milling machine

[almostclueless]

Hello, My first post--need advice. I'm about to buy a benchtop mill--now I know that there are many who consider all benchtops junk. But because of a spinal cord injury, I do everything in my shop from a wheelchair. So, it's a benchtop or nothing. I've been looking at a Baileigh mill/drill VMD-40G. 29x8 table, 1.5 hp. coolant system $2,600. I cannot find any reviews--does anyone know anything about this mill? I know Baileigh is a maker of some serious metalworking machinery and even though this mill is Taiwan made I hope that the Baileigh name will lend some degree of quality over similar brands of the same price. Any advice?

 

[LXCam]

Bud there is nothing wrong with a majority of the bench top units when you take into consideration the price. I don't know that unit but if this is not, would highly suggest you get a dovetail back. The reason is in the event you need to raise or lower the head, it will pretty much maintain your mark. As for working from a chair you'll just need a custom table to get it to a height that allows you to reach everything.

The other thing to consider is the unit is cheap, it's all the other **** you need is where it gets expensive. Good luck and welcome to the forum, having a mill and learning to use it is very rewarding.

Edit: just looked at the unit, man that thing is pretty sweet and it is a dovetail column so that rocks!. You will absolutely need a custom base though. It will be too difficult for you to operate at that height and will also put your face right inline with your cut.

 

[TheOtherChris]

Looks like a Rong Fu 45 clone. As it is made in Taiwan instead of mainland China it is probably decent quality.


I have had the mainland copy for several years and am still very happy with it.

Grizzly still offers one that has motorized Z travel
http://grizzley.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Mill-Drill-with-Stand-and-Power-Feed/G0755
I can't imagine what a pain it would be to hand crank it up and down while seated in a wheel chair.

 

[theoldwizard1]

What type of material will you be milling ? If it is mostly aluminum and plastic, that mill is overkill.

The Little Machine Shop mini-mill is a nice small mill for a fraction of the cost. You can add power X, Y and Z as well as DROs. It will cut steel, SLOWLY !

Also, you will have to spend probably another $1,000 or more for the basics: a vice, some clamps, parallels, drills, some cutters. You will need carbide bits and a dedicate grinder for them.


Check out this web site. The Hobby-Machinist.com - The Friendly Machinist Forum®

 

[2oolhound]

I'm no expert but came close to buying a similar mill last sumer (didn't get the cash together on time).my research at the time indicated the next step up from this type was the bench top knee mill which eliminated the issue of changing tooling midway into a project without moving the position of the head as lowering the table made that possible. It sounded like a worthwhile feature to have in a tool that is unlikely you would want to upgrade too often.

 

[gte718p]

I have a RF 31, round column mill. I picked it up this year at the black Friday sale from enco. It is not going to hold the tolerances of a $250k HAAS, but it has done everything I've ask of it so far. You can't go crazy with it like you can on a 6000 lb bridgeport but it will cut some steel. I'm into mine about $2k with the digital read out and the CNC conversion (not quite complete)

If it is your first time delving into matching even the HF little bench top mill is fairly good. With some tweaks it can be a great little mill and the price is definitely right.

I just finished writing something similar to this on Pirate. Don't by from Grizzley it is the same mill as enco or eBay painted green and you pay a premium for it. Bailiegh is good if you are in business. They have good customer service and if you have a problem they will take care of it quickly. Time is money for a business. Your paying for that. You can get a similar product cheaper elsewhere.

What ever you get, make sure it is R8 tooling. There are other perfectly good systems but R8 is by far the cheapest and most readily available. Get good measuring tools, and decent machine tools and a bench top mill will not limit you.

 

[DonPowers]

Climax makes some small mills. Here is one that we bought for a project to mill the base of a 17,200 gpm pump, in place.

View media item 47771
View media item 47770
View media item 47772

 

[Tim338]

I had and used a round column bench top for years. Some pretty good work can be done on them and I used it for gunsmithing duties and various other projects. I sold it last summer when I purchased my Clausing 8520. It is frustrating to have to move the column up or down and losing your set up and having to re tram everything. That's why I sold it and got the knee mill. Keep your cutter sizes to 1/2" and take light cuts and you should be fine. Look for a used one as they don't have much of a resale value.

