help please, which mini mill?

B

boilermaker

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Aug 26, 2005
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G'day all, i'm looking at buying a small desktop milling machine (untill i have room for a full size machine) for folder making and have narrowed my choices down to two machines available locally:

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?stockCode=M150

http://www.engtooling.com/webshop/ETSItem.csp?ID=ETS%7C%7C17924%7C%7C4

Hope those links work. any assistance would be much appreciated as i know little about milling machines and have not used either machine so i can not compare them. has anyone out there had experiance with either one?:thumbup:

oh yeah, merry xmas everyone
 
This site may give you some useful reading about the one you link first: mini-mill.com. Many people use this mill successfully in a knife shop, though, as you suggest, bigger is always better in terms of both versatility and performance.
The second link doesn't work for me.
 
First off, I'm not claiming to know a bunch about these. I do have one though and well, I tell ya if I had to do it again I'd probably do the same thing looking back now because even though I went economy and bought the Harbor Freight Mini Milling Machine seen here.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44991

I went the next step after that and got the belt drive conversion and installed it right away. Seen here.

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_mill/Reviews/Belt_drv/belt_drv.htm

After having a belt drive I won't go back to direct drive ever again on one of these, at least not on the economy models, especially if the cog wheels are nylon in any part of the drive because the first time you bind one of your discs or cutters unless you spend the bucks to get the industrial grade models maybe you'll be replacing cog wheels and you'll need to have them on hand just to do that. Word to the wise, it ain't a quicky fix neither! For example my first trip to Tulsa was great, picked up the first machine which was the micro mill, came home mounted it on the table milled my first lock on a frame lock went in all happy that day with the results. Next day went out to do another and nothing happened when I turned the machine on. Oh it was on, but no movement. Checked the machine inside, no teeth on the one gear. Lost all of em the day before apparently just about when I was done which explains that clunking noise I heard when I shut the machine off.

So, warranty was honored fortunately but only if I upgraded to the next bigger machine which is basically the same machine as the Sieg X3 Mill or the Grizzly both of which were more $ and neither of which I could actually see and play with before I bought, which I did and since this model had the belt drive conversion available for $120 I did that too. Best thing I did because the belt absorbs any stress and binds and believe me I bind it and no worries anymore on stripping wheels of their teeth and no more clunking noise.

I don't know the machine you are buying, it looks from the price to be bigger than mine. Oh and the second link does not work for me. Back to the machine, the first thing I'd check on is the teeth of the cog wheels for the gears. If you see little white nylon teeth and solid nylon gears sold as a plus to keep from burning up the motor or some such thing I'd suggest you keep looking or find out if there is a belt drive option for that model. Once the teeth for the gearing passes muster should they at least be metal of some kind I'd then, depending on budget try to find one that has a forward/back left/right tilt option for the upper part of the machine to it also. That can be quite handy or at least thats what some tell me as can the rotory table should you be able to get one of those to fit it. You might also turn it on and run it if they'll let you or you are buying hands on like I did. Some are pretty darn noisy and thats another thing about the belt conversion. It reduced the noise by so much that its really quite incredible. It was quite a chatter box before doing that belt swap which made me darn glad I had it once I realized what it would have been like to use the way it came. Now its actually something I don't necessarily need ear protection for although once you start grinding and milling with it. you'll then need it.

STR
 
Thanks everyone for the replies, STR i have looked into the belt drive conversion kit for the mill and i think it seems like the way to go. the gears in this particular mill are nylon, am i to assume that by installing the belt drive kit you remove the nylon drive gears alltogether? unfortunately the two suppliers near me that sell these machines sell pretty much identical machines so i cant get one with steel gears at all. i rang another supplier (the other link that no-one could open) and asked if their machine used steel gears or not but am still waiting to hear back, actually the salesman wasnt aware that the machine had drive gears at all? (i think he needs to learn about the products he sells:jerkit:)

anyway thanks once again:thumbup:
Keetha.
 
I can't say I've been through the machine to tell you if there are more nylon gears. For all I know there is which they sell as a way to keep from damaging the motor. There may be truth to that I don't know. I found the gears far weaker than they should be and a general nuisance and after reading about it from others I'd say the general consensus is the same.

