Tool collectors are vital in maintaining the time honoured tradition of irritating the beneficiaries of one's will.

@JeffersonsTree

Ай бұрын

Well said, it’s definitely true, I’m certain Mark DeFriest has many choice remarks about tools and wills as well.

@neilbarnett3046

Ай бұрын

My collection of electronic parts, computer chips and cables should also achieve that aim! Better than when we cleared out my late mum's sideboard and threw out her almost worthless wedding presents and some aluminium tea and coffee pots.

@kaylafruetel2003

Ай бұрын

I feel called out.

@malvinmalvin

Ай бұрын

"One day, son, this will all be yours" *gestures to piles of miscellaneous cräp

@localeightironworker

Ай бұрын

i feel bad for whoever inherits my loot pile. i hold onto all the iron i can get my hands on, lol

Got a mini lathe for by 18th birthday. About 5 years later having "basic machining" experience on my resume helped me land my current job where being able to fabricate an occational part on a mill or lathe is an asset.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

That’s awesome! It’s an extremely useful skill to have.

@XxIcedecknightxX

Ай бұрын

Same thing for me! Bought a manual mini metal lathe and brought a machinist hammer into the interview that was .0015 - .002 thou from target dimension. Can't say it landed me a job, but I'd like to believe it did.

@achannelhasnoname5182

Ай бұрын

Where I'm from you aren't allowed to use a mill or lathe if you aren't properly (officially) trained.

@squa_81

Ай бұрын

:D Same here. I litteraly got my internship over my machine tool restoration project.

@gersonhay984

22 күн бұрын

Thats how, Keep exploring.!

Running larger equipment can give someone unreasonable expectations of what a small lathe or mill should do. Tiny horsepower and tiny machine means tiny cuts. I have found that having even small machines at home is super useful for DIY project. There are so many things that pop up that could use a spacer or a bushing, a custom over-sized key or just cleaned up on the lathe with a file. And once you have the machines you can use them make parts to make them better. Rock on tiny machine owners.

@whatworkedforme

Ай бұрын

expectations can easily be exaggerated both on a persons 'real needs' and the output for the investment... I have an even simpler (AKA cheap) 750w pillar drill (yes... drill) and an even cheaper compound base for occasional Aluminium but mostly hard plastics. I don't need anything more than 0.1mm accuracy and i'm super happy with the output. As seen here you can get the most out of anything by clamping stuff down 'PROPERLY' and minimising the slack via the gibs. but above all; keep expectations realistic

@yurgon

Ай бұрын

exactly why I purchased a mini mill and mini lathe after leaving my previous employer. I had grown accustomed to having access to those machines for personal use, and I missed it. It's so nice to be able to just make simple things that would otherwise be a long wait with shipping costing exponentially more than the price of the material.

@scrapmechanicboy1859

Ай бұрын

THIS ! I am always afraid to let anyone near my small Proma lathe, because they would ram that and went 1.5mm cuts, my poor little boy trembles, when he hears we gon cut steel today.

@charleshubert6751

21 күн бұрын

Exactly, appropriate material, tooling geometry and depth of cut are important. Chip load can't really change much or you're just rubbing and work hardening the material

@larryjanson4011

4 күн бұрын

yes i agree, there are times i would love to have a mini mill and lathe. but i can not afford the cost of even hf stuff. or make the purchase qualify in my budget.

2:25 Use aluminum foil for finetuning. It's about .001", so folding it over a few times can give a good range of thicknesses.

@lassiheikkila3054

Ай бұрын

Use feeler gauges as shims. Cheap shims.

@nono-oz4yc

Ай бұрын

Pop cans are .004" and beer cans are usually .002" they are the traditional bike shop shims!

@fewminutestudio959

Ай бұрын

standard aluminum foil is .006

@ArcticNemo

Ай бұрын

If using it for headgear, remember that it takes at least five layers to block government control signals.

@bradnail99

17 күн бұрын

0.006mm, perhaps? Aluminum foil is way thinner than aluminum beverage can sidewalls, which are 0.004” thick.

I bought a mini lathe and found a new hobby: hotrodding my mini lathe! I learned how to lap and scrape ways, made and installed stops, saddle locks, quick release tail stock… the list goes on. Meanwhile, it was capable of really good work. Lest scoffers say I don’t know how well a good machine works, I worked on Hardinge lathes for decades. Clearly, these mini lathes are no match for a hardinge, but they are satisfying in their own right. It’s all about knowing your tools.

@donaldoehl7690

17 күн бұрын

Hardinge machines do set high standards. They may spoil you.

@trackie1957

17 күн бұрын

I’m glad I learned on a South Bend so I could appreciate a Hardinge’s sheer luxury. As I said before, it’s all about learning and understanding your machine and what’s happening at the sharp end of the tool.

@tacticalskiffs8134

6 күн бұрын

@@trackie1957 When I bought SB was a lot cheaper than chinese, and those lathes were incomprehensible, anyway. Every change in model size was a completely different feature set. SB was more than adequate in the day, and parts are easy to find.

