First mill purchase.

[fordkid88]

Im going to purchase my first mill in the near future. Ive been looking at an R45 variant. Mainly the Precision Matthews 932m-Basic or the Grizzly G0761.

I realize im comparing oranges to grapefruit here, real similar but different. The price on the fully equipped PM is several hundred more than the grizzly.

PM is also out of the model Im looking at while grizzly is in stock, and you know what its like being a tool junkie, you want your tool in your hand as soon as possible, sometimes as soon as you wake up.

If you guys with rf45s could chime in, give tips, or offer better setups that would be great.

 

[BukitCase]

I have the G0755, no tapping but comes with the stand and motorized head stock - I don't use power tapping but REALLY like just flipping a switch instead of cranking - I think that if you do a LOT of power tapping it might be worth it, actual aftermarket tapping heads are about $1000... Steve

 

[fordkid88]

I plan on doing a lot of work with steel and I plan on doing a lot of hole boring vs drilling. I have an idea in my noodle that might allow use of different style bender dies in a single bender. I suppose tapping will come into play somewhere in the future, sure would beat tapping by hand.

 

[larry_g]

One thing that I have learned over the years is that mass makes a more stable machine. The basic PM machine is 100+ pounds heavier than the Griz.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[fordkid88]

One thing that I have learned over the years is that mass makes a more stable machine. The basic PM machine is 100+ pounds heavier than the Griz.

lg
no neat sig line

Thats was my intial attraction to the PM along with a 3 year warranty. I can add a power cross feed unit to the table. But the power feed on the head will not be so easy. From my understanding you want to bore with the head and not the quill. How much of a pain in the *** would that be with a manual feed?

 

[larry_g]

Thats was my intial attraction to the PM along with a 3 year warranty. I can add a power cross feed unit to the table. But the power feed on the head will not be so easy. From my understanding you want to bore with the head and not the quill. How much of a pain in the *** would that be with a manual feed?

I've not owned one of those square column machines so I may be wrong but I've always seen boring done with the quill feed. Hopefully a qualified owner will come in with the answer. Can you provide a link to where you learned of boring with the head?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[fordkid88]

I've not owned one of those square column machines so I may be wrong but I've always seen boring done with the quill feed. Hopefully a qualified owner will come in with the answer. Can you provide a link to where you learned of boring with the head?

lg
no neat sig line

It was a reply to an old thread on practicalmachinist. I really have no idea as this will be my first time with a milling machine. Im going to pick up some books here soon. This old tony has covered everything yet.

 

[manwithtools]

I've never bored with the head on a machine with a quill. The quill generally has a much finer feed than the head does so it makes the most sense to use it. On a CNC machine, the head is what does the boring as they won't have a quill, just the Z-axis.

 

[fordkid88]

Tonight im going to send PM an email with some more questions i have.

What about tooling. What should i be looking for to initially get started.