Mill question

Nathan the Machinist said:
If someone gave me a really nice drill press, I would probably drag it down to the woods, tip it over into the creek and cover it up with leaves.

A crappy, clapped out, poorly made and out-of-adjustment mill will drill steel 10X better than a good drill press. Drill presses are for fab shops and perhaps stirring paint.

Get a mill.
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I agreed last time, and I'll agree again. The ONLY time my drill press gets used is for fast, ugly holes, or the rare occasions I need to drill BIG holes that my wee lil' bench top mill can't handle.

I can totally understand wanting a bigger mill, but like Butchie says, a small mill IS a drill press when it needs to be. A drill press is... Just a drill press.
 
I like presses and mills, both. I do most of my pins and corby stuff on the drill press, not to mention things like drilling blind tang pockets and such. I find they are a bit less ponderous and a bit easier and quicker to work around for general swarf generation.
An old drill press with no motor, and a hand crank fitted to the top of the spindle, makes a killer hand tapping rig, too...
 
Salem Straub said:
I like presses and mills, both. I do most of my pins and corby stuff on the drill press, not to mention things like drilling blind tang pockets and such. I find they are a bit less ponderous and a bit easier and quicker to work around for general swarf generation.
An old drill press with no motor, and a hand crank fitted to the top of the spindle, makes a killer hand tapping rig, too...
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I also use the drill press for a arbor press for kydex...a tapping head on a drill press is a nice addition...
 
I actually modified an old hand-crank drill press to lay on its side and be a damascus steel twisting machine. It works OK but still has a couple bugs to work out.
 
Daniel Rohde said:
I also use the drill press for a arbor press for kydex...a tapping head on a drill press is a nice addition...
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That is actually an interesting idea Daniel. I have the bones of 3 or 4 Craftsman 100/150 presses around here. I might make some kind of light arbor press out of one. :)
 
I finally grabbed my R8 to JT33 arbor (to adapt to a JT33 keyless presision chuck that came with one of my lathes) and numbered drill index this week.

If you decide to drill on your mill you won't be alone. I also invested in old American machines. It's not the fastest way to make knives when you buy old machines, but they have a special appeal in use. I have spent most of the last five years fixing mine and fitting tooling into my budget.
 
Wish I could find a B&S #9 taper to Jacobs taper adapter... what I use is a 3/4" collet and a Jacobs chuck with a straight shank. One day I'll get my Index 645 spindle reground to R8.
 
I can't recommend highly enough trying to find an older, more industrial quality machine when it comes to drill presses. Years ago I picked up an old Clausing off of Craigslist. I tore it down, replaced the bearings, added a 1.5hp motor and a vfd with a foot switch, put a link belt on it, adjusted the spindle to about .001-.002 runout and haven't looked back. It's quiet, smooth, and everybody who comes to the shop comments on what a pleasure it is to use. And, Salem, I feel your pain...I run a Gorton mill with a B&S #10 taper...wonderful old iron, but damnably hard to find tooling for.
-Mark
 
I worked in a shop that had a 20" Clausing drill press. It had a power feed quill and would smoothly bore 3/4 holes in mild steel with no pilot... leaving a beautiful unbroken curled chip from each flute of the drill bit. It wasn't even working particularly hard to do that. Nicest press I've ever used. Certainly nicer than my 20" variable sheave JET.
 
butcher_block said:
i use the mini mill to flycut every block i use square and flat as it just makes fitting things up so much easier
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Butchie, are you just using a cheap fly cutter for this?


To add to this conversation, I'll offer a couple tidbits on why a mill may be the right answer, especially if you're thinking you can only afford one machine...

Numerous lunar cycles past, I made a knife and truly despised the pins I'd used. They were .125". Clamped knife in vise, chucked up .1875" end mill, proceeded to bore out old pin stock. Replaced with pins I liked. Could you do this with a drill press? Maybe. Give it a try and tell me how it goes...

