milling and drilling

[Marc.com]

Just bought nice little lathe for turning axles and spacers .... self sufficiency is the target

thinking about milling and drilling machine, anyone had any experience with these, or am I better to drag home universal mill.

[lukeb1961]

Get a proper standalone mill. as hefty as you can fit. you will find a myriad of uses for it.
The combo things are just too small and either won't fit your job or will chatter.
Luke

[Marc.com]

Yeah I was thinking of going in that direction though of course Universal Mill needs 3 phase power etc and is an ordeal to transport.

[Marc.com]

Mainly I thought I would just use the Mill to make seat brackets, RH copy brake levers and light stuff like that.

[Slakewell]

The costs of small CNC mills these days I think I just wait for one to turn up on ebay , seen them sell for $1,200 , also TAFE sell off action's are good.

[Lozza]

To make a brake lever it's far easier to have a CAD drawing done and have it laser cut or just get a bandsaw. By the time your ready to take your first cut I could churn out 10 on a band saw.CNC is fine but you will have to spend considerable time learning the software and checking G Code(as well as getting your head around always milling 'on the climb'). I would never buy a used CNC unless it has very light use, wear in the slide ways is a big problem.
Mills are fine but the cost of the mill will more than double when the 'necessary' tooling is considered.
I have a Lathe,mill drill works perfect for small stuff and anything bigger I either farm it out, make a CAD file and laser/water jet cut it or go up to a friend's engineering shop.
Beg steal or borrow Harold Halls books on milling in the lathe, you would be surprised on what a skillfull machinist can do in a lathe.
Another big trap is to start making jigs and fixtures to do certain jobs :'(

[Marc.com]

Beg steal or borrow Harold Halls books on milling in the lathe, you would be surprised on what a skillfull machinist can do in a lathe.
Another big trap is to start making jigs and fixtures to do certain jobs :'(

Yeah that is the other alternatice is to vertically mount 2 axis drill vice and lot of normally mill operations are possible in the lathe

[Lozza]

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?stockCode=L277

These have their limitations, infact no matter the machine tool you quickly find it's limitations

[HL500]

I've gone for the separate mill and lathe.  The mill has a 600mm bed and the lathe around 1 metre.  I have to say I'd use the mill twice as much as the lathe, but both are great.  I re-surface crankcases after welding, reseat clutch baskets, shave heads and make all sorts of things.  Generally, I'd cast a new brake lever out of aluminium and then finish it off in the mill.  I Recently cast a brake stay arm to convert the HL500 rear rod brake to a cable brake.  That required both lathe and mill.  I also made a solid nylon chain guard to get the chain away from the frame, swingarm and ohlins shock.

Once you have them you'll find more uses than you could imagine.

[lukeb1961]

Once you have them you'll find more uses than you could imagine.

ain't that the truth!

[Davey Crocket]

I get parts made all the time, but I get old mate down the road to either CNC or waterjet cut it, make a few extras and sell them, you'll never get rich but it helps pay for my "habit". A good operater does it cheap and quick......and a top job!!.....The thing I find I'm constantly short of is time!!....as much as I would love to have my own CNC/mill/lathe, I think thats a retirement dream.

[Marc.com]

I've gone for the separate mill and lathe.  The mill has a 600mm bed and the lathe around 1 metre.  I have to say I'd use the mill twice as much as the lathe, but both are great. 

Yeah I guess I probably have pretty modest ambitions at the moment as I just imagine spinning axles and spacers. But yeah the more I think about a mill the more I can imagine a range of brake adaptors, seat mounts and YZA clutch actuators. Like you say you can always find work for it if you have it.

Most of my motivation is so we are not held up endlessly waiting for bits to be machined or driving all over town.

Lozza that face plate and vice is what I had in mind to give the lathe a little more scope/

[TM BILL]

Marc what lathe did you opt for ? cheers Bill.

[Marc.com]

Marc what lathe did you opt for ? cheers Bill.

Hey Bill, just picked used one off TM, oriental budget special. But 700 between centers, 280mm over the bed and 32mm hole down the middle so it will do what I want.  .... so not too phased about not having my wet dream lathe Colchester Mascot..... maybe next time

My step father is old railway guy and makes brass model trains from scratch, if you want to be really blown away by precision these guys are drilling and tapping at 0.2mm and work on complex parts like grains of sand you can hardly see with the naked eye. All on updated Chinese mill/drill press and lathe the size of a shoebox.

[oldyzman]

Hard to beat the old bridgeport Milling machine, also very heay to move...
Brett