Mini Milling Machine
 

Hey so I'm interested in a small milling machine so I can do simple projects at home for pieces or mods I need. Not looking for something super expensive, under 300$ if possible. I've found this: http://bit.ly/1dULzCV on eBay, but I'm not sure how reliable it would be. Does anybody have one, or experience with one, or any mini milling machines? Any recommendations? Any places where I can look at some or buy some in Toronto. Thanks a lot!

Ask Qlong. I think hes making minigun weilding robots right now.

Well, that would make 1" parts at most, and the precision is probably not even close to 0.02mm.

There was a website that sold 500$ CNCs... can't find it anymore.
Apparently they where good, in the 0.0002" range.

I won't need something super dead on, nor programmable. But for sure to work with something bigger than 1" haha

Keep your eyes on kijiji/craiglist on used milling machine.

Depends on the material you gonna mill, a drill press with a table may do you good, considering budget is a problem and you do not need it to be programmable.

The best thing to make with a small milling machine, is better parts for your small milling machine.
They're all shitty, just varying degrees of flimsy.
Ideally you want one with sturdy single casting construction and some sort of waylube system
If it has too many bolted on components keeping it together, it'll be really flimsy

actually did buy a master craft drill press for 100$. But I'd need the adjustable table so I can at least measure the movement on 3 axis. And are drill presses not really designed for vertical pressure like a mill would be?

I am not an experienced miller, but X and Y movement on a drill press can easily damage the chuck, motor, even the column. Also the spindle simply does not have enough force for the milling action.

When I said use a drill press as a mill machine, is more like, drill, move the piece, drill, repeat.

I was thinking that too initially, but I was hoping for any extra 200$ I can get something more precise and convenient.

For $200, it's a toy. For $500 it is a hobbyist machine, still a toy. Doubt it can hold 0.0002 repeatability.

I think even something that can hold 0.02 would be fine. I much as if like to, I don't have 5k to drop on something more intense right now.

I actually fix machines for a living
It actually doesn't matter for the sizes he's working with as long as he's milling soft non-ferrous alloys. As a cheap solution, a drill press works just fine. I've done plenty of light milling in aluminum on drill presses.

What is a light milling machine but a slightly reinforced drill press with a 2 axis table anyway lol

Even a jacobs chuck is okay for light duty milling, not recommended, but I doubt the belt driven motor could supply enough torque to break the end mill loose in the chuck.

The only thing you'll really be missing from an actual milling machine is precise Z axis travel. And unless you're looking at an $800 cross slide vise, you may have real crap tolerances and slop. The actual head of a milling machine is not worth a whole heck of a lot more than a drill press, it's the table that makes up the rest of the price.
It's around $1500 for a decent bench top light duty mill, $700 for a decent drill press with a cheap cross slide vice

Great information!! Currently I only have a cheap drill press at home for some simple work. Reply on machines at work and friend's place to do some work on metal parts or so.

I found no problem milling HDPE on the drill with a good vise table. But I am too afraid to mill anything hard (like aluminum or pot metal) using the drill. Maybe I should give it a shot. If I break the drill, just another excuse to buy a mill machine lol.

So basically I shouldn't waste 300$ and just wait to get a good cross slide and a decent drill press? I'm not too worried about the Z I guess. The drill press usually has a lock function for some measurement for the Z. What should I be looking for in the drill press and vice?

I bought a Sherline from Craigslist for $600. Mill, head spacer, chucks/collets, some other bits. I had/made some other bits for it, but it's ok for small parts. Not bad for the price of it...and I had a tiny shop so small machines were a must.

Some of the busybee stuff is ok for rough things, especially if you're really only doing the odd part and don't need super tight tolerances.

Nice info. But, if I may ask, which model would you recommend at 1500$ for a small mill?

There's this one at Busy Bee.
http://www.busybeetools.com/products...EADOUT-R8.html


Craftex aren't the greatest...but when you compare what you're paying vs. what/how much you'll do and the accuracy you'll practically need it's not too bad.

Factor in the costs of getting the vices, endmills, collets/chucks, clamps, coolant, etc...

I have one of their smaller lathes and it's ok for tiny stuff, but the setup is awkward and getting everything just right twice in a row is a PITA. It'll do it...but not as nicely as other setups.

The next step up are the X* (i.e. X3) series...they're decent (IMO...but I don't do this for a living...just a family man hobby budget for toys)

Whatever size you think you can get by with...get the next size up :)

Oh nice, 1500 isn't horrible I guess. With taxes and tools looking at 2k I'm assuming. I'll probably wait for this then.

Depending on what you are doing you could look at one like this: http://www.micromark.com/microlux-mi...hine,9683.html

That one actually looks pretty good too, it's cheaper, the digital read out isn't really required.

The micro mill is a perfect example of something you dont want to buy. It'll be extremely flimsy, and although you might not care about holding .02", your tools would never survive that much wobble
Find something with a significantly larger column. The wider the column and base, the more stability and accuracy you'll have. And stay away from machines that slim, or built entirely from machined steel sections. You want castings.

What you want is in one of these two styles
the belt heads will be around $1000 less, perfect for very light duty stuff, best if you can find one with a solid column instead of a rotating column since it's very unlikely you'll be machining anything that requires you to turn the head.
geared head machines are surprisingly tough and durable, more expensive but provide more torque and fast speed changes.
Belt head would be best for you since in aluminum and other non ferrous materials you'll generally always be at maximum rpm to do all your cutting.

http://www.warco.co.uk/img/major-mil...hine-for-w.jpg
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&source...85078075827296