Horizontal mill vs vertical mill

lastbrunneng

lastbrunneng

Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Messages
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I've been planning to get a mini-mill sometime soon, probably the LMS 3690. I'm prepared for the cost plus tooling and might add a CNC kit to it. But I just stumbled upon a Burke 126a #4 horizontal mill in my area, it appears in ok condition, the poster says it's in great condition and I'm waiting for a call back so I can get more info. He's asking $450. (Can I post a link?)

I understand horizontal mills have certain limitations compared to vertical mills, but I like the cost of this one very much as well as having more rigidity. Is it a waste of my time to try and make it do the things I expect of a vertical? This specific mill is also a little funky in that the table only has a single t-slot and uses B&S #9 collets instead of R8.

I would like to cut slots in guards (could I?), maybe use it for surface grinding, and making other parts for my shop.
 
Sucks having b&s 9 taper... it takes a while finding tooling for that, I've only seen collet sets offered new and they are more expensive than R8.

Unless it has a vertical adapter, milling guards with it will be comparatively difficult.

It may be a decent machine to add to the capability of a shop that already has a vertical mill, but I don't know if I'd go for it now. Unless you can pick it up just for GP and still get that vertical mill.
 
The Burke is a much bigger machine, so would take up a lot of shop space.

The LMS 3690 is an excellent choice. It has a lot of rigidity for its size, and is just about the perfect size for working on small projects with mid-to-high-end tooling.

Horizontal mills are kind of their own thing. I think of them as a separate class of tool, like lathes, vertical mills, surface grinders, etc. I wouldn't get a horizontal mill unless I needed to make a lot of pieces that would be best cut using a stack of horizontal milling bits. Horizontal mills can be useful for boring medium size holes as well.
 
Great price on a horizontal mill but what would you do with it? The LMS mini mill is pretty good for a lot of the things we do. It has terrible backlash issues ( like 50 thousandths) but with ball screw upgrades it does a good job.

-Sandow
 
I recently spent months figuring out which mini mill to get. I ended getting the Grizzly G0704 (a rebranded Weiss BF25). If you have any inkling of CNC conversion down the road it is the right choice as the community support for it is quite large. It's also probably the best choice of the mini mills. And it converts to a horizontal mill if that ends up being useful.

The LMS mill isn't a bad way to go but the Grizzly G0758 (Weiss BF16) is about the same price and slightly better in every way.
 
Sandow said:
Great price on a horizontal mill but what would you do with it? The LMS mini mill is pretty good for a lot of the things we do. It has terrible backlash issues ( like 50 thousandths) but with ball screw upgrades it does a good job.

-Sandow
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The SIEG mills I've used can have most of the backlash adjusted out with the adjustable nuts they come with. Ballscrews would certainly be a nice upgrade, regardless.
 
Puke, this is one of those issues that every time I think I've got it sorted out a flood of new info drowns me.
I think the horizontal just isn't ideal, even if the price is good.

I recently got to play with a CNC 3690 (which has been replaced by the 3990) and was pleasantly surprised.
zhyla, how was the quality of your grizzly?
 
I've turned down several horizontal mills that were offered to me cheap over the years. Just not much use for one as a make maker.

I've used a Sherline for over 15 years and have been more than impressed with the tiny thing! Also got a LMS a while back and really like it also. A large mill is nice, but not needed for my type of knife work.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I've turned down several horizontal mills that were offered to me cheap over the years. Just not much use for one as a make maker.

I've used a Sherline for over 15 years and have been more than impressed with the tiny thing! Also got a LMS a while back and really like it also. A large mill is nice, but not needed for my type of knife work
Click to expand...


Hmmmmm...ridiculously incredible big bowies down to amazing slip joints-and he says a big mill isn't needed. That's happy news to many a hobbyist :).


Jeremy
 
those big blades about the only thing you mill on them is the guards. folder work tho a mill is used more (alot of key drilling and small cuts)
now a big mill shines when making integrals and stuff like that
 
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