hi Vic,
can i add a second vote for the Micro mill, with the caveat that as it comes it needs a little fettling. Mine needed the gib strip screw threads re-cutting and the gears setting up properly, but once done it's capable of quite accurate work on small parts. It's a real bargain price and small enough for almost any workshop.
Add their little rotary table and a digital readout scale on each axis for a really capable little machine.
Nice air-bearing arm!
regards, Jeff
can i add a second vote for the Micro mill, with the caveat that as it comes it needs a little fettling. Mine needed the gib strip screw threads re-cutting and the gears setting up properly, but once done it's capable of quite accurate work on small parts. It's a real bargain price and small enough for almost any workshop.
Add their little rotary table and a digital readout scale on each axis for a really capable little machine.
Nice air-bearing arm!
regards, Jeff
Hi Jeff
Thanks for the arm compliment!
The biggest problem i find, apart from learning how to use these machines, is how to measure things! Simple things, like finding the center of a round bar, or making a bearing indent at opposite ends of a diameter! I have ordered some books I hope will help!
But having the capability to work this bits of metal has given my imagination a new lease of life!!! I will be spending many hours amusing myself!
Regards
Vic
Thanks for the arm compliment!
The biggest problem i find, apart from learning how to use these machines, is how to measure things! Simple things, like finding the center of a round bar, or making a bearing indent at opposite ends of a diameter! I have ordered some books I hope will help!
But having the capability to work this bits of metal has given my imagination a new lease of life!!! I will be spending many hours amusing myself!
Regards
Vic
Hi k9vap
Nice to read about your new machinetool experiences. I have a lathge and milling machine (non-digital unfortunately) and after a few years you will amaze yourself in what you can do on your equipment.
Join the Society for Model and Experimental Engineers in your country. Here in Cape Town, our similar Society is 100 years old in 2007. The origin of this Society is in the UK.
(Btw a friend Jonathan Noble informed me about the Ladegaard arm. Very clever lateral thinking here. I've just spend the last week in converting one of my Micro arms to take sme-type headshells. It involved replacing the straight graphite arm with a curved mag. alloy section and machining all the fittings. Tomorrow, it will be ready for anodising and rewire).
Regards
bulgin
Nice to read about your new machinetool experiences. I have a lathge and milling machine (non-digital unfortunately) and after a few years you will amaze yourself in what you can do on your equipment.
Join the Society for Model and Experimental Engineers in your country. Here in Cape Town, our similar Society is 100 years old in 2007. The origin of this Society is in the UK.
(Btw a friend Jonathan Noble informed me about the Ladegaard arm. Very clever lateral thinking here. I've just spend the last week in converting one of my Micro arms to take sme-type headshells. It involved replacing the straight graphite arm with a curved mag. alloy section and machining all the fittings. Tomorrow, it will be ready for anodising and rewire).
Regards
bulgin
Hi Bulgin,
I"ve been watching some of your posts with awe, showing just what you can do using modest tools with skill and care - but i think you have a lot of both.
I think that really accurate results can be achieved with well set up but not super-precision gear (like model-engineer class lathes and mills) providing you use good, old-fashioned craft methods, like: think, plan measuere, cut just a little, think and measure a lot, cut just a little more!
I've just invested in three digital scales that I can transfer between my ancient lathe (spent the first thirty years of its life making bits of machine gun for Vickers and the next thirty in my parent's garage before ending up in my little workshop), an equally ancient Fobco drill and my micro mill. These scales have now come down to the kind of price (like maybe 40 euro each) that an amateur can justify and they really transform my machining. i just find a datum point, set them all at zero and work away. Because they take readings off the actual movement of the slides or whatever, it's really accurate and it's very like having cnc except you gotta turn the handles! This is home workshop heaven!!
regards, jeff
I"ve been watching some of your posts with awe, showing just what you can do using modest tools with skill and care - but i think you have a lot of both.
I think that really accurate results can be achieved with well set up but not super-precision gear (like model-engineer class lathes and mills) providing you use good, old-fashioned craft methods, like: think, plan measuere, cut just a little, think and measure a lot, cut just a little more!
I've just invested in three digital scales that I can transfer between my ancient lathe (spent the first thirty years of its life making bits of machine gun for Vickers and the next thirty in my parent's garage before ending up in my little workshop), an equally ancient Fobco drill and my micro mill. These scales have now come down to the kind of price (like maybe 40 euro each) that an amateur can justify and they really transform my machining. i just find a datum point, set them all at zero and work away. Because they take readings off the actual movement of the slides or whatever, it's really accurate and it's very like having cnc except you gotta turn the handles! This is home workshop heaven!!
regards, jeff
Jeff,
I could not agree more... there is a world of difference between machining with or without readouts. I have alot of respect for guys that make (or made) do without. I think it will become a lost art.
You can even buy digital calipers now for $20 and adapt them to the slides of these little machines... HUGE difference.
🙂
I could not agree more... there is a world of difference between machining with or without readouts. I have alot of respect for guys that make (or made) do without. I think it will become a lost art.
You can even buy digital calipers now for $20 and adapt them to the slides of these little machines... HUGE difference.
🙂
Hi, i think the great thing is that if you can do it without digital help, it just gets easier when you get it.
The worry is that there are now generations of machinists coming up who are getting taught on CNC, and just aren't gonna spend maybe five years learning the traditional basics. (like who's left in the world who can read an old-style vernier?)
regards, jeff
apologies if this is getting off topic, maybe we should have an audio mechanics forum for the hardware 🙂
The worry is that there are now generations of machinists coming up who are getting taught on CNC, and just aren't gonna spend maybe five years learning the traditional basics. (like who's left in the world who can read an old-style vernier?)
regards, jeff
apologies if this is getting off topic, maybe we should have an audio mechanics forum for the hardware 🙂
poobah said:
Poobah,
That sounds liike a clever way to get rocket science tolerances on a beer budget.