I recently got a KMG in a trade. I needed to convert all my .75" post Wilton attachments and wheels to KMG tool arms. That involves milling and boring clamping slots for the posts and making tool arms from scratch. Blank tool arms are $80 EACH from Rob, and are only available with his twin 1/2" bolt mounting holes. For $180, I bought enough aluminum to make EIGHT tool arms. Only reason I could make them was because of a teeny little bench mill. The savings in the tool arms alone would have gone a long way to paying for a good used mill like that little Benchmaster.

I do have two drill presses, btw. They do get used, too. BUT, when the chips are down, my lil' Rusnok mill gets first dibs on making holes, because I know they will be right where I put them, and perfectly square to the work.
 
polish avenger said:
I can't recommend highly enough trying to find an older, more industrial quality machine when it comes to drill presses. Years ago I picked up an old Clausing off of Craigslist. I tore it down, replaced the bearings, added a 1.5hp motor and a vfd with a foot switch, put a link belt on it, adjusted the spindle to about .001-.002 runout and haven't looked back.
-Mark
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I agree with this, but only to a point. If you don't have the experience to know what you're looking at, a 'bargain' deal on old iron can be a catastrophe. Some of the machines I've looked at were savaged... Ways that looked more like cutting boards, slop in places I wouldn't have even thought could HAVE slop, etc. I'm seeing Bridgeports all over the place selling for CHEAP, and in most cases they should be, because they're scrap. The rare time I see one in good condition, the price reflects it.

You're right, though - good stuff CAN be found, and there's definitely a 'pride in ownership' factor, isn't there?:)
 
Matthew Gregory said:
I agree with this, but only to a point. If you don't have the experience to know what you're looking at, a 'bargain' deal on old iron can be a catastrophe. Some of the machines I've looked at were savaged... Ways that looked more like cutting boards, slop in places I wouldn't have even thought could HAVE slop, etc. I'm seeing Bridgeports all over the place selling for CHEAP, and in most cases they should be, because they're scrap. The rare time I see one in good condition, the price reflects it.

You're right, though - good stuff CAN be found, and there's definitely a 'pride in ownership' factor, isn't there?:)
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This is the difficult part for someone new to mills. Trying to find that bargain price on a good old mill, or even a newish mill.
There are a couple of youtube vids on how to look for a good mill, but without the experience of using one, and being familiar with the things that are likely to go bad, it's a difficult prospect.
I find myself attracted to the CL adds that say "hardly used"
It feels like a bit of a crap-shoot for the entry level buyer. :|
 
I'd take that BP-like machine, second link down, and run. Barring of course anything wrong like messed up ways or lots of backlash. Backlash ain't even that bad to deal with really.
For $1100 that even looks like a suspiciously good deal. Why does it have a brand new motor? Why did they do that, and want it gone now? Especially if it "runs great" as they stated twice in that very brief text. Burning questions, that I'd be hauling ass over there to find the answers for.
That mill could have $2000 worth wrong with it, fix that, and you'd still be below the price of Grizzly's cheapest new 9x42.
 
Salem Straub said:
I'd take that BP-like machine, second link down, and run. Barring of course anything wrong like messed up ways or lots of backlash. Backlash ain't even that bad to deal with really.
For $1100 that even looks like a suspiciously good deal. Why does it have a brand new motor? Why did they do that, and want it gone now? Especially if it "runs great" as they stated twice in that very brief text. Burning questions, that I'd be hauling ass over there to find the answers for.
That mill could have $2000 worth wrong with it, fix that, and you'd still be below the price of Grizzly's cheapest new 9x42.
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That one makes me pretty nervous. I may not know mills, but I've been wheeling and dealing now for a good 30 plus years, and I understand red flags.

"This is a great working mill. Brand new motor and switch. This mill works great and was only used a couple times. It is taking room up in our shop. Want it gone ASAP "

This is how I translate the above:

This is a great working mill for all you know. Only used a couple of times after we put a new motor and switch because it still isn't right. This is a waste of good shop space and we want it gone asap.
 
Brock if you need it, I have a contact for a really good machine mover. He has the rig, rollers, and experience to move the machines right.
 
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