When you consider acquiring a lath or a mill you first must decide what you have room for. Next, what do you foresee using it for. I have a Jet 920 lathe (about $1000), pretty complete, not much else needed to cut threads, metric or US. Weighs 220 pounds. It is on rollers in my shop. I use it to make parts to fix things. I have the 800 pound mill from ENCO. Lots of backlash in the table, excessive setup time every time the quill height is moved. However, with a little thought & patience it has done every thing I have asked of it. ENCO's stuff is a little better than Harbor's. Jet is a lot better than either of them, but not perfect. I have a pretty big workshop and this is the biggest equipment I would consider putting in it. All of the automation projects I have seen for this kind of equipment has been kludges. John Ferrell http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip Stortz" To: Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 9:01 AM Subject: [OT:] thoughts on low cost mills > just some more info, enco has acme threaded rod and nuts, > and they are on sale. (i have no idea how accurately these are made, but > they almost have to be better than all thread, and the threads should be > stronger and wear/bend less with use). < http://www.keystonethreaded.com/home.htm> > > enco also has some very nice drilling/milling tables that aren't too > expensive (enco seems to carry both the high end stuff and the low end > stuff). they have one in their flier that can move 11" across and 7.5" > front to back, with dials and the handles are bolted on, shouldn't be > too hard to add steppers. weight is 56 pounds and they say it can be > used for milling or drilling so it's probably decent. model cx201-2536 > > of course they also have calipers with rs-232 output, both long and > short though not too cheap. > > they also have a 7"X10" lathe for about $400, not bad. (doubtless they > also have some low end mills on thier site). > > i have no connection with enco other than having purchased a couple of > end mills that i'll hopefully be trying out in the next couple of days. > > also, the proxxon mf 70 mill is about $300 and probably a better choice > than the harbor freight mill for precision though it does have less > movement, but it does have a better motor with an external shaft on > precision bearings. i'm tempted to try a larger xy table on mine and > remount the spindle. > > also, i wonder if aluminum is a good choice for building a reasonable > precision mill as it is much less stiff than steel (much less, i've done > hydrostatic testing of compressed gas cylinders, 50+ year old steel > cylinders hardly expand at all, brand new aluminum cylinders expand a > surprising amount under pressure, i.e. around 200-250 cc volume increase > at test pressure compared to 10-30 cc for comparable steel cylinders in > the 50# CO2 size). i would think the preloading from the weight of the > steel would also help rigidity. > > > Does any one on the list know of any good books on mill/lathe design? > mig/tig welders can be rented and i have an itch to build a lathe/mill > combination, and there is a scrap metal place nearby with lots of heavy > steel (much cheaper than aluminum as well which has become ridiculous, > the scrap place had plenty of scrap aluminum in the past, now most of it > gets sold of for melting quickly). I'm really glad i saved the motors > from an old large (1") instrumentation tape recorder, they should make > fine spindle motors (the reels were pretty heavy and it servoed them up > to 120"/s and down to about 1"/s and ran very smoothly). > > > > > -- > proof that > the U.S. media is now state controlled! Ask your' local tv station why > the hell they aren't airing the news any more! Our system of government > requires an informed public, with their eyes open. > > -- > http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! > email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body