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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need. |
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#1
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Milling machine... your thoughts on this machine?...
Can any of the experienced milling machine users please give your thoughts and opinions on this paticular unit. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=220441554096 I planned to invest in a smaller milling machine in the near future to handle light machining tasks and stumbled upon this machine by accident. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Connor |
#2
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Should do ok with small cutters.Aluminum would cut the best.For steel and other hard metals you would have to go with very light passes.To be honest a bigger mill would be better but if thats what you can afford its better than nothing.Also, if your just looking to slot guards its ok.
__________________ N'T McAhron Sqwaukin Vulture Verrinder "to create is to make art" TREMBLING EARTH KNIFE WORKS |
#3
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I agree, it may work alright for soft materials but it will be slow to work on anything that is hard.
Milling machines need strength and rigidity in order to cut well and smooth and this one does not show that. Also mils without a knee are much slower to use and position. As with any machine tool, buy the best you can if you are serious about machining. Something like this may fit your needs, I do not know what they are. |
#4
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I have a little Taig mill and like it alot. Yeah it small, but I'm not a production shop so the extra time it takes to mill something doesn't bother me.
My shop is in the basement and size was a large consideration along with weight. Finding some tooling is hard, but not impossible. I have a small 3 inch vise, 3 inch set of parralells, small set of 1-2-3 blocks. There all out there you just need to search a little. BB |
#5
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Most of a knife maker's most common task can be accomplished easily and well with a mill that weighs 150 to 700 pounds. Even 700 pounds is not heavy for a good mill and as stated above rigidity is what counts and that usually comes with weight.
Aside from that, look for a mill that accepts R8 tooling. That is the most complete line of tooling available for a mill and the cheapest. As Beebee said, you can find tooling for other styles but it won't be as easy or as cheap ... |
#6
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This is not a Leeson mill. It is a home built machine with a Leeson motor and controller. It uses a light duty cross slide that is made for locating holes on a drill press and not for making side loaded cuts as on a mill. The very small diameter screws on it that have no protection won't last very long. The base looks like it was a drill press base with the column sawn off. The head stock is made from rectangular channel and will not be as rigid as a cast steel mill head. There are no pictures showing the spindle other than the top with the V belt pulley, so there is no way of telling if it has a drill press spindle or a mill spindle. Mill spindles are made to take a side load as well as a down load and maintain accuracy, but a drill press spindle is only made for pushing a drill down. You don't even know what is on the business end of the spindle and what kind of tooling it will take. The sell lists it as a CNC machine, which it is not. The seller has a handle that is con$ignonline, which means he takes items and sells them for others for a fee. Take a look at his other items. He knows nothing about machine tools. Not the best feedback either. I would run the other way. This is not a good tool!
David __________________ Broadwell Studios LLC Fine Art Knives & Writing Instruments http://www.david.broadwell.com |
#7
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That's worthless.
No better than a cheap little drill press with a cheap cross sliding vise. Connor, save your money for a small knee mill. |
#8
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Sorry, David. We were posting at the same time.
Got the message across, though. |
#9
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I posted general comments before without looking at the pictures. After reading the other comments I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about.
This is a little more machine that I originally thought but I agree that it isn't a Leeson Speedmaster Mill. The Leeson Speedmaster SM2 Flux Vector is, in fact, the name of a VFD controller! This weird little mill actually has a sophisticated high dollar variable speed A/C controller on it! The VFD control panel is probably the reason the seller thinks it is a CNC machine - it looks like one but it isn't. The machine is listed as new and it looks new so I think that works against the idea that it is home built. The general design is that of a light mill in the 150 pound range similar to the Harbor Freight and Grizzly models but I've never seen one that size offered with VFD before. Note also that there is a reserve on this item which generally means they want much more for it that most people would guess it was worth. A mill this size can do most of the light tasks a knife maker needs to do but we don't need a VFD controller on a mill. That probably doubles what we should pay for a mill that size.... |
#10
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#11
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One of the mini-mills from harbor freight is a good buy, but not this one. I have a mini-mill which tends to do fine for me. Lots of versatility. I really don't have room for a big mill in my shop currently.
Curtis Wilson __________________ Curtis Wilson Wilson's Custom Knives, Engraving, and Scrimshaw |
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