Great video mate - funny and informative. The first mill I ever used (1975 as a 15 year old) was a Deckle FP1 and I had no idea what a milling machine even was until I used that. I went to trade school a few weeks after starting that job (an apprenticeship in Instrument Making) and was asked to make some parts as part of an exercise. They only had old well abused and worn out Bridgeports and I couldn't get a decent finish. I told my instructor "I never have this problem on the mill where I work." so he asked what type it was. When I told him it was a near new Deckle FP1 he looked shocked and replied "They let YOU use a Deckle?!" I felt privileged and insulted all at once.

@tacticalskiffs8134

6 күн бұрын

There was a deckle group here in Toronto. When i was looking for a mill table to use as a welding fixture, I bumped into some of these guys at a machine rebuilder that was retiring out. They tried to give me a similar machine that had two heads and tables, not sure why, and I wish I could have taken it, but I had decided to be satisfied with my Clausing 85XX.

@every1665

6 күн бұрын

@@tacticalskiffs8134 Using a Deckle mill table as a welding fixture would be like using a Faberge egg as a door stop! But it's a free country.

When buying these machines, it is IMPORTANT to understand that all the castings are finish cut in one go. Consequently, they are ALL warped. When one side is cut, the stresses are released, and the metal changes shape. After initial cutting, the casting should be left to warp, and then be final machined. Therefore, the first task, is to determine the best datum surfaces to make flat, and then get everything square. Ideally you need another milling machine, but I re-engineered mine with a surface plate, 4mm float glass, and a large variety of abrasives. ... It was a huge task. Don't forget to 'grind in' the circular pivot bearing surface to the pillar. This enables the pillar to be clamped solid. Prior to assembly, you will need to add rigidity. Add two bolts to the base, just past the '3 screw fulcrum point' on the pivot block, so that the base has four bolts around the fulcrum point. The three screws, are almost inline, providing limited rigidity (considering the pillar and head, are flexing around the 3 screw fulcrum point). On the pivot block, there is only space for two additional 6mm screws (so use hardened screws). I added concrete to the pillar, to add mass. Finally; cast a concrete base. I embedded a pre-cast flat cement garden slab for the mounting surface, and rub ground the base to the slab. This is a lot of work, but you end up with a proper milling machine for a cost of just £750 Obviously, having another mill, and a surface grinder, would make this work a simple task :)

@dc6233

Ай бұрын

Exactly why people should seek an old Clausing or similar mill. At least he has a dovetail column. The round ones are near useless.

@wilkoslavakia

Ай бұрын

Did you watch the Video?

@TheRjjrjjr

Ай бұрын

Now, THAT would make a great video! You could really contribute to KZread if you had a channel. I really don't know if you have a channel of your own or not. I am serious though when I say that you should think about becoming a KZread creator, I'd watch your video's!

@Siouxperman

Ай бұрын

Absolutely what this man said!!!

@MrEh5

Ай бұрын

I had to true up mine out of the box.

I started out with a harbor freight mini mill and mini lathe when I first got into machining and metal working. I slowly graduated to slightly larger benchtop machines and ended up with a full sized gunsmithing lathe and a CNC mill. When I retired, I sold most of my metal working machines thinking I'd no longer have much use for them; boy was I wrong. I sold off my mini lathe many years ago, but I kept the mini mill all this time. I still own it and I still use it and, I just recently bought another mini lathe. It's true that they require alot of tuning up to get them to run accurately; or, accurately enough for hobby stuff but, with a little experience under your belt that really isn't that hard to do.

@allenc7313

Ай бұрын

Same boat sold the big mill and lathe and spot welder when I sold the shop. Had to buy replacements not quite as big but still good enough.

@sharonreynolds82

26 күн бұрын

It's par for the course.

Minimills are absolutely fine for hobby machining. The main issue you're going to find is that many of the issues brought up are probably with using it for business purposes in mind. As in when someone says it can't be used on steel I have always read that as them saying you can use it but the amount of time is not cost effective. I'd also like to point out that you had it go out of tram on the video and your final test was checking after a clean up pass? Not saying roughing will definately make it go off tram but you basically gave it the easiest tast short of using a 1/8" endmill. Tolerance wise you'll basically be okay as long as you're taking slow small passes and creeping up on it but again this is unnaceptable for job shop type work as it takes far too long. I wan't to stress that I have no issues with mini mills but just remember their scope is very limited.

