looking to get a Mini Milling Machine

[dragzz]

hello all iam looking to get a mini milling machine for doing rims and stuff for modeling iam in canada anyone know of a good one to get that dont cost way to much tys

[vypurr59]

Micro Mark has the mini milling machines. So does Harbor Freight.

[scalenut]

for machining round objects on the mill you probably need an indexing table and they can run pretty expensive.

or you would need to go cnc

[Pete J.]

hello all iam looking to get a mini milling machine for doing rims and stuff for modeling iam in canada anyone know of a good one to get that dont cost way to much tys

How much is way too much? I spent a reasonable amount on my Sherline and consider it a reasonable investment because it is reasonably robust, very precise and there are a ton of options including a rotary table(indexible)for making round things. I also have a lot of accessories to make things, like slitting saws, ball mill ends, very small mill ends, fly cutters, sensitive drilling attachments and bunch of other stuff. The basic mill is about $800. A package so you can do something is about $1,100. I have probably spent another $1,000 on other accessories over the last year to do things I want to do.

If you want a professional tool that will do things in such a way that you don't get frustrated and put it in a closet and forget about it, then you need to step up and pay for a good one. You can also often find them on eBay if you don't mind getting a used machine.

Buying quality is never cheap, but it is a lot less costly than buying cheap and discovering your mistake and buying quality.

There are no such things as mistakes. There are only lessons. The lessons will continue until they are learned.

[astroracer]

I have a Smithy Lathe/Mill combo that I have been using for 22 yrs. I ran all of my product on this machine when I owned Machined Aluminum Specialties. I would recommend looking at one of these machines from Smithy, Jet, Grizzly, Enco, etc. Tooling is based on full size machines and is available from most machine tool suppliers. Multi-position tool blocks allow you to easily change tooling and the machines are much more stable then the smaller ones. This allows heavier cuts which saves alot time.

The lathe side is much more versatile for machining wheels and You will get more use out of that then you will the mill.

Mark

[Art Anderson]

hello all iam looking to get a mini milling machine for doing rims and stuff for modeling iam in canada anyone know of a good one to get that dont cost way to much tys

Bear in mind that unlike many modeling tools, machine tools such as hand-held rotary cutter/grinders and certainly such as lathes and vertical milling machines--you will get very much what you pay for. By that I mean, sincerely, precision and the ability to create model parts with decent precision will be almost directly in proportion to the cost of such equipment.

I have a Sherline vertical mill, with most of the attachments, including the rotary milling head mentioned above, and I gotta tell you--that is about as precise and high-quality piece of equipment as you are going to find for anything like a reasonable price as far as we modelers are concerned. Anything appreciably less expensive will suffer, I would be very certain, from loose tolerances (meaning lousy parts for a model car) and/or a distinct lack of available accessories that will be compatible with it.

Of course, there will necessarily be a "learning curve" with this or any other machine tool, but you'll be far happier going through that with a good machine that's not going to make you wonder if it was your inexperience or a poorly made unit. I know the stuff coming out of China is attractive certainly on price, but what good would that be, if you cannot make it do what you want it to do because of quality factors beyond your control?

Art

[greymack]

Hey Art you make a great point.Its always good to learn new things in the hobby.But speaking of milling machines I thought I seen a milling /lathe on ebay one time and they were affordable has anyone seen them?

[Pete J.]

The Sherline stuff shows up on eBay all the time. Both mills and lathes. You kind of need to be careful because there are a lot of them used commercially and can be badly warn. Beware of too good of a deal. The best place to pick up used machines is the Yahoo Sherline group. Often members will be upgrading or have multiples and be downsizing. It use to be a closed group, but I am not so sure anymore. If you are looking to get into machining, it is a good place to start.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Pete J.

[Vampira]

I have the grizzly 7x12 mini lathe and it is a nice piece. I plan to buy the grizzly mini mill in the future still saving.

With the proper fixturing and experience you can do limited milling with a lathe..