What do you guys think of this mill? (bladerunner, jaydee, MMZ_TL, etc, report!)

[starbuck3733t]

I have always said right tool for the right job, so putting endmills in a drill press and lacking precision = bad. I guess I'm just anal about it.

Anyway, this best is $495 and I don't have to pay shipping since the factory is about an hour from my house..



Specs and whatnot here: http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...emNumber=G8689

What do you think? money well spent?

What about buying myself a selection of endmills and face mills?

[starbuck3733t]

And as far as endmills, should I be looking at TiN (grizzly's nomenclature) 4 flute or 2 flute? The TiN ones (Titanium-something??)

4 flute: http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...mNumber=G9762&

2 flute: http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...mNumber=G9761&

[JFettig]

Hey, I am running almost that exact mill, I got mine from homier.com its cheaper and has R8 spindle that is more common.

all except mine looks a little different

and more pics here: http://jfettig.wc101.com/cnc/

One thing, expect to spend $500 or more on extra stuff, so give yourself at least $1000 in the budget.

littlemachineshop.com is a great place for stuff for the mill,
jtsmachine.com has a great selection of end mills and stuff, be sure to get CARBIDE end mills vs hss, they last TONS longer and cut so much nicer!
I will suggest either the 3" screwless vice, or the precision milling vice from littlemachineshop.com, the precision milling vice if you plan on rotating the vice to do angled cuts.

The end mills and stuff youll want are a 1.25" indexable end mill(maximum) for facing and stuff, youll probably want 1/16" through 1/2", no bigger than 1/2" unless you brace the column really well.

Youll definately need a good collet set, or end mill holder set. Milling with a drill chuck is a major no no.

The only few things I dont like about them are the travel on the Y axis is too little I think, and the Z axis rack and pinion with the worm gear fine feed has a lot of play, Its something youll have to get use to, have to lock the head in place while milling, and when I plunge and raise the head with that I had to hold up on the drill press style thing for raising and lowering the head fast. thats mainly to get rid of the backlash that would cause it to drop into the work peice or be inacurate.

Thers so much more info on them,
I think that they are worth the money, especially if you dont have room for anything bigger, If you have room for something bigger and have a little more cash to spend, I woudl get a mill/drill, like what they have a grizzly with the 1hp motor and the round column. They are pretty good, and much much bigger.

hope this helps, I know theres a lot to learn about these, and I know I have a lot more to say, I just need to think of it

-edit- typically you want 2 flute end mills

Jon

[MMZ_TimeLord]

If you are going to cut copper ... I would spend the money on solid carbide endmills as you won't be getting ones over 1/2" diameter anyway and in smaller sizes they won't be any more expensive... maybe even cheaper.

JFetting had a good source for those JTSMachine. I personally have an outlet less than 2 miles from my home, so I just walk in... and get what I want.

Go with four flute in any case as they are stronger.

I thought I remembered someone saying that they had that particular mill... can't for the life of me remember who... :shrug:

It does look like a nice small mill to me...

Edit: JFetting posting in concert again... I have to get this thing tuned...

[JFettig]

Heres a link to the end mills I use, they cut really nice for that price, regular hss are a lot of times that expencive!

http://www.jtsmachine.com/jtswebshop...Tools/M496.asp

youll also need a drillbit set, and tap set Im sure.

Jon

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Here is the link to the SpeedWay mill that JFetting has...

Variable speed Mini Mill

If you want one like BladeRunner and I have...

Milling Drilling Machine

[naS]

how about one of thouse lil babys ?

http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536308.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536412.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536498.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081680359.jpg

[Gooserider]

from the Grizzly specs...

Spindle Taper: MT #3 - VERY BAD!!! IMHO this is a deal breaker! I will never again by a mill with anything other than a Bridgeport R-8 taper. It is easy to get tooling for that taper, any other taper is much harder to find, and several times more expensive!

Head Travel: 9-7/8" - Does this mean that the bit movement is done by moving the entire mill head up and down on the colum? If so, I'd have real doubts about the accuracy you could expect with that setup. If you do have a moving mill quill, how much travel does it have?

Head Tilt: 45 degrees L/R - Good, though you probably won't need to tilt it much. More important is to find out how easy it will be to get the mill shaft exactly perpendicular to the table

Max. distance spindle to table: 11-1/2" - Nice, more than you need for making a block, but otherwise OK. I'd be more interested in finding out how CLOSE you can get to the table. The general rule is that you want the setup as tight as you can so that you can mill with minimal quill extension. The idea being that the closer everything is, the less opportunity there is for vibration and slop to mess you up.

Swing: 12-3/4" - Again, nice, but more than you need. Can you pull the quill closser into the colum if you don't need that much swing?

Longitudinal Travel: 7-7/16" - adequate for doing a block, but on the short side

Cross-slide travel: 4" - Adequate, but VERY much on the short side

Table size: 3-5/8" x 15-3/4" - Considering the movement specs, not unreasonable

Speeds: Variable; Speed Range: 0-2500 RPM - OK, but would be nice if they had higher. Small bits and copper can use really high speeds.

Motor Size: 3/4 HP - OK, but on the light side

Shipping Weight: 153 lbs. - Definitely says this is a light duty machine, I've had drill presses that weigh more.

Aside from the non-useful quill taper, I'd say that it would be acceptable for doing very light duty work, just don't push it to hard.

Gooserider

[JFettig]

The entire head moving thing isnt a problem at all.