@ExtantFrodo2

Ай бұрын

Good post. I'd like to add that due to the all-in-a-line bolts that connect the z pillar to the x-y table the system is prone to nod in the x axis. At the highest z from the table you sometimes (yes, in my case) .128 +,- from TDC. So you may get ~accurate and small or sloppy and tall, but you will never get accurate and tall. My purchase of one has been a worthwhile learning experience since I came to the trade with no experience at all. If you know nothing and want to learn I wouldn't turn one down if it was given to me like I would now.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Excellent point, for producing parts in a production run it wouldn’t be possible to keep pace with full sized machines. As for the testing I see how that was confusing! I didn’t do any re-alignment after I made the t slot nut so the full scope of the test was the roughing and finishing of the t slot nut, plus the clean up pass, after which there was no shifting. I was mainly curious if there was some weirdness going on from vibrations caused by the larger endmill

@jamesfrancis9520

Ай бұрын

I used a Sieg X2D (the fixed Z column version of the mill in the video) to start my business. I built my own cnc conversation using Centroid CNC Acorn and closed loop steppers. I added a belt drive kit and a 1.1kw spindle motor. That little mill allowed me to start my business and get a real foothold. I'm now running a Syil X7 and I'm on my way to saving for a Brother Speedio or something else. Not quite sure yet. Long winded way to say that these little mills are great. Also check out John Grimsmo. He built up from one of these minimills to one of the craziest cnc machine shops I've seen in Canada.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Love to hear the success stories. The whole goal of this video was to show that these are very capable machines so it’s nice to see that I’m not mistaken!

@1pcfred

Ай бұрын

It stands to reason that a small machine can only take small cuts. It's right in the name, it is a mini mill.

You probably did far more initial setup than 99.9 % of the complainers.

I have a CX-605 as well, had it for a few years now. I fixed the "noise" issue by changing the gear sets from plastic to cast gears* (*little machine shop) and using a good high pressure grease cut the racket down with good results. I don't have a tramming issue, I think because I literally stripped the machine down scrubbed the packing grease off of every mating surface. I also have a CX-708 Lathe which has been working without issue, it too was noisy but changing the oil and adding Lucas Oil treatment to the gear box make an amazing difference. Great video thanks for the share!

@user-wf4hy4ub7p

Ай бұрын

Changed my plastic gears to brass gears that I cut myself using a hardened silver steel hob ( Rack type cutting edges, not spiral, dimensions in handbook) and a dividing head, (40 to 1 ratio) then I made myself a full set of plates that I drilled myself, (Hole positions on internet, done on Milling Machine). Also replaced the plastic change gears with brass and aluminium on the mini lathe,

@precise1329

Ай бұрын

It seems to me (admittedly not a machinist, just curious) that the smaller machines offer a cheaper solution if you are willing to input labor to offset the price/space requirements. Which is why it appears to be more popular among hobbyists or those with small needs. Those who need these machines daily cannot afford 'extra' time each go to ensure everything is square. Which is a fair assessment. I think it would be beneficial to actually see the labor you, or others like the video author, ACTUALLY put into improving the performance of these machines. Like when the author admits he needed to tighten down the platform more.

Column won't hold tram ? Remove big nut, remove column, Measure holes and bolt diameter sizes, Get on lathe and turn down a sleeve to fit bolt. Make outside diam large enough when in position INSIDE the column in line with the bolt to be in contact with the two inner faces of the column. You will now be tightening the nut up to a solid column instead of tightening up to a hollow structure which can flex, loosening the nut.

I have machining experience (and a much larger lathe and mill in my garage) and 15 years ago or so bought a Chinese mini-lathe and mini-mill similarly "just to see what they were all about." There are a wide range of opinions from "works fine for me" to "these can be viewed as a kit and you have to fix and improve almost everything." I think this variance is due to a variability in the quality machine to machine, and a variability in expectations. This is the first such machine for many and they don't know what a good quality machine is like. Others DO have experience and can spot the limitations and instantly realize why there is chatter when maybe there shouldn't be and so forth.

@Sak-zo1ui

Ай бұрын

I agree completely. If ever someone wants to get into machining I always tell them the best quality and the biggest you can handle! Generally the jobs you pick up or tasks you pick up will be determined by machine size specifically with smaller machines. The smaller stuff generally will have issues though where everything needs to be corrected. Not always but a good chunk. Staying within the capabilities of the smaller machines are important as well even though on a bigger machine those capabilities are generally more maximized.

@fairlanephantom

Ай бұрын

I have a mini mill and never had a problem. Nothing ever moved and I was able take deep cuts in material with no chatter in aluminum and steel. You just need a basic idea of speeds and feeds, upgrade to a belt drive, and get something better than a screwless vise. Also using industry grade cutters make a big difference. The only limitation I still hit was the size material I can hold in it. So quick cuts I need generally work out, but larger parts I go use a friend's Bridgeport like when I made an exhaust spacer. But I was able to take about an inch depth of cut on aluminum with my mini mill and nothing ever chattered or moved.

@foldionepapyrus3441

Ай бұрын

I suspect it also makes a huge difference just who you bought it from - the crap castings and terrible finishing on some of them may have started at the same foundry as the good ones. But they could for instance be the quality control rejects from the places that sell reasonably good machines being sold on by somebody else etc... I know my mini mill has a surprisingly good spindle (at least for what it is) but the table is pretty terrible - probably salvageable but I've not really got around to invesitaging that.

@herzogsbuick

Ай бұрын

agreed. i'm a musician and i've had my 6-string electric bass for almost a decade now. i was working at a music shop, and the owner was a bass player, so we had everything from beginner models to $8000 6 string Zons. none of them felt right. then one day, i unpacked an LTD D6. it was magic, effortless, just...unreal. AND it was the cheapest 6 string we sold, it listed for $500. and i can almost guarantee the next one off the assembly line played like shit haha

@darkracer1252

Ай бұрын

hahaha. people who use one of these. mills with the rotation of the tool instead of against. ( like it has a ballscrew without backlash, )and then look weird that their tool is destroyed or the surface is shitty and inaccurate.

