What milling Machine

#1 isn't beefy enough and #2 is in the ball park for light milling but the gearbox probably has plastic gears in it that strip. I went with a 600# belt drive mill/drill for the same money. I know the setbacks (repeatability) of a round collum machine but I know I'll never be machining custom motor parts and such. It makes a hell of a drill press and can mill anything I work with. The mill is only half the story....wait till you get into tooling !

Rudy
 
That's a huge question.

What do you want it for?
Slotting a 1-4" guard in brass is a huge difference between larger cutting tools in steel.

How much space do you have?

How much do you want to spend?
As already mentioned, the machine is only a fraction. You still have to hook it up and put tools in it.


If you start looking on the Grizzly site, there are more choices than buying on amazon
http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=480

Look for Spindle Taper: R8 tooling they hold the tooling better and , in case you change machines, you can take the tooling with you.

The problem with round column mill-drills
If you want to drill a hole, starting with a center spotting drill, going to longer drills and then a reamer, or possibly a tapping head
the length of the tool bit has to be within the spindle travel. If you move the head, you unbolt it and lose your center location.
It's possible to cut tools shorter if you want

If you find something with a knee, or sliding head where the table move up and down too, you don't have that



I expect to get those features you will spend at least $1000

Search the machining forums, home shop machinist, and others this has been answered hundreds of times by really smart experienced machinists.
If you have the room, you may often find big old full sized USA machines for a few thousand.. a real find.
like this
http://greenville.craigslist.org/tls/2039121825.html
 
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I started with a lathe mill combo from harbor freight, and although I was able to cut slots even in 3/8 stainless it took a lot of time and practice. Now I have an old large gear head bench top that is pretty used up but, it is ten times better than that little one. The weight of the machine has an effect on how much they do or don't chatter. All that said, I still have my eye out for a Bridgeport.
 
I know it's a bigger pill to swallow but I have to highly recommend going with something a little heavier. Otherwise you'll always wish you did and if you upgrade later you won't get hardly anything for those little machines.

If you can't swing a real knee mill then I would recommend going with one like this mill drill. I have a Jet made like it and it's always been a very accurate machine and solid enough to do anything for knifemaking. They use the same tooling as the larger Bridgeport type machines. I believe the Rong Fu is still made in Taiwan which from my experience are three times the machines of the ones made in China. Stay away from Grizzly on metal working machines, they need to stick with selling woodworking stuff because things need to be made a little more solid and true for precision metal working.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=105-1110&PMPXNO=953999&PARTPG=INLMK32

Edit, also if you are patient, they run these machines for free shipping from time to time so just watch and be patient.
 
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