Welder looking to buy a mill/drill for home use

[Charles scozzari]

Thank you for this reply. I'm open to finding a knee type mill but Im having trouble finding one thats in my price range and that doesnt have a questionable past.

There are small knee mills out there and believe it or not Harbor Fright has a nice knee mill that needs tweaking to bring it up speed but may be an option. Its a 9 speed Central Machinery for $2600.00. that may work

 

[matthewsx]

There are small knee mills out there and believe it or not Harbor Fright has a nice knee mill that needs tweaking to bring it up speed but may be an option. Its a 9 speed Central Machinery for $2600.00. that may work

Listed as currently unavailable.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Listed as currently unavailable.

I have seen them on e-bay, but not often.

 

[Teglove2]

Currently in discussions with a large machine repair company out of Michigan to purchase a Sharp LMV-42 knee mill. It's a 2002 model with DRO and power X axis. Asking price is $4950. Thoughts? Yes, its 3 phase I will need a converter, and I have no idea which one to buy lol.

 

[Teglove2]

Well everyone, I ended up purchasing the Sharp LMV42 knee mill!!! It is a 3 phase so now I'm shopping for a phase converter. There are so many on the market I have 0 idea which one i should buy, and no I'm not able to spend $1k+. The machine repair company purchased the Sharp tool to tighten up the X and Y axis which had some measurable slop. The X was out .030, they were able to get it within .001".

 

[jwmelvin]

Take a look at Automation Direct GS10 or GS20. Relatively inexpensive but with a good company behind them. I’ve used GS20 a number of times.

 

[dabear3428]

Well everyone, I ended up purchasing the Sharp LMV42 knee mill!!! It is a 3 phase so now I'm shopping for a phase converter. There are so many on the market I have 0 idea which one i should buy, and no I'm not able to spend $1k+. The machine repair company purchased the Sharp tool to tighten up the X and Y axis which had some measurable slop. The X was out .030, they were able to get it within .001".

VFD would be my choice, cheaper and a lot of features that RFC does not provide.

 

[ttabbal]

VFD would be my choice, cheaper and a lot of features that RFC does not provide.

I'm even using an el-cheapo import VFD and it works great. Just make sure it has the capacity needed for the motor.

 

[matthewsx]

Well everyone, I ended up purchasing the Sharp LMV42 knee mill!!! It is a 3 phase so now I'm shopping for a phase converter. There are so many on the market I have 0 idea which one i should buy, and no I'm not able to spend $1k+. The machine repair company purchased the Sharp tool to tighten up the X and Y axis which had some measurable slop. The X was out .030, they were able to get it within .001".

Knew you’d get there eventually

VFD should be wired directly to the motor. You could also get a static converter from North American, they can be converted to rotary later with a 3 phase motor.

If you can get your hands on a suitable sized used motor you can also build your own rotary converter pretty cheap.

John

 

[Teglove2]

VFD? You guys are speaking pig latin lol. I have a lot of learning to do....