I have used my tilt a few times, but I prefer not, mainly because it can be a pain to get it back, you need a nice dial indicator to get it back into its spot.

I hear of people who swear by the MT3 spindle, but I do prefer R8.

The motor is fine, Its done great for me, about higher speeds, I have mine belt drive maxed out at 6k and it doesnt have enough torque to take large cuts. Ill be reducing that to 3k.

The mill isnt all that light duty of a machine, its pretty well built. I can take rather good cuts with it.

Definately check out the one at Homier.com

Jon

[jaydee]

Looks like it has been covered pretty well.

[Stang_Man]

for the price... you can't expect too much..

i myself, would prefer a Bridgeport vertical milling machine... though, money++

i got one similar to this:

http://www.industrialsurplus.com/photos/078-361.jpg

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Stang_Man,

Yeah, you'd really NEED one that big if you were making heads or a block for your CAR!

j/k... I wouldn't mind one like that IF I had room to put it! Seriously though for what we do, the small to medium mills are a good size... The one I have I can use for some bigger projects, but still accurate enough for the small stuff.

[pelle76]

Originally Posted by naS

how about one of thouse lil babys ?

http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536308.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536412.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081536498.jpg
http://www.captaincascade.com/forums...1081680359.jpg

WOW... Is that you naS? I wish I had such an manly hairy back.

[Stang_Man]

Originally Posted by MMZ_TimeLord

Stang_Man,

Yeah, you'd really NEED one that big if you were making heads or a block for your CAR! :evil:

j/k... I wouldn't mind one like that IF I had room to put it! Seriously though for what we do, the small to medium mills are a good size... The one I have I can use for some bigger projects, but still accurate enough for the small stuff.

the thing is TimeLord, when you use it a lot, it's so worth it.

one of the mills you guys listed wouldn't last a day under the work we do.

also, another problem with milling machines of this type, are not suitable for doing microchannels or jet impingement like on cathar's cascade.

the cuts are just too small for such a mill to work with, and bits would be snapping left and right.

the best thing to do the microchannels with is a slitting saw.

for jet impingement, i wouldn't have a clue... maybe EDM?

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Stang_Man,

I agree... I was just pointing out that JUST for making water blocks and water cooling components... it's too much.

That Bridgeport is a wonderful machine... IF you have the space for it... and you do the kind of work that it's designed for.

[SlaterSpeed]

Personaly i can se no point whatsoever in buying a mill from new. All our mills (My dad runs a engineering shop) were brought 2nd hand for a fraction of the new price and they work perfectly. And these machines are being use 12hours a day not just casualy for making the odd waterblock.

Our main non cnc mill is a Beaver turret (simlar to bridgeport) cost under £1000 and came with loads of tooling. If you went from something a little more your size i cant see you having to spend over $500 for the lot.

[Stang_Man]

Originally Posted by MMZ_TimeLord

Stang_Man,

I agree... I was just pointing out that JUST for making water blocks and water cooling components... it's too much.

just for making waterblocks, ok. how often?

also, with wanting to make waterblocks, comes wanting to make other things for your rig too! they're all necessary evils!!!

[naS]

Originally Posted by pelle76

WOW... Is that you naS? I wish I had such an manly hairy back.

LOL , thats my pa..

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by Stang_Man

the thing is TimeLord, when you use it a lot, it's so worth it.

one of the mills you guys listed wouldn't last a day under the work we do.

also, another problem with milling machines of this type, are not suitable for doing microchannels or jet impingement like on cathar's cascade.

the cuts are just too small for such a mill to work with, and bits would be snapping left and right.

the best thing to do the microchannels with is a slitting saw.

for jet impingement, i wouldn't have a clue... maybe EDM?

Completely incorrect. My mill is much lesser than this one and I have no problems at all with small tooling. In fact it works BETTER with small tooling.

[Stang_Man]

Originally Posted by jaydee116

Completely incorrect. My mill is much lesser than this one and I have no problems at all with small tooling. In fact it works BETTER with small tooling.

can you link me to the tooling you are using?

endmills etc?

[SlaterSpeed]

Do those little mills have fixed spindle rpm? or can you change belts or eaven a veriable resistor setup (yes we have a Mill like that!) Thats the main thing you have to worry about when using a small cutter.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by Stang_Man

can you link me to the tooling you are using?

endmills etc?

Just standard 3 flute carbide endmills from 1/32" to 3/8". Buy them at any machine tool supply. I have been getting mine from here recently: http://www.cetdirect.com/

[prandtl]

Originally Posted by Stang_Man

the best thing to do the microchannels with is a slitting saw.

And just why would't you be able to use a slitting saw on one of those? I made my WW clone with a slitting saw on a mill about the same size as the mill shown in this thread.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by prandtl

And just why would't you be able to use a slitting saw on one of those? I made my WW clone with a slitting saw on a mill about the same size as the mill shown in this thread.

You can. They make them just for it. probelm with a slitting saw is they are only good for strait cuts. Kinda limits you.

[Stang_Man]

Originally Posted by prandtl

And just why would't you be able to use a slitting saw on one of those? I made my WW clone with a slitting saw on a mill about the same size as the mill shown in this thread.

i said the best thing to to microchannels with ARE slitting saws..

1/32" of an inch for an endmill is really small. i'd be afraid that they wouldn't last long, and to get through a single cut, you'd need tons of coolant and evacuation of chips...