 

[tdkkart]

What type of material will you be milling ? If it is mostly aluminum and plastic, that mill is overkill.

The Little Machine Shop mini-mill is a nice small mill for a fraction of the cost. You can add power X, Y and Z as well as DROs. It will cut steel, SLOWLY !

Also, you will have to spend probably another $1,000 or more for the basics: a vice, some clamps, parallels, drills, some cutters. You will need carbide bits and a dedicate grinder for them.

Check out this web site. The Hobby-Machinist.com - The Friendly Machinist Forum®

These little mills are fine, as are the Sherline stuff, as long as you never want to work on something bigger than a pack of cigarettes.

Rule#1: You can do small work on big machines, but you can't do big work on small machines. Buy the biggest machine you can afford and have space for.
On a milling machine, once you add tooling, vice, rotary table, drill chuck and your part you can run out of work envelope very quickly. Moving a part mid-process is a pain in the ****.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Rule#1: You can do small work on big machines, but you can't do big work on small machines. Buy the biggest machine you can afford and have space for.

I can NOT disagree with what you said !

So what is the SMALLEST knee mill with a 240V motor that someone could find on CL for a reasonable price ?

 

[404]

DonPowers, you are the MAN! That is amazing. Was the job mostly boredom interspersed with moments of terror?

Can you tell us more about what is going on there?

 

[404]

almostclueless, I am sorry to hear of your injury. I wish you the best.

Don't know your budget but these machines get good reviews and it look like it may mount to a benchtop.

http://www.tormach.com/product_pcnc_770.html

Advantage here is with CNC you can do more brain work and less moving of cranks.

 

[454ragtop]

I can NOT disagree with what you said !

So what is the SMALLEST knee mill with a 240V motor that someone could find on CL for a reasonable price ?

Might look into a Clausing, pretty compact.
Jim

 

[zmotorsports]

Not all benchtop mill/drills are created equal. I almost bought one about a year ago before purchasing my 2/3 size Bridgeport clone knee mill. I was pretty impressed with some of their capabilities.

If I can make a suggestion, take a look at Precision Mathews equipment. I have been very pleased with dealing with the owner, Matt. He was very personable and professional during the investigative, purchasing and even after the sale phases.

He sells a PM932PDF that is a clone of the RF45 that is so popular. He orders them from many of the same factories in China that other dealers buy from but spec's them out to his specifications with higher quality bearings and such.

Here is a link to one of his more popular machines.
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-932M.html

I would stay away from Baileigh just due to the many, many complaints I have heard from buyers of their products. They appear to do a lot of advertising and hype on many forums, however, I have talked to several people who have purchased their products and have been very unhappy with the overall quality as well as the customer service when trying to get issues resolved. I was looking at one of their miter horizontal bandsaws a while back and changed my mine on Baileigh after multiple people replying out their poor quality and service.

Mike.

 

[DonPowers]

DonPowers, you are the MAN! That is amazing. Was the job mostly boredom interspersed with moments of terror?

Can you tell us more about what is going on there?

The pump, driven by a 10,000 hp steam turbine, had some alignment issues and the plant wanted to improve its performance. My job was to figure out how to safely do it inside a three week outage window and on budget. We bought the mill and an Enerpac 4 point lifting rig for the project. The threaded rod was used as an additional safety barrier.

The plant had a spare pump, which we used as a template for building the lifting cradles and for the crews to practice lifting the pump.

We cut an 18" segment out of the 20" suction and discharge pipes, lifted the pump, milled 3/8" from the bases, lowered the pump and re-welded the suction & discharge pipes. The discharge pipe is sch 100 and and was machine welded. Took 16 hours for each of the two welds.

We also did other work on the pump foundation within the outage window and overhauled the pump, which included installation of a new impeller.

 

[dr_clyde]

I wouldn't buy a Baliegh anything. I have some of their higher end equipment and have been very disappointed in quality. Soured me toward the brand. I would look at a Grizzly instead.

 

[404]

DonPowers,

What in the name of the Gord does this thing pump or do?