What I can assure you is that the belt drive will significantly reduce the chances of your having any gear or teeth related problems. I can testify to that. I have bumped my turn knob on two occasions causing the cutting wheel for milling out lock long cuts in my frame locks to plunge so deep it really bogged down the machine. If it still had those nylon teeth in the direct drive I removed I'm sure that would have nixed any further progress right there for that frame lock until I replaced it. Apparently all I had to do was back the cutter back up and it was no worse for the wear. The belt absorbed it all and the machine never stopped running or really did much more than cause the belt to bend and slip some. This happened again nearly the same way months later. Each time I cuss because its due to my stool that I sit on for when I get everything set up and clamped in place. I have a high bar type stool I'm on and when I scoot it closer sometimes I stand a wheel on the light cord and each time I've bumped that dial was with my arm as I was turning to move that darn stool.

Once you install the belt drive all thats nylon inside the machine that could be seen is removed I can tell you that much. For what its worth I really don't buy the sales pitch about the nylon gears being there for safety or motor life. I think a shear pin could be just as effective at stopping damage using steel gears personally. I mean its worked for umpteen years on other machines. The nylon gear thing is just to cut cost. Thats what I think. Anyway, once you do the belt drive conversion the only draw back would be probably changing the speed but to be perfectly honest it never needs changed. I have not had to touch mine again since doing it. The variable speed dial does pretty much all I need for what I have run into using the mini mill. Its a very cool machine and for the money I don't know of anything that really beats it. I've had my mill for quite a while now. I buy my cut off wheels from McMaster Carr in those .035 thick discs and to my surprise those things last for quite a few locks.

I use one disc for a lot of locks every year and that same disc has been in the machine mandrel for all of 08. Literally every frame lock I've made including the one I'm working on now has been covered by that one wheel and its just now getting to where I will probably have to change it out for 09. I did a lot of locks this year too. I haven't counted but you can see from my forum and my blog some of them both custom and production conversions for folks. Get those discs if you cut frame locks man. I love em and thank Brian Fellhoulter for turning me onto them.

STR
 
boilermaker said:
Thanks everyone for the replies, STR i have looked into the belt drive conversion kit for the mill and i think it seems like the way to go. the gears in this particular mill are nylon, am i to assume that by installing the belt drive kit you remove the nylon drive gears alltogether? unfortunately the two suppliers near me that sell these machines sell pretty much identical machines so i cant get one with steel gears at all. i rang another supplier (the other link that no-one could open) and asked if their machine used steel gears or not but am still waiting to hear back, actually the salesman wasnt aware that the machine had drive gears at all? (i think he needs to learn about the products he sells:jerkit:)

anyway thanks once again:thumbup:
Keetha.
Click to expand...

Stripped my nylon gear the second week,bought the belt drive,once fitted you put the gear lever in neutral so no more gears involved.
Richard
 
Wow I completely forgot about setting that speed lever between high and low so its in neither. You are spot on there so it probably does by pass any of the inner gears that way even if they are nylon. The motor is connected to the belt so that makes sense and explains more of why the belt worked to shock absorb when the cutter bogged on me.

Even with the belt drive I wouldn't say the machine is great at plunge cuts and its not as versatile I'm sure in other ways that I just haven't found out about yet but its a fine machine for most of what we do no doubt.

STR
 
i have a mini mill and beat it like a red headed step child
i know it and i know one day i will brake it but for folder work and milling tangs in its hard to beat
i have done fullers in Ka Bars
an integral push dagger (hope you have time on your side for that job )

mine is my mill and my drill press right now. remember that you will spend much more on tooling for it then the mill its self
 
I got that model first (the Grizzly version, same machine, different paint) it ran for a quarter inch before the gear drive broke. I got the smallest grizzly that takes an R8 collet (I think it's a the 1005 model, but it's currently in Ithaca and I'm not, Grizzly sold me that model mill for 699, I tradedd up another 300 for the one I have now, I will never buy the toy mill again, not worth it, spend the extra and get a bigger machine, you will want as much rigidity as possible, I wish I could afford a Bridgeport!

-Page
 
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