What mill to buy

[Blender]

I too have a sherline mill converted to CNC. It's kinda small, but it works fine. I'm used to shallow cuts, so i don't mind the additional time it takes to cut stuff. I bought the sherline because every additional tool is available from the manufacturer. No need to adapt any tooling if i don't want to. Also, out of the box it holds pretty good accuracy. Some tweaks will get it the last little bit. My biggest complaint is the shallow throat. I'll have to buy/make a spacer to fix that. I believe taig has a superior backlash elimination system. I've got 5-6 thousandths so i depend on the software to compensate.

For comparison i also bought a Harbor freight (aka seig) 7x10 lathe after reading glowing reviews on the internet. The thing is heavy and crappy. It took about a week to get set up and I still can't get the tailstock aligned. maybe im doing it wrong or im just bad at it but it makes me so mad that it is unusable out of the box. I plan to swap it for a taig lathe sometime. For now it just takes up space on my work bench. All the "rigidity" it has over other (small) lathes means nothing to me if it can't make concentric features.

If i were to do it all over again i'd either buy the taig mill or if i had more cash to spend i would look at a new turnkey mill like a Tormach or similar. Originally i wanted to pick up an old bridgeport or something, but i've realized i wouldn't know how to pick one out. The older equipment is awesome, i used some of it in college, but i don't have anyone to show me the ropes when it comes to buying one.

I suppose the most important question for the thread starter is what do you plan on making? What kind of materials do you wish to use?

[Peter B]

I have an older southbend lathe that is very good and I use it a lot . The mill would only be used for modeling.
Thank's for the info very helpful.

[tc1cat]

After 25 years of running various CNC machines, I would get the biggest you have room for. I have 2 Sherline mills, 1 Taig mill, a Micromark larger mill, 2 Sherline lathes, and a South Bend lathe. The Sherlines have been worth every penny they cost. The Taig has been a BIG dissappoint for me- not as accurate as I thought it should/would be. The S. Bend lathe is a pre-WWII hobbyist machine with split bushings in the headstock not bearings but it is rather large- 9"X48". One of the Sherline mills is a CNC conversion by Microkenetics- I do not reccomend this company at all. I am presently changing it over to the Sherline system. Granted the Sherlines are smaller than a lot of the other machines and lighter by far. They will do the job if you are concious of their limitations. If I had to do everything all over again without the space limitations I have, I would get a floor model CNC mill and lathe.

Hope this helps?!?!?!

Lynn

[Peter B]

Thanks very much ,have never had a mill so all info is appreciated.

[Vanisle]

Have you checked out the BF 20/25 style mills. There are various versions but a popular one is the Grizzly G0704 (Grizzly sells out fast and always seems to be backordered). There is a fellow who is a bit of an "expert" on it and has created a DVD showing how to convert it to CNC (and also how to increase the spindle speed to 7200 rpm and to convert it to a Manual Auto Drawbar, etc.). Here is his website with lots of info on the G0704:

http://www.g0704.com/