Mini mills
How do you guys like the mini mills? The table seems so small I wonder how you folks do the stuff you do with it. I can do very limited milling work on my SuperShop but the table has to much vibration in it to do anything serious plus Im only using a cheapo X,Y compound vise. I either need to build a solid table or just buy a whole machine. Im leaning towards building a table because the SuperShop power head is rock solid and has R8 already. I would compare the power head to an X3. The head wont tilt though so I would have to make the table be able to tilt if I go that route.
The table I can build but I still need to put a compound table on top of it. So far Ive been looking at the table off of a mini mill
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1765&category=-269978449
This one off of Ebay
Or possibly this one from Grizzly
http://www.grizzly.com/products/X-Y-Cross-Table/H7659
The problem I have is the more money I spend on a table the closer I get to the price of a complete mini mill.
Has anyone used that cheap Ebay table?
You guys with mini mills, how do you like them?
Give me some feedback guys. I need to think about doing something soon as Im really getting tired of being on the edge of an accident with my shakey mill table.
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Sounds good. My initial thought seeing engine timing gears was 1100-1300 rpm (avg electric motor) in half = 5-600 rpm=waaay too fast. missed the gearbox on the motor. If pump overheats, you could set up a secondary or “jackshaft” with another set of the same gears for another 2/1 reduction. That would be closer to manual pump operation speed but still without the manual labor. Good luck.
With no load its turning at 30 rpm and about 900 foot pounds of torque at the arm drive shaft. I figure under load it will slow a tiny bit but not much.
oops, missed the gear reduction on the motor. will turn 1/2 OUTPUT SHAFT rpm. still, keep ratio in mind.
You may need further gear reduction. Keep in mind that engine timing gears are only 2:1 reduction ratio. This means pump will move at 1/2 motor rpm (probably too fast) unless that is a DC variable speed motor.
Looks like a good setup so far, can’t wait to see results.
Went and picked this up the other day.
Today I stopped by my favorite metal supply house and had them do this.
Im going to use the third crank assembly that came with it and mate it to a worm gear for a micro quill feed(later, much later).
This is what Ive been using as a mill. In this setup it can mill and shake the fillings out of your teeth at the same time.
I still have to build the metal stand so I dont have to use the saw table anymore but I put it on there to see what its gonna look like. Looks like Im going to have 15 inches between the table and the bottom of the spindle, NICE!
As long as Im posting I may as well put up some pics of my AutoPump project.
The gear motor and timing chain and pulleys I got off Ebay.
The pump arm and head are mostly done. Here it is jigged up in the vise so I could watch it spin around.
I got a ways to go as I have to many projects going at once. I think I have a deal worked out on a mig so I dont have to drive everything over to a buddies to do my welding. I will post more pics as I progress on both projects.
Mike, the tables in those pics are 3.5 X 13 inches. The one Im getting is 6.5 X 21.5 inches. Its the same table and base thats on a Seig X3 mill. I do realize its still not a big table but I think I could get away with a 6. I may just go with the 4 though. I will check some more forums and see what they are running on their X3’s.
I just looked up the table size on that Grizzly mill you linked. Its actually very close in size (6-1/8″ x 26″) to the one Im getting. What size vise are you running on it?
You put a 6″ on that table, the whole thing is going to topple. Haa! On a more serious note. A 6″ Kurt type would severely limit your table movement, not to mention the extreme extra weight on the heavy side ways. It could eventually screw with your tolerances. A 3′ would work much better for this size table.
Mike.
Here’s a 4″ Kurt clone on a mini mill
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Hmm, the descriptions are identical between the two.
Wok, I think I want a bigger vise than that. Am I crazy to think I can use a 6 inch Kurt clone on a table that size?
Well take a look at the size of it on my table. A 6″ is huge! This one is the 3″ model
I wonder what the difference is between the phase II and the others are. Spec’s look the same.
I think I have them talked into me just picking it up from a local hub and saving a crapload of extra charges. I have to say that so far LittleMachineShop is top notch. The replies have been fast and they dont try to jerk you around.
Wok, I think I want a bigger vise than that. Am I crazy to think I can use a 6 inch Kurt clone on a table that size?
I am using this vise and it is really a nice one. A Kurt Knock off
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1699&category=
Holy crap! They want to charge me over 200 bucks just for shipping. They are located in CA and Im in AZ. I had a 300 lb. AC unit shipped from Florida just last year for less than that and that was to my door with a lift gate. Another 400 bucks and I could pick up a complete mill from Harbor Freight and pay no shipping.
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I was even thinking if it does run warm I could take some copper tubing and make a cooling jacket around the base of the pump. Just pump some water through it and it should keep it running very cool as long as it also pulls some of the heat out of the pump shafts and internals. I dont want to make it to hard to remove the pump from the motor though.