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Which Mini Mill to Purchase??

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Stephen Slater03/05/2011 20:21:35
3 forum posts
Been trawling the web looking for reasonable mill to purchase, just need initially to be stable, for cutting into aluminium (makeing flanges etc) later want to convert to cnc for routing & Plate etching.
 
Am probably at the point to purchase a mill through Chester MachineTools,either a Cobra, Conquest Super or Champion 16v, does anyone have any experience (good or bad) or any other suggestions that I may need to look at also?
 
Thanks in Advance
Steve
 

Clive Farrar03/05/2011 20:46:23
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125 forum posts
41 photos
In all honesty at that end of the market they are basically different colour painted clones.
 
That is the ned of the market I am at and I am happy with my Warco Mini mill.
 
But hindsight is a wonderfull thing and if I were starting from scratch I would have the most rigid one I can find even at the expense of some of the other bells and whistles.
 
Warco Mini mills et al have plastic , delrin , gear dives they are fairly noisy and you WILL smash them at some point. This means taking the head off the mast and stripping it right down. You can get replacements and also aftermarket metal gears from ARC.
 
But they are still gears they will still be noisy and I did not want to transfer the damage from the gears to some other part of the mill.
 
I made the belt drive conversion, there are a couple of threads on here about it.
Much quieter, smoother and a better speed range. Well worth doing.
 
Hope that helps.
 
Regards Clive
John Coates03/05/2011 20:53:46
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558 forum posts
28 photos
I've got an old Chester Champion. The round column is a pain as I lose register whenever I raise or lower the head when having to change tools so go for a something other than this - square or with a rack. The four speeds seemed limiting in respect of choosing an appropriate speed for the size of cutter and material so I have recently converted it to 3 phase (inverter and new motor plus making an adapter collar for the drive cone).
 
It is robust and has coped with my cack handed learning as a newbie. I'm getting more adventurous now though!
 
I spent £375 on the mill second hand and must have spent over that again on tooling and I still don't have all I need. At least that gives me an excuse to go to the ME show at Harrogate.
 
Chester have been very good with email communications when I needed help and they have a good support forum.
 
Hope this helps.
 
John
Stephen Slater03/05/2011 20:57:23
3 forum posts
Clive
 
I looked at the the Warco & came acrross two issues that I am not sure at classed as common or just one off;'s one being z-drop in that if the fine adjustment is not locked off the mill spring can unload & drop the mill into the workpiece, this can be worked around apparently but should not be an issue when converted to cnc as the spring can be removed & then use antibacklash nuts.
Second I came accross an artical whereby the X & Y slides were not perpendicular to each other, found to be poor machining from manufacturer & required re millilng.
 
Another mill I am looking at is the AMA16v import machine but has good weight & reasonable maching capacity for price.
 
Steve
 
 
 

Stephen Slater03/05/2011 20:57:26
3 forum posts
Clive
 
I looked at the the Warco & came acrross two issues that I am not sure at classed as common or just one off;'s one being z-drop in that if the fine adjustment is not locked off the mill spring can unload & drop the mill into the workpiece, this can be worked around apparently but should not be an issue when converted to cnc as the spring can be removed & then use antibacklash nuts.
Second I came accross an artical whereby the X & Y slides were not perpendicular to each other, found to be poor machining from manufacturer & required re millilng.
 
Another mill I am looking at is the AMA16v import machine but has good weight & reasonable maching capacity for price.
 
Steve
 
 
 

Pat03/05/2011 22:21:31
94 forum posts
1 photos
Hi Clive
 
There are some important differences other than the paint color. You might like to compare:-
 
1. The compare the weight. More is better as the extra metal in the mast and base castings. Look at the four mounting feet. The lighter ones have four separate lugs and the better ones a nice fat web with two bolt holes each side.
 
2. The mast tilt has a locating pin and a bigger nut / flange locking the parts together.
 
3. If you are going to put CNC on the Z axis then check that the top of the mast is solid and not a flimsy plate. The better ones have a plate on the back giving access to the mast internals required for the sand core removal after casting but also useful for fitting air struts and other mods.
 
4. Consider and think hard about the spindle do you want MT3 or R8. Each has their supporters and it is not an easy choice.
 
I would try and get to either WARCO or the ebay seller Harry123 - both have showrooms - Surrey or London E11 respectively and have a good look then compare prices and deals on included bits. However you have been warned by others that the machine cost is soon dwarfed by the bits and bobs if you are going to make loads of different things.
 
Happy shopping - Regards Pat
 
PS I have had the XJ12 on the bench and tested it out of the box for backlash and tram and it was spot on.   Look at the exposed flat portion of the ways - these should be well ground and free form dinges of any sort.  The finish on the slope of the dovetails is not that important an these are often cut on a shaping machine and have loads of exactly parallel ridges that you can easily tune up if they irritate you.  
 

Edited By Pat on 03/05/2011 22:26:24

Martin W03/05/2011 23:25:21
940 forum posts
30 photos
Hi
 
I have a Warco WM14 mill and am pleased with its performance. Other than tramming the head and doing a few standard checks, minor adjustment of the gibs to suit my preferences it was run straight out of the box. This model is gear driven but the noise is not intrusive and if anything it is quieter now after running than when it was new.
 
It has a dovetail column and a digital readout on the quill. I would suggest that no matter which mill you buy you get it from a good/established company that carries spares and has a good after sales service, I have found that both Chester UK and Warco offer excellent support.
 
With the WM14 the the head is raised or lowered via a screw feed and the quill is spring loaded so that it normally retracts and will not drop onto the work piece. As said above the real cost comes with the accessories and add ons!!!!
 
 
Regards
 
 
Martin

Edited By Martin W on 03/05/2011 23:26:52

Steve Wan04/05/2011 12:52:27
131 forum posts
3 photos
Hi Stephen
 
Those mini-mill they mentioned belongs to medium range. Have you ever consider Sherline-USA, I have been using it since 1995. Though small but it can be moved around and kept in cupboard. It's so versitile, that it could be upgraded to CNC. Moreover if you decide later to do routing there's the monster mill for larger format using existing Sherline head.
 
The avenue is endless and most of all, quiet, run on DC 90V and both Sherline lathe/mill have identical parts and tons of accessories to fall on to.
 
For UK-Sherline agent, google millhill supply or google tryally technology, see my good friend Luiz from Brazil in action using Sherline mill/lathe CNC on his youtube.
 
Good luck!
Steve
 
Ian S C05/05/2011 12:16:14
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
I'm curious,are there any of these little mills made in britan, or Europe, as I never hear anyone talk of them, only used industrial machines. Perhaps even Russia, I don't know about now, but we used to get some good lathes from there 20 odd years ago(have not been looking since). Ian S C

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