Anyone ever used a Micro-lux R8 Mill?

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
I found one local for $500. Here is a link to the original listing on the product website. Would it work well for knife stuff?
www.micromark.com

MicroLux® High Precision Heavy Duty R8 Miniature Milling Machine

Details MicroLux® High-Precision Heavy-Duty R8 Miniature Milling Machine. Powerful brushless 500W motor with more torque Only “True Inch” machine on the market, .50 inch-per-turn table feed screws Tilting column and belt-driven spindle Many accessories are available to provide enhanced features...
www.micromark.com www.micromark.com
 
Yes Chris, that will work nicely for guard work and many other things. It will do the same things a much larger mill will do (as long as the piece fits table), but will be so much slower. i.e., with that machine you'll be taking .005" cuts vs .100" cuts with a knee mill. For guards that will work just about as good, and there are many other uses you'll find. It will make a GREAT precision drill press also. Heck, for $500 you can't go wrong!

Now I have given good words for that mill, allow me to raise a question. How do you move the head up 'n down on the column? Looks like you might just loosen a tab and move head up 'n down my hand. I see the handle for moving the spindle that has 7" of travel which is good for the drill press function. For milling you'll want to have the spindle with very little extended for better rigidity.
 
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KenH said:
Yes Chris, that will work nicely for guard work and many other things. It will do the same things a much larger mill will do (as long as the piece fits table), but will be so much slower. i.e., with that machine you'll be taking .005" cuts vs .100" cuts with a knee mill. For guards that will work just about as good, and there are many other uses you'll find. It will make a GREAT precision drill press also. Heck, for $500 you can't go wrong!

Now I have given good words for that mill, allow me to raise a question. How do you move the head up 'n down on the column? Looks like you might just loosen a tab and move head up 'n down my hand. I see the handle for moving the spindle that has 7" of travel which is good for the drill press function. For milling you'll want to have the spindle with very little extended for better rigidity.
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Ken I am not sure, I know very little about using a mill. My intention is to use it for milling guards, placing nail nicks maybe doing some fullers and such. I was hoping to get it for maybe $400. I will try to find out how it moves.
 
Fullers are a different animal - I don't think it would be large enough for those..... well, actually don't see why a super thin cut might work on even a fuller. At $400 I'd get it for sure. I suspect it would get a bit of use even if a knee mill was sitting next to it.
 
Well I know almost nothing about almost everything but I have an old 'little' ENCO mill drill with a regular old 1 HP motor that I find more than enough. Wish the mill bits were a lot tighter though. So the only issue I would question with the R8 mill is the power. Is it enough? I don't really understand DC motors.

My daughter called me about a treadmill she was buying and going over the specs, I think it spec'd at 5 HP, and I was telling her she would have to get an electrician in to add a circuit. Turns out it runs on regular old 120 VAC they were just doing it with a DC motor. I don't understand or trust the numbers.


YMMV
 
That looks very similar to the HF and Grizzly. Other than a different color? For 400 bucks depending on condition and tooling sounds like a good deal?
 
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