Which Knee Mill, 3/4 Size?

[woodchucker]

Clausing 8520, 8530 are under that height. And you could always cut the cabinet down and re-weld feet if you need even more room.

 

[john.oliver35]

FYI - I just measured my rockwell and it is 77" from the bottom of the base to the top of the single-phase motor.

Leveling feet, and being able to turn the head probably requires another 3 to 4 inches

 

[Ischgl99]

unless i was to find a horizontal mill that has the milling head with it that will fit in the garage, it is looking like a Millrite is the path i will be following. I did find one that i was interested in, but it looks like it may have already been sold due to the fact that after several attempts to contact the seller, no response..

I don’t know enough about the horizontal mills to know how tall the milling head is, but having the horizontal capacity would be a big plus to me. There are times I wish I had a horizontal mill, and might get something like the Burke horizontal one of these days.

What is above your garage? If there is a room above, maybe make a housing like on an I/O boat that houses the engine so you can fit a larger mill If you are not single, you will be after doing that!

 

[IamNotImportant]

I don’t know enough about the horizontal mills to know how tall the milling head is, but having the horizontal capacity would be a big plus to me. There are times I wish I had a horizontal mill, and might get something like the Burke horizontal one of these days.

What is above your garage? If there is a room above, maybe make a housing like on an I/O boat that houses the engine so you can fit a larger mill If you are not single, you will be after doing that!

saw a Hardinge for 1500 bucks

 

[Ischgl99]

saw a Hardinge for 1500 bucks

My hobby fund is currently depleted, but if I saw one of those at that price, and it was in good condition, I would be asking my wife for forgiveness instead of permission

 

[davidpbest]

As mentioned by @matthewsx, the attached might be interesting/helpful. Personally, if you could find a used RF45-N2F (that’s the one with power downed) or a Deckel FP2 with an honest quill-type spindle, those would be my choices.

 

[IamNotImportant]

As mentioned by @matthewsx, the attached might be interesting/helpful. Personally, if you could find a used RF45-N2F (that’s the one with power downed) or a Deckel FP2 with an honest quill-type spindle, those would be my choices.

good read.. thanks for providing that sir!

 

[BrianT]

Index model 40? The one I have is currently taken apart to repaint, etc. otherwise I'd take some measurements. I'm 6'4 and I don't believe the top of the motor was much taller than I.

Sent from my Nokia 8 V 5G UW using Tapatalk

 

[frugalguido]

To add to the above, the deckel's have both vertical and horizontal spindles. Here is a picture of milling using the horizontal spindle on the Atlas 7B main body. The FP-1 as shown here, doesn't have separate quill on the horizontal, but the bigger models do. I will measure the height on the FP-1, but I can reach over the top of the machine and I'm only 5'8", so it's pretty short in height.

 

[BGHansen]

I have a Jet JVM-830 which is close to these Grizzly mills:

8" x 30" 1-1/2 HP Variable-Speed Vertical Mill - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>G0678 8" x 30" 1-1/2 HP Variable-Speed Vertical Mill</h1> <h2>Equip your shop with a vertical mill for precision machining.</h2> <p>The G0678 Vertical Mill is engineered for efficiency. From its user-friendly controls to its powerful motor, this machine helps you complete your projects...

www.grizzly.com

6" x 26" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill with Power Feed - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>G0729 6" x 26" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill with Power Feed</h1> <h2>A simple, solid, and extremely accurate mill.</h2> <p>The G0729 6" x 26" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill with Power Feed has 3-axis table movement and nine speeds designed for milling solid materials.</p> <p>This is a great mill for basic...

www.grizzly.com

8" x 30" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill with Power Feed - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>G0731 8" x 30" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill with Power Feed</h1><h2>Tackle complex milling tasks with this feature-packed vertical mill!</h2> <p>The G0731 8" x 30" 1-1/2 HP Vertical Mill is equipped with a longitudinal power feed and limit switch for controlled X-axis table movement.</p> <p>It...

www.grizzly.com

Another option is a round or square column mill like these:

8" x 29" 2 HP Mill/Drill with Stand and Power Feed - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>G0760 8" x 29" 2 HP Mill/Drill with Stand and Power Feed</h1> <h2>A heavy-duty combination machine ready for high production.</h2> <p>The G0760 8" x 29" 2 HP Mill/Drill has a 2 HP motor and enough table space to make quick work of just about any machining job you can throw at it.</p> <p>The...

www.grizzly.com

10" x 32" 2 HP HD Mill/Drill w/ Stand & Power Feed - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>G0755 10" x 32" 2 HP HD Mill/Drill w/ Stand & Power Feed</h1> <h2>Taking mill drills to the next level with impressive features.</h2> <p>The G0755 10" x 32" 2 HP HD Mill/Drill is a free-standing mill/drill that strikes a great balance between being heavy-duty and high-precision.</p> <p>The...

www.grizzly.com

I had a round-column mill like the G0760 before buying the Jet mill pictured below. I did decent work on the round column, but found it cumbersome to have to refind X/Y if the head was moved. It did force me to do a better job planning my projects.

The square column mill works much like the knee mill except instead of moving the table up/down to the spindle/head (knee mill), you move the spindle/head to the table. My preference order would be small knee mill (like a Clausing, Rockwell or my Jet) first, then a square column, then a round column. Probably not a big deal, but my Jet has an R-8 spindle so Bridgeport tooling drops right into it. I don't know if the Clausing and Rockwell use R-8 or maybe morse taper?

Precision Matthews offers a few square column mills. There are lots of posts here singing their praises!

Bruce


Jet JVM-830, stands about 6' tall, weighs ~900 lbs. without the vise and tooling.