What would the plan be for the Enco mill if the Hive purchases a more significant mill? I mostly ask because, if the plan is to have me take it home, I would also be taking home the tooling that goes with it (ER-8 collets, hold down clamps, vice). So tooling would also be part of the cost estimate.
Mostly just wanted to make sure everyone was aware that the majority of the current tooling we have for the Enco mill also belongs to me and is also on semi-permanent loan to the space.
I will re-iterate again here, I have no plans to take the Enco mill home at this time, or in the foreseeable future. If the Hive decides they no longer want the Enco mill at the Hive, I will bring it home.
We really appreciate your loan Paul.
We should go through the stuff and log what is yours and what we have purchased (I can think of the parallels, angle blocks and some cutters)
Better to keep everything on the table so there are no misunderstandings.
I think this one http://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-Heavy-Duty-Mill-Drill-with-Stand-and-Power-Feed/G0755 is more a direct upgrade to the existing space allocated… it can still be a benchtop machine, and doesn’t have the round column. If people really want a cnc retrofit, I think there are a few that allow the handwheels to be used, if the floorspace is available, sure, more machine is better
I like that one, but… it is a almost in the realm of a group project. For a table top… there are three hundred buck micros that appeal for circuit boards and small stuff. Still on the dream table is a updated joe’s for with a epoxy granite base and a head that will accept either a router or r8… but hey. Chrismas is only a year away.
if we want a small CNC, someone just needs to take on converting the Roland machine we have to run on the same controllers our big CNC does so we can use mach 3…
this thread should be about discussions for a machine in the realm of a Bridgeport equivalent, a good, sturdy, upright manual milling machine to compliment our lathe.
I’ve seen some really cool stuff done with horizontal mills, particularly if they have overarm support (not sure if that one does, didn’t look that close).
I think the real upcharge for that one comes not from the horizontal mill capability, but the VFD. it’s super nice to have the single phase to 3 phase VFD so you can have infinite instant speed control and peak torque regardless of speed setting. I’d say the VFD woudl be the bigger selling point over the horizontal milling capability.
My concern with our current mill and any replacement deals with overall stiffness. This translates into the ability to cut steel with a 3/4 inch cutter. That kind of cut is a real challenge for our mill drill stiffness. At least one power feed would be nice too.
Small cnc devices are interesting, but in a totally different line of discussion.
The unstated question for any tool is: What ya gonna do with it?
I’ve got a number of small machines/mechanisms I’d like to make. Also looking to eventually take on a clock building project, though that’s all small parts in mostly soft metal.