The haters simply don't know how to adjust and tune their machines

What a great video. I have a hefty lathe and an equally hefty miling machine in my workshop. Recently I helped a customer of mine set up a mini mill very similar to yours. We had exactly the same issue with tramming in both the X&Y axes. Once bolted down we had a go at milling some small blocks of alloy and steel, and I was surprised at how good it was. My machines are capable of taking 3-5mm cuts in hard steel if need be, but on a mini mill or lathe that's impossible. Light cuts should be the order of the day. I found that on the mini mill 20 thou was about the maximum on steel, and about 40 thou on alloy I think that a lot of people who slag off such machines are simply taking cuts that are too heavy, and all machines have a limit as to how much they can handle. A bad workman blames his tools etc.

I've had one of these machines for about 20 years now. After using it for a while with the gear drive supplied I changed to belt drive (bought as a kit) and I think it was really worth the conversion, much smoother running. I find that it max's out at about a 10 mm (3/8") end mill or slot drill for normal cutting work (but usually stick to 6 mm /1/4") and 12 mm (1/2") for light surfacing.

glad to see im not the only one with the idea that tools are what you make of them not what they are out of a box.

@johncarroll8662

Ай бұрын

Correct. Remember, and acknowledge, that all the magic is in the operator, not the machine.

@CommanderJPS

Ай бұрын

nothing beats something made for the job, i always look at "off the shelf" as it'll do for now lol

@Annon89

Ай бұрын

Artist makes art not the paintbrush. Although better brushes make things easier.

@localeightironworker

Ай бұрын

i always laugh when i go to a job and they say "no modified tools" literally every single thing I own besides a few socket sets have been modified to some degree

This is awesome, I'm glad I've found your channel. Thanks for the content!

great humor, solid insight and great attitude! which all made for a great video, subscribed!

the best addition will be a stiffening plate at the back of the column, and then a 3 axis DRO - this will cost you about $ 250 in LED or about $300 in LCD, both with scales to fit your mill. I have made a polyVee drive myself and do not regret it - there are instructions on youtube and the internet as how to do it. Another tip I can give is to 'cap' the drawbar and give it a square end - a spanner is way more easy on the spindle bearings than a hammer to loosen the MT3 tapers, and a spring loaded spindle stop will be a nice addition too.

@kenibnanak5554

Ай бұрын

I did the stiffening plate too. Had to tap a bolt hole at the back of the frame, and in the column, but that is a lot better than having a colmn shift totally mess up a work.

When I try to run my mini mill like I run my bridgeport I get crummy results. When I run my mini mill with responsible feeds, speeds, cutter size, and DOC for the machine, I get fantastic results in even very hard materials. Turns out basic machining fundamentals don't care how big the machine is. Keep up the great work!

These machines are made by more than one company and the quality can vary. Don't buy from the cheapest supplier and try to get a look at the machines before you buy. Both the lathes and the mills are quite capable machines within their size limitations. The main thing I don't like on some of the lathes is where they only have a limited range of belt changes and rely on an electronic speed control. One idea to increase the friction on the tilting column would be to fit a paper gasket. This is also a useful trick to help a job have a good grip on the table or vice face.

@robertpearson8798

27 күн бұрын

He’s in Canada and unfortunately we have fewer choices in suppliers, unless you want to pay a little extra to import something (which I did).

Fantastic! Thanks for making.

Great video man. I'm happy with my combination bench top lathe/mill. i use it mostly for repairing metal and plastic. I really pushed the mill to the limit by making a anvil out of a rail road track. Only negative was i needed to repair the motor control board as the vibration shook some parts free. No problem im an electronic engineer. Everything works great again. Only thing i plan to do is reinforce the mill column so it doesn't move under load. That does cause problems on precision work with steel.

Haha, I was practially halfway through my comment about the jacobs chuck. Good stuff dude!

Nice test, thank you. Your mill and your cutters would really enjoy some cutting oil though. 😊

After my mini mill inevitably broke the gears, I had a great project for the lathe - making aluminum pullies to convert the mill to v-belt drive. Best thing I ever did for the mill. Now it's quiet, runs with less vibration and when I do something stupid, the belt slips instead of it blowing up the gearbox. SO much more pleasant to use. 100% worth doing.

I just love the ti-83plus in the intro

"shop calculator" I lost it. Guess I need to pull out the TI-89 from all those years ago and start writing programs again! Good video! Thanks for the humor! I've been loving cutting steel on my minimill.

I had an Enco mini mill in my garage in the 80’s, used it for all kinds of hobby projects. Definitely sturdy enough for milling steel, but only after fine tuning/tightening up from factory assembly and not trying to hog all the material off in one pass. Wouldn’t mind having one again.

