Recommendation? Mini mill

R

raighan

Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Messages
33
I'm looking into setting up a shop, and was wondering if it might be a good idea to get a mini mill instead of a drill press. It would probably mostly just be for pin holes, and handle weight relief. Any recommendations for a mini mill in a drill press price range?
 
Haha! That's a circa 1930s or 1940s horizontal milling machine that came off the United States Navy training vessel for Navy Machinists! My father gave it to me about 15 years ago and I've made guards and things ever since. I love that thing so much!
 
eric brinkerhoff said:
Haha! That's a circa 1930s or 1940s horizontal milling machine that came off the United States Navy training vessel for Navy Machinists! My father gave it to me about 15 years ago and I've made guards and things ever since. I love that thing so much!
Click to expand...
And with a history, none the less. How very cool. Makes me wonder if it ever spent time at Great Lakes NRTC. Hope you always have the space to keep it in your life.
 
If I could only have one or the other, I'd pick the largest mill I could afford/fit in my shop. Make sure to set aside a pile of money for tooling and accessories too. Vise, collets, indicators, drills, mills, and cutters, parallels, v-blocks, clamps, etc....

As for finding one in the drill press price range, good luck. You might find a benchtop round column mill on the used market for $500 or less.
 
Last edited:
If you are ONLY going to do mini mill stuff and drilling with it, you will be fine with a mini mill.
Just don't expect it to do big jobs.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
If you are ONLY going to do mini mill stuff and drilling with it, you will be fine with a mini mill.
Just don't expect it to do big jobs.
Click to expand...
What bill said. I started out with a drill press, then (last summer?) shifted to a mini mill and have never looked back.

That said, there is the occasional time that I wish I had more vertical run on the head … especially when drilling out Wa handles … but I have been able to make do..
 
Bill DeShivs said:
If you are ONLY going to do mini mill stuff and drilling with it, you will be fine with a mini mill.
Just don't expect it to do big jobs.
Click to expand...

Cushing H. said:
What bill said. I started out with a drill press, then (last summer?) shifted to a mini mill and have never looked back.

That said, there is the occasional time that I wish I had more vertical run on the head … especially when drilling out Wa handles … but I have been able to make do..
Click to expand...

What model do yall use?
 
If you're going to get the Seig X2D I'd recommend the little machine shop version. Comes with some addons already installed.... I have the harbor freight version and have been adding to it to make it beefier.

littlemachineshop.com

HiTorque Mini Mill | Mini Mill Machine | LittleMachineShop

This HiTorque Mini Mill features the largest table and X-Y travel in its class. Shop this quiet, powerful Mini Mill machine at LittleMachineShop today!
littlemachineshop.com littlemachineshop.com

As a side note.... this guy has helped me in the past with repairing the circuit board on a Seig X2D.... So you may want to save it as a reference:

repair.JPG
 
I have a tiny Seig- the smallest one they made, that I use for milling handle materials.
I also have a Taig for metals.
 
I have the LMS 3990 mini mill. I found mine second hand with the DRO, x axis power feed, and the spindle RPM gauge. I use it as a drill press and to mill out stop pin tracks, lock bar reliefs, and pocket clips. Has done all I need it too. Gonna need lots of collets, vice, maybe rotary table. Good mill for the money though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top