG.

Lincoln 210MP is their answer to Miller's Multimatic 200... unfortunately for Miller, it is essentially the same beast for $700 less.

I will have to go take a look at the 210MP... I just naturally turn to Miller when I think welding, even though one of the guys at word was talking about the 210MP, I hadn't really even thought about it. Sure is a pretty looking little machine.

Dude if you spend even $49 on that warped-o-matic Miller table I will be forced to mock you.

Did you look at the fixed table (with a 3/8" plate) or their portable version (which has a 3/16" plate)? I am going to have to trek down to Central Welding Supply and take a look.