I found that the main drawback of the small machine is column rigidity, not only side to side but fore-aft (from the perspective of operator). To fix mine, I bolted 1/2" aluminum plate to the machine column secured with 4ea 1/2" bolts to the column as well as with the column swivel nut/washer arrangement. Bottom of the plate has a stout aluminum 2x2" angle which ties the vertical plate to an additional 1/2" base plate to which the machine base is bolted. Space between the back of the column and the machine base is filled with a fitted aluminum plate appr. 1/2". Vertical plate holes are a bit oversize to allow tramming left-right. Tramming fore-aft adjusted with a shim. Decent finish when cutting steel with either fly cutter or 1/2" endmill at 0.025 depth of cut. Still stable and in tram after 5 years of use. There are additional updates and tweaks - left-right-axis motor drive, air spring to balance the milling head, larger vertical motion wheel and more accurate single-piece milling head drive. Mechanical indicators on all 3 axes. Much better than original but not a Bridgeport. Alas, no space.

Thanks for the tricks. I bought a mini-mill years ago, and had been using it for some rough machining, but one day I will have to use your techniques to fine calibrate the column.

This is a great demonstration of the capabilities of these cheap mini mills. If you're careful and patient, you can absolutely machine useful parts. Wait until you see what heavier machines can do!

Had my mini mill now for many years. Mods- gas strut alongside the column to prevent spindle dropping, changed the gears for drive belt, both make it much nicer to use. Yes I use the jacobs chuck a lot for most things, accurate enough for what I use it for on daily basis.

you won me over with the maker-v-tool collector bit hahah

I have one. As benchdrill, its really good (compared to drill). As mill, it has several weakness 1) not stiff enough 2) power (electronic speed contol is weak in low RPM, not much torque) 3) size, its impossible to put parts under cutter because there is not enough room. But if you do small parts, its OK.

Good video! I have the same mill and installed the Little Machine Shop air assist for the mill head. It included a new longer rack that increased the Z axis movement by about 3”, with about 1.3” of that in the upper direction if you remove the factory stop. When I removed the old spring mechanism it provided perfect mounting holes for a dro bracket. The Y axis dial has no thrust bearing but a hard steel washer made it every bit as smooth as the X axis. Finally, I used the nylock nuts from the bolts that held it in the crate to replace the double jam nuts holding the X and Y dials, making it much easier to adjust them.

this video popped up in my recommendations. very cool video and I like your humor! you got yourself another sub.

Bridgeport Series 1 and 2 universal milling machines have heads that can be tilted side to side and forward/backward. While they can be knocked out of alignment due to hard use, these and similar milling machines have been heavily used by industry for decades. It's a given that any machine that offers the flexibility of a tilting head will need to be trammed in from time to time.

I have both a mini lathe and mini Mill. Both have worked great. Recently I am creating an open view case for a Ford Escort Transaxle for illustrative purposes at car shows. Have had to cut perfect holes in plate steel for five bearing races. The mini Mill along with a rotary table mounted to it has done the job beautifully. The races fit snug with no play. When holding the race in the hole I can barley see any light coming through the circumference. All done without a DRO ( Digital Read Out). There's a technique to it, but once you get that down the holes are perfect. Nice thing also is when I cut a hole I also get a perfect circle of steel to make gears out of for a later project. It's not necessary to cut a center hole in the circle Plug but I do anyway. That way if I do use the plug for a gear it already has a perfectly centered hole for a drive shaft with no run-out. ALL DONE ON A MINI MILLING MACHINE! I will say this though...when I received my Harbor Freight mini Mill there was a broken wire in the switch box I had to repair to get it to turn on.

Love the video, I am a forever lurker but I had to instant subscribe after your maker vs tool collector scene. Can’t wait to watch you learn and cut your teeth as a trail blazer for the rest of us!

Ok. You've got me off my butt. I have a 6" lathe I've had since 1975, but while the lathe is an old friend and has given fabulous service, the MILLING attachment is horrible. You just convinced me to snag a minimill. THANKS!

I had one of these heavy-duty wood lathes and it was absolutely fine. I know not as precise but was a very capable machine.

I follow the BerylCNC mantra of "light cuts" on any of this Chinese mini machinery. It's simple physics - the smaller the area of a given pressure, the higher the force on the material. So if you use sharp carbide and take a light cut, you'll push your cutting force up into the range of the "production machines". If you're making prototypes or one-offs, these machines can work great. Also helps to not trash up your good machines on sketchy jobs, so they are good for that too.

Great video......I have the Craftex CX 612 mill and it does all that I want .

I loved the "legal disclaimer." 🤣

I have a mini mill from Seig and have had no issues with it . Along with my 7" x 12" mini lathe I have made a Sine bar (With in 1/10,000 of an inch accurate) I've made two fly cutters and yesterday I made an Arbor for a diamond wheel to sharpen my gravers with. I've made other parts that I could have bought but it was more fun to make things and cheaper too.

I've had a mini mill for 16 plus years, don't do a lot with it but when I do, it gets me by. It's for small hobby type of work. If I needed anything larger or super precise, I'd go to a machine shop and have it done on a Bridgeport or similar. Don't expect the world from it!

