Please help me choose my mill...

[Seaco]

I am in the market for a mill I would love a Bridgeport but it's just to big, also cost comes into it I could go to about £800, I have seen the Axminster jobbies but I'm unsure of the Chiwanese build quality my first lathe was a new small Chester (Chinese I think) and I only had it a fortnight and had to sell it and finally settled on a 1963 Myford Super 7 like chalk and cheese!

I am wondering if this is the same with the mills obviously I want to get the best for my money, I have had a look at Warco and they seem to get good writeups but if anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful even if it's just ones to avoid.

I don't want to make the same mistakes that I made with the lathe...

[kwil]

Before I bought my Bridgeport I had [and still have but not for sale] a Boxford VM30. Very rugged with vertical slideway, not a round pillar. They were used in schools, good sturdy machine. Worth looking at.

[Jo]

Hi Seaco,

As with Lathes it is all depends upon what you want to do with it and the space you have to house it.

I paid about £800 for my vertical/horizontal Harrison which after 16 years still works like a dream. My BCA was a bargain at £500 and knocks the spots off the Harrison for small work. Both machines are still around at the same sort of money today.

The quality of the foreign imports all depends on the quality of the local assembly, Myford and Warco do a good job.

You get what you pay for and you will always get less of a machine new than second hand. But just because it is second hand does not mean it is not new: I picked up my Praizmat at 17 years old without a single mark on it and based on the number of scratches that have occurred in the paint since I started using it I can only assume it had never been used.

Jo

[Seaco]

Thankyou for the replies the mill will be used for allsorts I am a beginner and love working with metal but I don't want to make locos etc. or anything specialised I just need it to cope with the majority of bits that may come along so I suppose it needs to be fairly universal!

This is the sort of maximum size that I could cope with

[Deleted]

Hi Seaco,

I have several machines from Warco, and just yesterday my WM-16 mill was delivered from them - out of its crate, but not yet set up to go - hopefully this weekend will see it in action

The picture you show is, I think, the Warco GH-Universal machine - and starting cost is £1,600 including VAT - is this within a "revised" budget, as I think your original post mentioned about £800??

Also, if you are concerned about size, it weighs in at 320 kg?

Anyway, I am very impressed with all my Warco stuff (lathe, bandsaw, drill press, belt/disc sander plus other bits and bobs), and their "customer care" is very good in my experience.

Best of luck with your decision!! Regards, A

[goldstar31]

I've had a Warco Mill Drill for some years. No, it is not the best by any shade of imagination but you will need( or might need) a comprehensive set of goodies to bring out the best in it.
I have a pair of cheap DRO's fastened to a Shumatech box. I have a decent 4" vice, parallels etc and a cheap-ish dividing head. Other items are a Thomas boring head, plus a heap of boring( ?) and milling cutters. Again, I may have forgotten a lot of other items but you will appreciate that even with this pretty modest outfit, the price has rocketted off your original suggested price.

With a decent S7, you could probably make quite a lot of goodies to keep down the staggering price. However, do look at Yahoogroups 'Mill_drill' forum if you haven't already done this

GS31

[Seaco]

Alasdairm thanks for the reply I realize this Warco is to much money but I'm hoping to get something like it second hand and also to show the sort of size I could cope with but the one I get will probably be smaller...

Goldstar I do understand that this is just the start but I will have to gradually get these things as I go along, as for the S7 I have done some milling on it but it doesn't like it much and it is very limited so a mill it has to be I think!

I see Warco do a cheaper generic looking mill that has a round post but I've heard there can be problems with registering them if anythings moved, any comments on these as they are in my price range new!

[goldstar31]

You are quite correct about the round column's difficulties. Some are real whilst some are imaginary.
Earlier, I mentioned the relatively crude DRO using cheapish Chinese scales and a Shumatech.
My lathe( a Super 7B) runs on these cheaper little boxes( Warco, ArcEuro, etc) with not a lot of bother. So you could run with this scale arrangement.

I made a crude-ish bit of 1/2"MS round which has exactly half milled( mine is ground) which can pick up within fairly close limits against a reference after resetting the column.
No, it isn't the ultimate by any means but it does enable using a mill drill with cost, space, weight etc taken into account.

I simply haven't room for anything bigger but at least, I haven't had to spend time on restoring a better(?) but worn milling machine.