1.280 wall for sch 100 20 inch!

Are you in an electrical generating plant?

 

[ishiboo]

I have a RF 31, round column mill. I picked it up this year at the black Friday sale from enco. It is not going to hold the tolerances of a $250k HAAS, but it has done everything I've ask of it so far. You can't go crazy with it like you can on a 6000 lb bridgeport but it will cut some steel. I'm into mine about $2k with the digital read out and the CNC conversion (not quite complete)

If it is your first time delving into matching even the HF little bench top mill is fairly good. With some tweaks it can be a great little mill and the price is definitely right.

I just finished writing something similar to this on Pirate. Don't by from Grizzley it is the same mill as enco or eBay painted green and you pay a premium for it. Bailiegh is good if you are in business. They have good customer service and if you have a problem they will take care of it quickly. Time is money for a business. Your paying for that. You can get a similar product cheaper elsewhere.

What ever you get, make sure it is R8 tooling. There are other perfectly good systems but R8 is by far the cheapest and most readily available. Get good measuring tools, and decent machine tools and a bench top mill will not limit you.

I have a RF31 as well with DRO I just picked up recently (2HP Taiwan model)... I think the Baleigh posted would be better for the OP. Being in a wheelchair, it will be a pain in the *** to get to the column lock bolts on the back you have to use every time you raise/lower the head.

The dovetail setup in the OP's post is the way to go for him, besides the fact that the round column is a pain in the ***.

 

[DonPowers]

DonPowers,

What in the name of the Gord does this thing pump or do?

1.280 wall for sch 100 20 inch!

Are you in an electrical generating plant?

Yup it was at a 1,200 MW Plant. There are two pumps, we did the other one during the next outage.

 

[cruzer75]

you will always here bigger is better...and yes it can be but what do You want the mill for? Are you after doing something in particular ? Or just to have and learn on?

 

[NOZZLEMAN]

Stay away from Baleigh... absolute trash and their customer service is ****. I have a couple of their items and will NEVER touch them again.

 

[theoldwizard1]

After clamping and tooling (for which you will $,$$$) the next thing you will want is an X,Y, and Z DRO.

 

[Slackerzinc]

I have a 9x42 Bridgeport j head hooked to 240 volt(with the help of a $200 VFD)! You can pick up a full sized Bridgeport or clone very reasonably priced

I can NOT disagree with what you said !

So what is the SMALLEST knee mill with a 240V motor that someone could find on CL for a reasonable price ?

 

[larry_g]

Stay away from Baleigh... absolute trash and their customer service is ****. I have a couple of their items and will NEVER touch them again.

So nozzle man you cruising the whole internet dragging up old threads to bash Baleigh? Or just this forum?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[pepi]

I can speak for the Precision Mathews product. I have one, was my early garage Christmas present this year. It is classed as a bench top mill, but has big boy capabilities, DRO standard, 110 power, gear drive, no plastic gears or belts. After two projects I added power feed to the X axis, I would tell anyone if asked to add that or plan on it as a first future upgrade. This mill will run a 1 inch end mill with ease. I have not found anything to dislike. When changing speeds, because of the gear drive, you must make sure the drive is locked into place. The operators manual spells that out.

Here are two shots of the mill for reference, model PM-757M

Just for grins some tooling.... America made end mills

Truing a block of 1in steel

 

[gte718p]

I can speak for the Precision Mathews product. I have one, was my early garage Christmas present this year. It is classed as a bench top mill, but has big boy capabilities, DRO standard, 110 power, gear drive, no plastic gears or belts. After two projects I added power feed to the X axis, I would tell anyone if asked to add that or plan on it as a first future upgrade. This mill will run a 1 inch end mill with ease. I have not found anything to dislike. When changing speeds, because of the gear drive, you must make sure the drive is locked into place. The operators manual spells that out.

Here are two shots of the mill for reference, model PM-757M

Those are really nice machines. Unfortunately they cost as much or more then a good Bridgeport. If you are space limited you can't beat one. If you want to spend even more on it, you can upgrade to a VFD for the head and get infinite speed control without having to deal with gears.