Just remember to explain to people, making they own Tee-Nuts, never finish the thread, all the way through. The studs, should stop more than a full thread, from the bottom of the nut. Simply because the amount of force, getting multiplied by threads, is enough to snap off a chunk of the brittle iron table.

Learned some things here. Thank you for that.

As a young man back in the 70s I worked as a production machinist, operating turret lathes, chuckers and cataract machines. This was pre-CNC. One day I complained to my lead man that my machine wouldn't repeatedly hold tolerances required. He went over and ran a few parts, he then told me "It's not the machine, it's the machinist" He was correct of course and showed me why; I just wasn't concentrating, etc. The point is, these mini machines will produce good work if used within their limits. Be patient and don't try big hogging cuts, etc.

These are quite capable little machines that have enabled a lot of home hobby machinists to have the facility of a mill and lathe at very affordable prices. There would be a lot less people able to afford to enjoy the modelling/machining hobby if it weren't for these cheap import machines being available. Also worthy of mention is the point that great improvement in function and accuracy can be had with a bit of fettling and fine tuning of these cheap,basic machines.

Definitely interested in seeing a homebrew belt-drive upgrade. 👍

Toolamker for over 50 years (Well, I didn't START as a Toolmaker!). It warms my heart to see a newcomer such as yourself with such a positive attitude and the ability to address the small deficiencies in an inexpensive machine. One suggestion is to find a REAL Milling Vise rather trhna a Toolmakers vice.. (although for the work that you're doing, should suffice). In five years you'll be amazed at your skil sets. Keep on. There are millions of tools and parts that are well within your capabilities. Those Capabilities will only increase with time. Very nice.Best to you!

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Thank you for the encouragement! I figure a good attitude and willingness to learn is always a good place to start. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for a proper vice!

I got my mini mill from little machine shop and quite honestly use it mostly on hardwoods, aluminum, plastic and brass. fits my needs perfectly. Also make the occasional R/C part as needed (when i break stuff)

You're going to end up with a million subs. You've got what it takes: Great video and audio quality, top notch script writing, narration, pace, editing, humor. The whole nine yards. Thumbs and subs.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Thanks for your support! Glad you enjoyed the video!

I am use to a 3 hp Tree mill, and a 7.5 hp lathe. R & D, is fine with the smaller versions. But taking a half inch cut, on the lathe, and hearing the motor begging for mercy, is SOP. But you will never expect that, out of them. And the bigger and heavier the machine, less vibration, and deflection.

just discovered your channel and im invested bud. Good shit dude

The great thing about these machines is that you can improve them by making new components with these machines.

In my opinion, a 'small' branded mill or lathe can be a valued asset to a garage/hobbyist's shop. At 65 I had more time to play with projects. Was intimidated by the thoughts of adding larger/heavier/costlier machines to my small shop. For a bit over $3,000 both machines were added to my workspace, positioned and secured by myself. Now instead of +/- 1/32 I can easily work to +/- .001. Tooling costs continue but it has all been worth it.

Very nice video! It got my sub! Looking forward to more impressive information.

I bolted mine to an old cast iron surface plate “14 x 14”, and replaced the motor & gears with an ebay digital sewing machine motor with speed control and reversing, transforming the mill, I have used it hard for 6 years and counting. Invaluable tool now.

You need to drill and ream a tapered hole to the base of that vertical column. Tram it level, then just drill and ream the tapered hole. Fit a tapered pin, tap it in, head square and physically prevented from drifting. French Huron Mills had this, great method....🤔😳😏🇬🇧

My brushless mill is super smooth and quiet, maybe I lucked out, I’m in Canada and got it at Busy Bee Tools, was able to tram mine super close too, almost dead on, as close as I need it for sure. I’m thinking same rebranded mill as other sellers have, anyway more than happy with it for a hobby mill. My lathe needed more cleanup on some rough edges, replaced a few crappy cap screws with good ones, spent some time with motor alignment and now happy with it too, w other the price to me for sure.

Nice! Great video. I have always wondered if I should purchase an affordeable mill for my use. Now I Know.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!

Nice video👍. I have a Myford ML 7, which I love. It's much too good for my skills but who cares. I've been thinking of a mini mill for those odd times I need it. I figured that as long as I set it up properly, it would be ok for my ability and need level. Having seen your review and set up, I'm now convinced. 👍

I have a Grizzly that is very similar to the Central you're showing. I've cut steel, aluminum, plastic and wood with no issue. All that's needed is recognizing what you're working with and adjusting speeds accordingly. Granted, it has a little more backlash than full sized machines but I like mine.

Would love to hear more about how you use that that ti-83 calculator in the shop! Always looking for ways to make the math easier.

This is a great video, thanks!

With the Mini-Whatever machines there seems to be a third category besides "Maker" and "Collector". And that is where the lathe itself is the hobby. I have been on the 7x12minilathe group forever and it seems the majority of activity is fixing this or that about the machines. Or making this or that accessory (carriage clamp, chip guard for the back side of the apron, and so forth). It is pretty rare that I see posts about somebody using the machine for an actual project.