Concluding, I'd be interested in what others have to contribute.
Cheers

GS31

[alanstepney]

A few years ago a pal wanted to buy a mill, but having little experience, asked my assistance.
We checked out all the main suppliers and their offerings.

For various reasons, we settled on Engineers Tool Room, and he picked one of the cheaper models.
It has a square column, which gets over the possible problem that one can get with round columns.

I did have a play with it and it worked well.
He has been more than satisfied with it, and has managed to produce someexcellent work.

Now, I am not 100% sure of the model he got, but looking at their website, it looks like their 20 or 32.

Might be worth checking out.

[jgb7573]

I have a Warco mill with the round column just like that and it has been very useful. I have on occasion had the head move on the column when I have tried to take too big a cut, but that has been the only real problem. If you need to move the head on the column you have to plan the job such that you can pick the correct position from the work afterwards. If I were too replace it I would go for a square column machine, but I see no reason to at the moment.

[Tel]

Yep, I've heard horror stories of the difficulties of round columns for years, but after over a year now with the RF30, most of them can be easily avoided by careful planning and setting up. A wiggler set is indispensable tho'

[jasonb]

Now, I am not 100% sure of the model he got, but looking at their website, it looks like their 20 or 32.

Engineers Toolroom have only been doing those mils for a year or so. Before that it was likely to be their version of the X3, BMD25 I think they called it. Thats what I have.

Seaco, have you seen that warco in the flesh, I was thinking that was what I would get but its a BIG machine so I went with the X3. Don't forget you will want to allow several Hundread pounds of your budget for tooling.

I have a Warco WM280VF Lathe, though a little rough around the edges the work it produces is fine.

For an English mill something like an Elliot 00 would have the build quality and be quite compact.

Jason

[russell]

Yep, I've heard horror stories of the difficulties of round columns for years, but after over a year now with the RF30, most of them can be easily avoided by careful planning and setting up.

... and making sure that the head is firmly locked to the column before cutting!

Russell.

[goldstar31]

One of the first jobs is to scrape in the clamps which are cheap alloy( well, mine were) to get a full contact. It's all been written about many times. So has replacing the clamp nuts with something like levers.

For the price and a little fitting, it's a sound enough machine at the price

[Arnak]

Hi,

I can recommend the Warco Major mill, having had one for over 10 years and it is still going strong.

New, it is a bit above your price range but not by much, you can add the optional power feed later.

A very heavy beast but will do anything you may need to consider.

Arnak

[Seaco]

Thankyou all for the replies it's invaluable information Jasonb no I haven't seen the large Warco in the flesh you've scared me now! if your saying it's big then it's out as I only have a 12'x8' wooden shed it is solid mind you and it's on a concrete base if I had to I could open a hole in the wooden floor so the mill sat on the concrete.

I have added a pic of the sort of room I have I really want it to replace the pillar drill but it could go at the end and I'd have to move the wood lathe, I live in Somerset so getting to see mills in the flesh can be a problem I can go to Axminster tools but until I know whether there Chiwanese tools are worth it I'll wait!

[Smifffy]

Seaco, check out the pictures of my workshop at:

martinevansroyalscot.fotopic.net/c1500327.html

This should give you some idea as to how much space it will take up, which will be way more than your pillar drill.

Smifffy

[Seaco]

Feb 6, 2010 14:53:45 GMT Smifffy said:

Seaco, check out the pictures of my workshop at:

martinevansroyalscot.fotopic.net/c1500327.html

This should give you some idea as to how much space it will take up, which will be way more than your pillar drill.

Smifffy

Hi Smifffy Nice workshop you have I realize the mill will be wider but isn't my drill about the same sort of dimensions although lighter weight?

[jasonb]

In the US, Grizzley who sell similar machines suggest a minimum working area of 66" for that mill.

You also need to think about height, assuming your shed door is 6" 6" or 2.0m the mill on the stand is 84", 2140mm so you could be touching the roof or having a job changing draw bars

cdn4.grizzly.com/manuals/g0519_m.pdf

Jason

[Seaco]

Jason I'm just going through the Grizzly PDF you sent it looks a nice bit of kit but on some mills I've seen they ask if you want R8 fitting or MT3 what is the way to go there?