$299 Harbor Freight Mini Mill?

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
Anybody try this thing out? IG was talking about trying it. I'm just curious if it's at all worth considering.
 
I don't have an answer but, I was thinking about getting this one myself. Mostly just for slotting guards.
 
I took delivery of mine last week, first mill of any kind so I have nothing to compare it to.....all I will be using it for is slotting guards, for that it works great...table was a little loose on the first try, then I found the adjusting screws & tightened her up, cuts a perfect slot.....works for me....
 
I have the Homier Tools Mini Mill which is $100 more...and just a little stouter. It works great for guard slotting, micarta mortising, and truing up scrap material that will eventually be guard stock.

I mounted a Taig mini mill vise to a thick block of G10 to hold my stock. Most of these mini mills, with the exception of Sherline and Taig, use 1/2" T-nuts to hold down your vise, step blocks, etc....the only problem is that the mill head has a torsion arm that offsets the weight of the head, and these limit the downward travel so that it is not possible to bring the end mill down to the actual table. Most machine vises are so large that they are too big for the table. I mounted the Taig vise on a thick G10 block to raise the height and also make the T-nut mounting compatible.
 
Peter, one of the makers in the North Carolina Guild had the Harbor Freight mini-mill that had problem after problem with use. There is one on display in the Harbor Freight store where I live and it is coming apart.

I have the TAIG mini-mill and like it a lot. It is capable of reasonably heavy cuts and has excellent precision. My two cents.
 
Thanks for the info guys! I've been debating this mini mill thing for a long while now. I'm going to do something pretty soon, just not sure yet exactly what. :)
 
I have the HF 3-in-1 machine and like it a lot. Have the same table problem as Greg, and Greg thanks for the ideas. Finding a clamping kit for the smaller t slots in my table is rather frustrating - they are never on sale the way the half inch sets are.

Still, I think it's good tooling for the money. My 2c. I must have largest collection of HF tools in the Plains. :)

Dave
 
Originally posted by ddavelarsen
... Finding a clamping kit for the smaller t slots in my table is rather frustrating - they are never on sale the way the half inch sets are...
Click to expand...

FWIW. I mistakenly ordered the 1/2" T slot set and ended up just grinding the T nuts down on my grinder. Took about 1/2 hour and all of them fit the mini-mill just fine now. I still haven't used it even once for a knife but it's there waiting on my next guard slot. Squaring it up was an entire evening of thrills and cussing.
 
Originally posted by tmickley
I mistakenly ordered the 1/2" T slot set and ended up just grinding the T nuts down on my grinder.
Click to expand...

I have the $499 mini mill from harbor freight. I got this one because it uses R8 collets. Anyway, I was having the same trouble finding t-slot sets, and then I found this idea online...

Go down to the local hardware store and pick up some carriage bolts, washers and nuts. Grind a little off each side of the head of the carriage bolts and they make the perfect substitution for a t-slot set. You will still need to pick up a couple of step blocks, but any size of these will work. Here is a pic:

1bolts.jpg


Hope this helps. -chris
 
Chris,

I have the same mill but from Grizzly. Those are NOT R8 Collets though unless I'm TERRIBLY mistaken OR they changed the machine itself???

As soon as my Grizzly arrived, I took it apart, finished off all the rough edges, remounted the leadscrew blocks and replaced the red rust inhibitor with quality AMERICAN grease!! At the same time I adjusted all the "gibs". The machine is now quite rigid. I also mounted it on a large piece of black iron plate for added stability.

My little Grizzly mini mill does all the slotting of my framelocks. With the head tilted to 45 degrees I also use it to mill my thumb grip serrations. At some point I would LOVE to have a Bridgeport with a rotary table and DRO. For now the little Griz does everything I ask of it :)



Neil
 
I have one table that uses the smaller T nuts. I just took stock the size I needed, Drilled and tapped holes, cut it off at the necessary length and put a piece of allthread in. Chris's idea is even easier.
 
Originally posted by Dr.Lathe
Chris,

I have the same mill but from Grizzly. Those are NOT R8 Collets though unless I'm TERRIBLY mistaken OR they changed the machine itself??? ..
Click to expand...

The Grizzly version has MT3 collets, the Harbor Freight version has R8 collets. They are identical otherwise.
 
What are the pluses and minuses between MT3 and R8 collets? Is there any reason to favor one over the other? Is there any maximum size difference in what they will accept in an endmill? Also, are these small machines rigid enough to mill 1/8" titanium and stainless steel?
 
Tracy and Chris, thanks. I'm sure I can use the half inch blocks & etc with 3/8 carriage bolts, so I'm all set.

Dave
 
Dr. Lathe, The HF milling machine that I have does use the R8 collets. In fact, I picked that machine because of the 0-2500 RPM variable speed and its use of R8 collets. Here is a link to the mill:
.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44991

Peter, I believe that R8 is more of a standard size for milling tools than MT3. That's about the only advantage that I know of. I've never worked titanium with my machine, but I have milled out the lug notch on a couple of 440c stainless auto blades. It worked fine, but I had to make many small passes rather than one large cut.

-chris
 
Originally posted by Peter Atwood
What are the pluses and minuses between MT3 and R8 collets? Is there any reason to favor one over the other? Is there any maximum size difference in what they will accept in an endmill? Also, are these small machines rigid enough to mill 1/8" titanium and stainless steel?
Click to expand...

Like Chris said about the R8 collets, tooling is more common and will be slightly cheaper. Milling anything that will fit between the mill end and the table won't be a problem (which isn't much, clearance is tight - it's a mini-mill), you'll just have to make several passes. You'll want to take off just a few thousands on each pass. It's tedious.
If you haven't ever milled before, go here and get Joe Rodriguez' video tape on mini-milling.
 
I believe that the HP on the motors is different also. The HF mini-mill is 4/5hp and the Grizzly is 3/4hp.
 
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