need a mill

[Davew18]

hey everyone, first post long time lurker great community going on here!

i need a mill, i have scraped by at the mercy of others for long enough, i need a modest bench mill, primary use would be a very very occasional 80%

it will not be used very much at all, and am willing to upgrade later on in life.

looking threw threads with intent of finding a good starter mill i came across,

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1103537

which i then found,

http://www.sears.com/proxxon-mf-70-micro-mill/p-SPM7232908809?hlSellerId=7483&sid=IDx20110310x00001i&kpid=SPM7369148103&kispla=SPM7369148103&kpid=SPM7369148103

it has no reviews and i have not found anyone talking about it which is scary, but that is a lot more doable then the additional 200$ for the grizzly.

finances suck obviously, i have been waiting for a good harbor frieght sale or a decent used one on craigslist/ebay but after a couple months i am pretty sick of waiting and can not find one yet.

wish i had a brother in sonoma county that had a mill but the only people i know into this are in the same boat as me.

any thoughts or comments would be great. thanks for taking a minute! -Dave

[toddh]

hey everyone, first post long time lurker great community going on here!

i need a mill, i have scraped by at the mercy of others for long enough, i need a modest bench mill, primary use would be a very very occasional 80%

it will not be used very much at all, and am willing to upgrade later on in life.

looking threw threads with intent of finding a good starter mill i came across,

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1103537

which i then found,

http://www.sears.com/proxxon-mf-70-micro-mill/p-SPM7232908809?hlSellerId=7483&sid=IDx20110310x00001i&kpid=SPM7369148103&kispla=SPM7369148103&kpid=SPM7369148103

it has no reviews and i have not found anyone talking about it which is scary, but that is a lot more doable then the additional 200$ for the grizzly.

finances suck obviously, i have been waiting for a good harbor frieght sale or a decent used one on craigslist/ebay but after a couple months i am pretty sick of waiting and can not find one yet.

wish i had a brother in sonoma county that had a mill but the only people i know into this are in the same boat as me.

any thoughts or comments would be great. thanks for taking a minute! -Dave

Did you look at the spindle speeds ?? 5K to 20K rpm.

These are the details you need to know when shopping for a machine.

.

[1Fastrider]

Not sure if 80%s are the only reason you need a mill but if so, just get a router, drill and an 80% arms jig. That setup has worked for me plenty of times.

[kalibeltfeeder]

Not sure if 80%s are the only reason you need a mill but if so, just get a router, drill and an 80% arms jig. That setup has worked for me plenty of times.

+1^^
Speed: 5,000 - 20,000rpm
* Table Size: 7 7/8" x 2 3/4" (200 x 70mm)
* X-Y Travel: 5 17/64" and 1 13/16" (134 and 46mm)
* Vertical Travel: 2 3/4" (70mm)
* Footprint Size: 5 7/64" x 8 55/64" (130 x 225mm)
* Height: 13 25/64" (340mm)
* Max. Power: 1/8hp (100W)
* Volts: 110 - 120V AC, 60Hz
* Weight: 15.5 lb (7kg)
To me it just doesnt seem big enough or have enough travel in its ways. I would spend a few more hundred and buy something thats going to be more versatile.Just my two cents...

By the way welcome aboard. Youll have a lot of fun building these things!

[shafferds]

Harbor freight or even a grizzly mill be better than that. Also you'll send more in vise, tooling, end mill bits than the mill.

[Suture1]

Little Machine Shop mini mill. I have one and it works really well!!

http://littlemachineshop.com/4962

[CSACANNONEER]

The Sears one would be cool for making watch parts. It's is too small for what you want it for. I don't even know if you could get the right sized endmills to mil FCG pockets on AR15s.

[Victor Cachat]

But it is just sooooo cute!

Too small, though.

My HF Mini-mill is not really massive enough for good, smooth work; even with added bracing.
But it works well enough.

[xfer42]

You are better off with the X2 (HF mini, LMS mini, Grizzly G8689) mill than that Proxon. The Harbor Freight mini mill (X2) is about the same price. Remember. they always have 20% coupons floating around.

[liber]

The Sears one would be cool for making watch parts. It's is too small for what you want it for. I don't even know if you could get the right sized endmills to mil FCG pockets on AR15s.

Or if you could even fixture the lower on there properly and get enough clearance to operate the vertical. The reason the spindle speed is so fast is that it uses very small end mills, and they need to spin fast. Pretty doubtful it could spin a 3/8" end mill which most lowers suggest, and as you mention.

[grymster]

Yeah, if you could find a 3/8 endmill with a 1/8 shank (seems that's the max collet size for the Proxon) then that 1/8hp spindle motor might be able to machine a .005" deep slot..... in room temperature butter.

Not really sure what hobby someone would use that machine for.

[Whiterabbit]

features I strongly suggest you take:

R8 head
speeds adjustable to below 250 rpm
non round z-axis
SAE lead screws

There may be more, but those IMO are must haves. If the head is larger than R8 tha's great. But I would consider R8 the minimum. Not for 80%'s, but for general ease of access to find tooling, general probability for drive strength and machine rigidity. Mills and lathes are the kinds of tools that, once set up, seem to find uses for themselves.



There is always something you need, and it's usually needed in stainless, not brass or aluminum. For the record, my chinese mill is an X3 (SIEG). for my needs, it is very nice.