What's under your (little) mill?

[graham-xrf]

This is about whatever stand it might be bolted on to. The type is like in the picture, similar to PM-25V or or G0704. Mine has MT3 spindle fitted with ER32 collets. It needs to go onto a suitable stand. So..


1. Is yours on a bench?
2. If so, might that bench made of wood?
3. Is the stand dedicated to it, or does it share bench space?
4. Do you favor a welded metal structure?
5. Are there sliding tool drawers incorporated?
6. Does it have levellers with deployable wheels?
7. Is it stood on a adapted, (possibly strengthened) tool chest?

Of course these mill drills can be stood on almost any bench, like for a regular bench drill press. So far, I have resisted doing that. My drill press is a stand-alone floor-standing type, so it does not take up any bench space. I am giving consideration to welding up something dedicated to the mill, maybe made of 75mm x 40mm, and 50mm x 50mm box section. I would also like to contrive some kind of acrylic plastic screen panels to stop the fly-cutter chips getting into my hair, down my shirt, and all over the shop!

HM members may already know the pros and cons of various setups, so I am hoping I might get to know which are the poorer choices to be avoided.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

I have the PM stand for my 727-m. As my floor isn't flat, I added adjustable feet. I can level now, but that Som'***** bounces like crazy when cranking the X and Y. Not when it's running, just when you manually cranking. I really want to weld up something solid with some drawers, so I's say go that route from the get go!

 

[rabler]

I have a knee mill so I can't compare. But if you're starting from scratch, I would want some amount of horizontal space around the mill to set stuff that you're using. Whether it is the spray bottle of coolant, or the calipers, or a matching part for fit up, etc.

 

[DavidR8]

Made this for my mill.

 

[C-Bag]

Mine came with the mill and if I was going to make one, it’s what I would make. I’m not a carpenter, I’m a metal worker and as such if I made it out of wood it wouldn’t be this stout. I couldn’t live with one of those stands there is no room for all the various tools need for every project. My table is the width of the mill table about the same deep. I have two mid stack boxes under the mill. The upper one dedicated to the mill.

 

[graham-xrf]

Just like @DavidR8 , you like having wheels. This I agree with. Being able to move heavy stuff around is well worth putting in at the beginning.
Dave is using "Shop Fox", which has two fixed wheels at the rear, with no jacks (so a relatively high pressure line load on the flooring), and two castor wheels at the front, with jacks, so therefore not needing brakes. I'd be interested in how (Dave) finds it when being used.
I see they can be had from Amazon. £145.00 in UK, (equivalent to $171.10)

I think this would be the view, minus Dave's stand on it.

I love the drawers Dave made up. I was considering a beefed up store-bought auto-shop style tool chest, with the ball-slide drawers, sitting in a frame.

Your stand also has wheels, mounted under levelers, and with brakes. You have exactly the same plan to have it carry tool chests that I had in mind. Did you make the leveling adapters yourself? Again, I'd be interested in how you find these to use in practice. I expect most of us would hardly ever want to move the mill about much, but we know there are times when we must.

 

[C-Bag]

I added the 4 castors( they were medical grade out of a hospital ) and because of the way they mount I added the homemade levelers to them. Because the whole thing weighs so much (mill alone is 700#s) I don’t need the wheel locks.

It doesn’t move as often as my other machines but to service the back of the mill or clean under it. I can just barely move it by myself because of the soft wheels. I just moved it last week because I added another pull out shelf underneath and there’s no way I could have gotten to it otherwise. I have one of the lowboy carts under the tablesaw my dad gave me and there’s no way it can carry my mill and table. The table is around 30”x30” all 1 1/2“ 1/8” wall square tube with 1/4” thick top.

 

[DavidR8]

@graham-xrf That's not quite the same base. Mine is the Shop Fox D2058A base which has a weight rating of 1300 lbs.

Shop Fox D2058A Adjustable Mobile Base, Large : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement

Shop Fox D2058A Adjustable Mobile Base, Large : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement

www.amazon.ca

It's rock solid in use. Moves just fine as well though it's hard to get it going; a 700 lb mill on a 50 lb stand with drawers full of tooling, the whole thing is probably north of 800 lbs.

The drawers are all on 100 lb capacity full extension slides. 1/2" Baltic Birch ply drawer boxes.

 

[great white]

I just ordered the matching base when I bought the mill:




I thought about buying or building something for it, but when bought as a package you get a discount on the stand. I couldn’t buy the raw steel to make it for what I paid.

I also made the decision that tather than messing around trying to figure something out, I just wanted it delivered and have a quick assembly so I could start throwing chips sooner rather than later.

Its nothing special, but it gets the job done with no fuss, no muss.

A roll around cabinet would have been great for storage, but I went a different way:



I like having the tools visible instead of having to remember where one is or dig through a cabinet to find what I need. Those hanging racks are 3d printed in ABS. I’m fortunate enough to have my own 3d printer capable of dealing with higher temp materials like ABS or PETG.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

A concrete floor.