Wasn`t that how they manufatured your Millenium Falcon spacecraft? I mean since it was only a model size. 😀
I agree about your lost art comment. My mom has new format cheques from her bank recently. On the back of the cheque they have printed in bold lettering BACK. I can only presume that is so dumbed down people passing through our school systems of today will be able to tell which side of a cheque is the back. Trouble is that won`t work if they can`t read!
Morons.jeff spall said:
Don't forget the slide rule & Log tables, etc. etc. 🙂
When you purchase these small machines, try to purchase a machine that is capable of machining a workpiece in size that is slightly larger than what you may picture doing in the future. I say this because "rigidity" is key to successful machining and many of these small or even micro machines simply don't have this key feature.
Larger machines have better structural design so I recommend buying the largest machine (within reason) you can afford.
I would put this feature before digital readouts if you have to comprimise. Readouts are a luxury. When I started machining 30 years ago we turned handles and read straight off the dial. We did it then and you can still do it now. 😉
I keep thinking that one day I'll buy a mill, but then I consider it would mostly be used for making amp faceplates, etc, and the price of something big enough goes through the roof.
Poobah...
😎 😎
PM - The main reason I'm thinking about a mill is the ease of letting in slots in metal, and getting beatiful machined straight and square edges - It's those sort of things that transform the look of a piece from home made into 'could have been shop bought', especially when hewing (sp?) a nice little headshell from solid. Add on the fact you can relatively easily get both sides parallel, and you're onto a winner...
Front Panel express do a great job on faceplates as thick as you'd like 😉
Owen
😎 😎
PM - The main reason I'm thinking about a mill is the ease of letting in slots in metal, and getting beatiful machined straight and square edges - It's those sort of things that transform the look of a piece from home made into 'could have been shop bought', especially when hewing (sp?) a nice little headshell from solid. Add on the fact you can relatively easily get both sides parallel, and you're onto a winner...
Front Panel express do a great job on faceplates as thick as you'd like 😉
Owen
Hi,
Amp faceplates?
i reckon some good marking out and a decent bench drill.You don't need to have something that would traverse all the length in one go
jeff
Amp faceplates?
i reckon some good marking out and a decent bench drill.You don't need to have something that would traverse all the length in one go
jeff
You know the plaques you see everywhere? The ones made up of laminated plastic... say a black layer over a white layer... the letters are milled out with a bll-nose cutter.
Well, these things are surprisingly cheap. The people who do these are quite accustomed to doing "one-offs". These days the process is quite automated as well. My daughter's shop class even has the machine.
The point being, if you knew what file formats they accept, you might be able to get artsy and still get by for $20. I know there is a large selection of mat's... so. you're not limited to just the black and white.
🙂
Well, these things are surprisingly cheap. The people who do these are quite accustomed to doing "one-offs". These days the process is quite automated as well. My daughter's shop class even has the machine.
The point being, if you knew what file formats they accept, you might be able to get artsy and still get by for $20. I know there is a large selection of mat's... so. you're not limited to just the black and white.
🙂
I too have been extremely creative over the years with my drill press and a little cross slide table. After reading this thead I ordered the Grizzly catalog. There is certainly a lot of gear in here that is targeted for the deluxe home shop. First thing I noticed when comparing the 7x12 mini against the 9x19 mini was the weight. The smaller mill weights 90 lbs shipped and the 9x19 weighs 300 lbs. The 9x19 also comes with an extra 7 1/2" four jaw chuck. It's only 250 usd more. There really is no comparison.
So if the budget is at or under a thousand usd, and if 99 percent of what you create is likely to be one of a kind parts, and you have an abundance of time and patience to be creative, which of the following is going to be the handiest piece of machinery in the little basement shop?
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G3358 mill/drill
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4000 lathe
So if the budget is at or under a thousand usd, and if 99 percent of what you create is likely to be one of a kind parts, and you have an abundance of time and patience to be creative, which of the following is going to be the handiest piece of machinery in the little basement shop?
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G3358 mill/drill
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4000 lathe
I have one ...
... of the Grizzley Lathes ... http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4000/images .
Purchased more than 15 years ago when the shield / oil catcher in back was an option. It costs more than US$2000.00 back then, excluding shipping into California, and I still consider it the best tool purchase I ever made. Solid, healthy, precise enough for most materials like plastic, wood up to mild steel or hot rolled to 0.001" with care. Not usable on high grade, hard steel, without loads of patience, but is super for brass and bronze, etc. Great for lapping and polishing the hard stuff ...
(Mine could be wired either 120 or 240 VAC, single phase, so I would guess that the current design's motor is the only significant recent design downgrade.)
... of the Grizzley Lathes ... http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4000/images .
Purchased more than 15 years ago when the shield / oil catcher in back was an option. It costs more than US$2000.00 back then, excluding shipping into California, and I still consider it the best tool purchase I ever made. Solid, healthy, precise enough for most materials like plastic, wood up to mild steel or hot rolled to 0.001" with care. Not usable on high grade, hard steel, without loads of patience, but is super for brass and bronze, etc. Great for lapping and polishing the hard stuff ...
(Mine could be wired either 120 or 240 VAC, single phase, so I would guess that the current design's motor is the only significant recent design downgrade.)
- Status
- Not open for further replies.