@aquilifergroup

Ай бұрын

😂. The lathe itself is the hobby. I’ve never heard it put that way. It’s true though

@practicalplinking6133

Ай бұрын

I bought a mini lathe to use and I do. It's biggest drawback is depth of cut(material removal) is small due to lack of rigidity. Yep, had ta change the control board and replaced the plastic drive gears so the price ain't mini no more !!

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Haha very true! I definitely also fall into this category from time to time. It’s fun to go down the improvement rabbit hole

@trainliker100

Ай бұрын

@@practicalplinking6133 The bed part of it is actually rather stout. Most trouble seems to be to be due to the cross slide + compound flexing, and general looseness there. Some lap the dovetails as an improvement. Some remove the compound and replace with a solid block and report it helps. Then there are the many who have changed the headstock bearings to good quality8 tapered roller bearings. Some problems are user caused such as not using sharp enough tool bits, tool bits extending too far from the tool post, or trying to exceed what the low horsepower motor can do.

@trainliker100

Ай бұрын

@@aquilifergroup Although, I don't think that's a bad thing. A hobby can be whatever somebody wants it to be. And they are doing something and learning something outside of looking at TV, smart phones, iPads, etc.

Having experience with full size, modern production machines will absolutely crush any hopes and dreams for these toy mills. Gotta start somewhere though, and these are good for learning and tinkering if you've got a boat load of free time.

I have the ridgid column version of the Mini Mill. It has been used for years and served me well. A few electrical gremlins sorted out over time, Sieg have a good spares supply in the UK. I put a dro on the Z axis. But never bothered with the x & y axis. I should do, it will be super useful but the space for the encoders is very limited. Any ideas are welcome.

Fresh review. Smashed the Subscribe button. TY for sharing. 🤗

I've been doing machining for around 5 years professionally, I've worked with vintage Cincinnatis, Bridgeports, VTLs, Gap lathes ,average lathes and mini lathes and many more i can't think of. I just recently picked up the harbor freight mini mill recently for the house, was disappointed at first but i realized the chuck was .017 thou out. After watching this and getting a new chuck it's not so bad.

I have something very similar, a Little Machine Shop 4190 I bought as factory refurb with the DRO removed. Essentially your machine with belt drive, bigger table, 20 tpi leadscrews, and solid column. It'll pretty much eat aluminum with 3/8 endmills as fast as I can crank, and mild steel at maybe .050" DOC passes. Alloy steels like 4140 though, the mill pretty much has to nibble at. Where the stiffness issues will get you is high DOC cuts, even at super low tool engagement and low feed rates, like knocking down the sides of a part. Listen to your mill and feel what the vibration in the handwheels is telling you, and it should do fine. LMS does sell conversion kits such as a belt drive kit or 20 TPI leadscrews, if you don't care to make them yourself.

@Someone_Should_Make_That

Ай бұрын

Good advice! I’ll keep that in mind when I need to work with any of the tougher alloys out there

Having a piece of steel plate under the mill to give you a place for mag base indicators helps a lot. Ditto the LMS belt drive kit.

A hint on plunge or side milling on mini machines... Avoid adjusting for your next cutting pass while the machine is running. One can cut too deep jamming the machine. What I do is to turn the machine off and then pull on my Quill handle until the end mill contacts the surface. Then while I have a little pressure on the Quill handle I lock the Quill and turn on the machine. The end mill will cut in maybe 2 to 4 thousands and I then finish that pass. This eliminates doubts regarding backlash and I never have jammed the machine doing this. I use the same method side milling. Once the end mill contacts the surface and you feel a little pressure you know all backlash is gone. Just learn the appropriate amount of pressure. When first learning this method start with very light pressure and work your way up to where it works best for you and then lock that into muscle memory.

I've got a Clarke Mini Mill, it's great. It cuts steel with no problems, just don't expect large cuts. My main tool is a 50mm 4 insert surface cutter, getting the right inserts for the material matters. 6mm and 8mm coated end mills will cut slots in steel in up to 3mm deep passes. My x and y calibration is 1.5mm per handle turn and 1.2 in the z axis, the only problem is the excessive backlash on the z axis slow adjustment. I've fitted a belt drive after breaking 2 sets of nylon gears. It does all the model engineering tasks I want from it.

@fakecrusader

Күн бұрын

The Z axis mechanism on these machines is not great (yes I do have one), as you say a lot of backlash. Most fine adjustments take much more turning of knobs than seems acceptable.

Those koru toga pencils are so nice. Good choice. Had mine for many moons, even use it for D&D and Pathfinder character creation.

If you ever break the nylon gear, just 3D print a replacement. PLA works just fine. I havent broken the gear again. But it is a mechanical fuse. So im not worried if it does.

@fakecrusader

Күн бұрын

Nylon print is better.

You’re cracking me up. Good on you.

Heck yeah, i wanna see the belt drive upgrade!!

Great video. I have been thinking about getting a minimill.

