Which milling machine model?

Discussion in 'General foundry chat' started by Zapins, Jan 31, 2021.

  1. ESC

    ESC Silver Banner Member

    My 2 x 72 is powered by a 2 HP treadmill motor and has a gas strut in the vertical member to maintain tension. Variable speed on the dial and I wrapped the main wheel with some rubber strip to give a softer grind. I thought I did a build on it at AA, but don't remember. I cast the two slave pulleys, but for some reason machined the drive pulley from the solid.
    One thing with the DC motors is replacing the brushes. I was able to source some slight oversize when these wore out and then filled them down to fit.

    IMG_20210904_151902.jpg
     
  2. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Hmm. What kind of rubber did you use?
     
  3. ESC

    ESC Silver Banner Member

    It was a fairly hard belting type rubber . I picked it off the cutoff table the local rubber supply house. As I remember I used one of the 3M products to glue it on. It's been 5 yrs or more.
     
  4. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    One of the things I like about using VFD's on my machines is the provision for electrical braking so that the machine stops soon after power-off. This is also a safety consideration.

    Wouldn't a braking resistor drastically have shortened this long wind-down?

    Denis
     
  5. OMM

    OMM Silver

    Yes a breaking resistor would. But it is a bandsaw. And it does have footbrake if you really needed to stop at fast.
     
  6. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    I'm getting very close to being ready to buy a new milling machine (next 1 to 2 months). I have a pretty wide range of options but I'm wondering how much to invest in this thing?

    Brand new rescraped repainted new everything machine is about $12000

    Screenshot_20221219-214737_Facebook.jpg Screenshot_20221219-214748_Facebook.jpg
    But it seems like a less overhauled machine can be had for 4500 for similar sorts of features. Just without being completely everything new and rescraped.

    How much of a difference would I notice? Would it be worth it for a 12k machine if it's rescraped and basically factory brand new? Or would it be better to get a decent 4 to 5 k machine and buy a better lathe or tooling or whatever?

    I mainly want to avoid regretting a purchase and having to buy another "better" machine later. Like I'm going to have to do with my south bend lathe. It cuts stuff but the dial increments are totally meaningless and there is an incredible amount of wear on the ways which makes large projects difficult to cut consistently or with much accuracy. I don't really want to run into a similar situation with a mill - constantly wishing it were more accurate and could do things it can't anymore. I'm just not sure if a mill thats only 30 or 40 years old with chrome ways will have a similar amount of wear as my old south bend thats 100 years old and has iron ways and is clearly clapped out (22 thousandths of wear). I also don't want to waste money if there won't be a noticeable big difference between 4.5 and 12k machines.. Thoughts?
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2022
  7. Chrome ways can't be scraped, the machine tool rebuilder has to peel off the chrome to get to the soft iron underneath and then scrape that in. It looks clean and has new paint but they only mention rebuilding the head in the description.
     
  8. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Whoa... That's a bit too high! If you can get the serial number off the knee, you can date it. Mark is right, you are not scraping chrome ways. Call H&W and see what he has in stock. Now I would pay that kind of money for a machine from HIM! You will be buying basically a new machine for half the cost. Anyone else, it might just be a paint job and new handles.
     
  9. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

  10. Jason

    Jason Gold

    F grizzly. Chinese JUNK. The problem is while you would think parts would interchange across the board, they don't! Go Bridgeport or nothing. In my short time doing this stuff, it's the guy cracking the handles, not the machine. I'm telling ya, call them. These guys are first rate.

    https://machinerypartsdepot.com/?msclkid=ca4308f70a171aca6ad16b5a2fd938a2&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP Branded - Products & Services&utm_term=h&w machine repair&utm_content=H&w Machine Repair

    https://youtube.com/@hwmachinerepairandrebuildi674
     
  11. BattyZ

    BattyZ Silver Banner Member

    Might as well hunt auctions for a full vertical machining center with low hours at 12k! BUT this I bet is a lot easier to move than 11,000 lbs I would reckon...
     
  12. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

  13. AllenHanford

    AllenHanford Copper

    I have a Millrite. It's a full-size machine that takes the same R8 tools as a Bridgeport. The table is smaller and it has less features, but it's fine everything I've needed from it as a hobbyist.

    That said, I wish I'd held out for a Bridgeport:)
     

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