milling machine which one ?

Well ive got a small garage containing a boxford lathe and pillar drill .Ive allways had access to a mill (bridgeport) but unfortunately thats come to an end

So what do i buy Bridgeports far too big sadly so maybe a warco vmc or similar AMAT and SYIL ans AMADEAL are available locally but no feedback .

S/H Tom senior or similar maybe ?

Do a lot of airgun work restoration rebuild ect

budget 2 to 3 grand (less if poss

Any suggestions help advice please

Hello Derek, I'm assuming that a vertical mill would be more use to you.

The Tom Seniors are nice machines but the 'S' type vertical heads command a premium price and of course, being second hand, the quality is not certain.

I have no personal experience but the Sieg range of machines from ARC always seem to get a good write up and their latest machine falls within you budget.

If you find a machine and want to know the history and technical details without bias then go to;

**LINK**

There are often machines for sale on there.

Brian

I would look at what ARC have going at the moment, they also list the footprint which is good. If you have a choice go for one with an R8 spindle fitting. Your budget is pretty good, add at least 50% onto the machine price for tooling.

Hi, having sold my Tom senior s type a few years back, I remember that moving the knee up and down was a bit of hard work at times. I needed a milling machine again earlier this year. Space is limited, I found that old British mills mainly sole by dealers had a fair bit of play in them. I looked at mini mills, but the bed size allowing for clamping was too small. In the end a warco super major turned up for sale. Locally. I did not wish to go Chinese, but took a look. Powered z axis and bed was nice. For the money £700 I thing it was a good buy. From what I have found out older warco machines are better then the newer ones.

Hi all, I’m new to these small machines and with retirement looming on the horizon I am looking to kit out a home workshop.

I’m not intending to build anything huge, so a small hobby machine should be fine, plus I don’t have room for a Bridgeport.

Looking at the various Chinese machines they are all very similar. Is anyone make better than others. Looking to spend around £1200 on a mill.

Thanks Andy

Plenty of recent discussions on here already

The machines are more-or-less made to the same design, but details vary. They're made down to a price, mostly OK, but some rough examples escape. Probably matters more who you buy from because the game is more about what happens if you get a poor example than identifying wonderfulness. There's a hint that some suppliers do better than others in terms of quality, but - as far as I know - all the main UK vendors refund or replace if they send out a dud.

ArcEuroTrade have an unblemished reputation : I bought all my machines from Warco. They all worked out-of-the box and they all benefited from minor tweaking. I have no complaints. Axminster are more expensive, but offer an extended warranty. Best avoided I think is ordering direct from China, or from the continent, or from the sort of temporary online seller who might be selling factory seconds.

Unless the intention is to specialise in small work, good advice is to buy the biggest machine you can manage (space and money!)

With hindsight I spent far too long dithering about which of the rather similar machines I should buy. Now I think it was a waste of time : any one of them would have done. For what it's worth I have a Warco WM18, which has done all I've asked of it. It's the biggest mill have I space for!

Get stuck in and enjoy.

Dave

Your budget is 3k.

Get yourself the latest belt drive sieg x2 from arc euro, 700 quid, I just saved you 2300 of your budget.

Edited By Pete. on 26/05/2020 21:30:19

From my experience go for the biggest you can fit /afford.

My first mill was Warco WM14 size/style. It was great for doing small steam engines but I started doing bigger and bigger projects and ran into issues with the table not having suffient travel or being able to fit the parts under the head . The final straw .. burning out the motor after being too impatient taking too big a cut.

I replaced it with a Major Gear Head Mill / Drill. R8 quill . Good work envelope and more power for getting the jobs done. If I was going to change I would look at a similar size machine but with a Dovetail column and inverter speed control.

AND .... what ever you pay for the Mill , you will spend the same again [or more !] on tooling , vices, rotary table clamping kit .......

Just my two penny worth

Steve

Edited By The Novice Engineer on 26/05/2020 22:45:09

+1 for both these points and check just how much space you need for the table to travel to its extremes - the 'envelope' can be surprisingly large!

BUT you don't need to buy all the tooling on day one so spend everything on the machine. You can buy an add on tool next month but you can't buy an add on 6 inches of mill table.
It was pointed out last week on a similar thread that I hadn't realized how much tooling prices had risen which was true but you still only need one collet (not a set) and one HSS slot drill (not carbide, not a set, not 3 flute) on day one. You never need a clamping set nor even a vice initially.

Cormak zx74sb1 mills any good ?

Anadeal ama45 mill and good ?

cheers for that who are ARC ? any links ?

Look at top right of this page. arc eurotrade

Steve.

thank you

looks like they dont supply anything big enough

How big do you need to work on air gun parts?

I'm pretty impressed by a mate's Sieg SX3. Big enough for him to build a 9cylinder rotary engine about a foot in diameter when assembled. Plenty big enough for vintage motorcycle parts too. Would be good for gunsmithing I should think, unless you need to mill the full length of a barrel for some reason, in which case you are into Bridgeport territory and commensurate prices.

Having decided upon a machine (If possible, a little larger than you first anticipate ) The budget needs to cover some extra items.

You will need some tooling with the machine, whatever you buy.

You will need a vice (Buy a good one. A flimsy vice will spoil accuracy, at least.) It needs to be an appropriate size for the machine. Tilting Vices can be useful, but are less rigid, and can be bought as and when the need arises.

A Clamping kit may eventually prove useful, depending on what you do.

You will need a proper chuck to hold cutters, NOT a drill chuck. My choice would be the ER system.

Depending on what you want to do, you might need more than one size. ER25 will cover upto 16 mm, so may be a good starting point.

You will need End Mills, probably Slot Drills of various sizes, possibly one or more Face Mills..

You will certainly need twist Drills and either Spotting or Centre drills.

You are likely, eventually to want to cut threads, so you will need Taps and Dies. Again, you may well end up with several sets covering different thread types (Metric, posibly BSW, BSF, or even BA )

If, in the future, you want to produce regularly spaced holes, curved surfaces, or cut gears, you will need a Dividing Head or Rotary Table, preferably with a Tailstock.

You will need measuring equipment.

A digital Calliper would be a starting point, plus, possibly a Plunger Clock, and Finger Clock, maybe with a Magnetic Base. Later, you may decide to buy individual Micrometers, maybe even a Bore Set.

A six inch steel rule will be useful, if only for rough setting up.

Things like a n Edge Finder, or a Wiggler, and a Centre finder, are low cost accessories which make life easier.

You don't need to buy everything at once.

Buy the basics first of all, and add extras, as you see the need arising.

HTH

Howard

most of the bits and pieces i need are in my workshop allready as i have had access to a bridgeport . sadly space for a bridgeport isnt available hence the question re the other machines