I added a little machine shop upgraded fixed Z column to my now quite old mini mill which gave it more Y travel. I also did the belt drive. The main thing that annoys me about my mill is the controller goes into overcurrent protection very easily. Like drilling aluminum and it will often shut off. I'd replace the motor & controller if there was an inexpensive alternative.

I made T slot nuts from big bolt heads. Cut the head to fit the slots, drilled and tapped the centers.

I have deployed to the middle east with a smithy all in one. Used it for 5 months as my only machine and cut everything with it. Stainless had to be light cuts but it was doable. My father is a retired machinist with 35 years in the industry and I am also a retired machinist with 25 years experience. Any real machinist will be able to make any machine work if they need to. I am planning on getting one of these small machines for at home.

Good video, thank you. The spacers you used under the piece to hold the piece in the vice looked like a couple of brackets; did you have someone else mill those to size before you were able to use them on your mill or did you painstakingly file them by hand? I only ask because my expectation was that you'd otherwise struggle to cut parallel sides to a piece. Often it's those first references that are the hardest to make without a mill.

Useful video, thanks. Sixty-two and a half thou seems really weird until you realise that means a lead screw of 16 threads per inch. (Served a machine shop apprenticeship in the UK in the '70s where we had to deal with metric, imperial and imperial fractions in equal measures.)

@Someone_Should_Make_That

10 күн бұрын

Ah yes the mixing of units is always fun. I’m guilty of designing in metric, but machining in imperial. It’s all fun and games until I need to drill a hole for a metric fastener with my imperial drills haha

I think Mrclean had half of the answer right: A pro will constantly be comparing it to a Series 1 Bridgeport, with all the bells and whistles. On the flip side, though, a newbie would likely be frustrated with the Bridgeport, too, but would know better than to blame his inexperience on the machine (or would be quickly and firmly corrected). The very tiny sweet spot is someone like yourself, who knows what he's doing but is still realistic enough to know the limitations of what he's standing (crouching?) in front of.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with that benchtop mill. My 1962 Bridgeport cost me rather less than a decent mini-mill, BUT... I have a large brick-built workshop separate from the house. The noise and cutting fluids, 3 phase power and just the SIZE of the thing makes a big old cast-iron beast like a BP a *terrible* choice for someone based in a spare room or garage. It's all about picking the right tools, and understanding chiploads and feeds and speeds, always considering the effects of backlash and fixing the simple inherent manufacturing defects. I just bought a new CNC mill that weighs 2.5 times as much as the Bridgeport and makes the old BP look tiny, but it's only buying me speed, repeatability and the ability to cut complex compound curves. Most of the parts I make could be machined on a mini-mill and lathe with enough preparation and care and correct tool choices. Maybe not the Titanium parts, and getting a mirror finish on 4140 makes even my 3HP lathe break into a sweat, but hey....

I have used the Haas Mini Mill, and because of that, my expectations of what you were going to talk about were way off. That being said, I'm guessing your mill didn't cost $38,000.

love my mini lathe and mini mill just buy the right tooling for what you wish to cut yes they need tweaking but that's part of the learning process

Two things to understand if you go the cheaper/better, old iron route. 1) Understand the hierarchy of accuracy. You don't need a tool room lathe, or super lathe or mill like a Hardinger, or Deckle. You may find them for near free - enjoy. But those machines exist to do lab work, or in a factory, to maintain the lathes that are actually making the parts. This whole, "I am using a granite surface plate to align my bike frame thing, while harmless, is a little stupid. 2) Sometimes crappy old lathes that were bare bones machines, are in a lot better condition than a tool room lathe that got ridden hard. One of my lathes, the lowest SB model, was sold to a dentist in Toronto. It is basically in new condition. I have a tool room 9" also, and it is in OK condition, but is not as good at this point in it's life.

I love mine.. I put a treadmill motor on it with a belt drive kit.. takes cuts like butter now ! mine stays in tram well .. I bought a grizzly mill

I’ve got a Proxxon machine that’s literally as big as my forearm and I machine steel and stainless steel on it no problem. It’s very accurate but you do have to put up with taking small cuts only 3MM wide on its largest End Mill. It is a toolers milling machine though so I didn’t have high expectations. I got it to machine wood scales for knives so they are nice and flat when I bolt and glue them to a knife handle. It’s still very handy and I’ve made all sorts with it.

I would argue that the only limitation is the size of parts you can mill, especially as we well know it's the type of cutter that you use which allows you to cut steel.

We never tighten the cutter in the collet while it is in the spindle. Best to load cutter before loading holder into spindle.

That's actually a pretty clever "boring bar" setup... I might have to give that a shot sometime. Oh, and a company called "iGaging" makes a very inexpensive 3 axis DRO setup. It uses the same kind of scales as digital calipers, and costs about $60 for all three axes. I'm sure it's nowhere near as accurate as a proper glass DRO scale, but they're good enough for everything I've ever used them for!

I clicked on the video, just for the channel name. Love it!

Princess Auto had a Boxing Week door crasher sale on this mill and its lathe brother in 2010 for $400 each. I couldn't pass them up. Yes, they're tiny and you get what you pay for. I haven't bothered refining them, but they've been really handy over the years.