Metal shavings....

Draco · Feb 12, 2014

Any of you folks machinists or toy around with such at home?

I have 0 training or idea where to start....That being said....I'd like to add something to my shop/tool collection. Why? No good reason, just seems like a nice option to have when needed. Just an idea I've been kicking around lately. I know they're dangerous and you need some working knowledge of the machines. My brother worked in a machine shop for a while and can help me a little or I'd be glad to have someone from here drop by and show me some stuff. Mostly, I've always been self taught on everything I do....Don't see why I couldn't do the same with this after some "general direction" and safety overview.

If you had to choose one, would you rather have a lathe or a mill? One more versatile than the other?
I don't have 3 phase power so I'm not looking for a big machine, just something to piddle with more or less. Found a couple smaller lathes on craigslist in the $1k range.
Any good forums you recommend?

Thanks! :dblthumb:

mdo817 · Feb 12, 2014

If I was buying one or the other it would be a mill, I would want at least a series 1 Bridgeport or knock off, a lot of times you will find them on CL complete with a phase converter, if you have to buy a phase converter get a newer style electronic one, we had a old rotary phaser and it worked good you just could not instantly reverse machine like when tapping.

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Elliott · Feb 12, 2014

Mill most definitely would be the biggest help, and if you find a deal on a 3 phase machine snatch it up, I can tell you how to make your 3 phase power using another old wore out 3 phase motor and 220 volt electricity, I power my whole machine shop this way.

bamatoy · Feb 12, 2014

Definitely a mill, you can check for local auctions and normally pick a nicer mill up for a fraction of the cost of a new one. A rotary table and some decent tooling and you can make so much more than a lathe. If I ever get a chance that's what I will do.

1TONZR2 · Feb 12, 2014

good question! I have had some training, but it was in high school....lol I would like to add a mill to our shop....I think it would benefit us more than a lathe.

bradzuki · Feb 12, 2014

Mill. You can do so much more with one. I'm looking for one now for our shop.

Elliott said:
Mill most definitely would be the biggest help, and if you find a deal on a 3 phase machine snatch it up, I can tell you how to make your 3 phase power using another old wore out 3 phase motor and 220 volt electricity, I power my whole machine shop this way.

This I am most definitely interested in. We have passed up some very good deals on 3ph equipment because it would cost us about $12K to have 3ph pulled to our current shop. Either we gotta move from our free rent or stay with single phase. We have looked into converters but the cost to buy multiple converters is pretty high also. Anything to get more juice and I'm all ears.

Glen1978 · Feb 12, 2014

Watching this. Ive always thought a lathe would be better (links, driveshafts, etc). The mill I guess would be more for making parts and so forth I guess. Just dont know what all I could do on a mill. There are some auctions sites....the name fails me that always have county / schools / govt things on them and there are always schools selling things like this. My buddy has bought two cab tractors off of there for cheap as hell.

mdo817 · Feb 12, 2014

Glen1978 said:
Watching this. Ive always thought a lathe would be better (links, driveshafts, etc). The mill I guess would be more for making parts and so forth I guess. Just dont know what all I could do on a mill. There are some auctions sites....the name fails me that always have county / schools / govt things on them and there are always schools selling things like this. My buddy has bought two cab tractors off of there for cheap as hell.

Links would not be a problem on a mill if you are talking about drill and tap aluminum ones especially if you get a Series II with a riser block, just hang them off the front of the table vertically, or pick up a 90 degree head, you can also bore id's of tubing for drive shafts, you can turn od's down by spinning your boring bar a 180 degrees also. A lathe big enough to handle most of those jobs are really just to big for someone to put in a small garage/shop area. A lot of your smaller typical "A" lathes only have about a 1.5" hole through their headstock.

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Glen1978 · Feb 12, 2014

Oh cool. I didnt know you could do that ona mill....im machinist retarded tho.

mdo817 · Feb 12, 2014

So much stuff you can do on a mill, much like building a rig, sometimes you just have to be creative with your set ups and think outside the box.

ibrokeit · Feb 12, 2014

bradzuki said:
Mill. You can do so much more with one. I'm looking for one now for our shop.

This I am most definitely interested in. We have passed up some very good deals on 3ph equipment because it would cost us about $12K to have 3ph pulled to our current shop. Either we gotta move from our free rent or stay with single phase. We have looked into converters but the cost to buy multiple converters is pretty high also. Anything to get more juice and I'm all ears.

Not exactly sure how he does it, but a friend has a 3 phase shear with only single phase power. He has to turn on his homemade hydro bender and I think a converter box before he can turn the shear on. But its for sure possible to do.

Elliott · Feb 12, 2014

They taught us in trade school and when I served my apprenticeship that a mill is the only machine capable of reproducing itself. They make all kinds of goody attachments for them where you can do about anything you want.I will see if I can find my diagram on how to wire up a motor to make the power. Basically tho they came up with this during world war 2 I believe is what I was told, so they could have some machines in the lower portion of the ships to make necessary parts incase something broke while they were out in the oceans.This could be complete bs but its what Ive always heard.

Draco · Feb 12, 2014

Awesome info guys! Glad to see some interest.

I'll be on the look out for a mill then. Are there brands to avoid? (I'm sure some are better than others.) What would you need to look for to ensure you're not getting screwed? Worn out parts or pieces to look for? Probably be a older unit when I find one.... ;D

ranger11 · Feb 12, 2014

Im curious on converting a 3 phase to single phase as well

mdo817 · Feb 12, 2014

Draco said:
Awesome info guys! Glad to see some interest.

I'll be on the look out for a mill then. Are there brands to avoid? (I'm sure some are better than others.) What would you need to look for to ensure you're not getting screwed? Worn out parts or pieces to look for? Probably be a older unit when I find one.... ;D

slop in the ways is the first thing I would look for as far as wear goes, you will almost always have some play in the leads screws, but you don't want a table that just bounce around when you are trying to cut, a lot of them will come with digital read outs, and a power table. Bridge ports and Cincinnati are going to be a couple of name brands, there are import Bridgeport clones also that for what we do at our personal shops that would hold up fine like "Jet".

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bluetoy · Feb 12, 2014

Best bet on buying a mill would be to find one at an auction complete with enough tooling to get you going. You can easily spend as much money on tooling as you would for a used mill. As far as 3 phase, you just need a phase converter. They are not hard to find.

I've been a machinist for 13yrs now. Some days I wish I had chosen a different profession. :dunno:

Sseal · Feb 12, 2014

All you got to do on the phase converter is what size motor is on your machine let someone like Lewis electric know and they can get you one.thats what I did ,just cost me about seventy bucks.only took about ten minutes took hook up,pretty simple

09zkrankin · Feb 12, 2014

Re: Re: Re: Metal shavings....

Elliott said:
They taught us in trade school and when I served my apprenticeship that a mill is the only machine capable of reproducing itself. They make all kinds of goody attachments for them where you can do about anything you want.I will see if I can find my diagram on how to wire up a motor to make the power. Basically tho they came up with this during world war 2 I believe is what I was told, so they could have some machines in the lower portion of the ships to make necessary parts incase something broke while they were out in the oceans.This could be complete bs but its what Ive always heard.

That's funny that you bring that up because when I was in trade school they thought us the same thing about a lathe lol. Goes maybe its all b.s.

You can def spend a fortune on tooling very quickly. Inserted cutters are nice, but be ready to spend $100+ for a box of inserts. There is alot that can be done on both machines but the mill will be the more versatile of the two. Ive saw some pretty creative setups through the years, saw a guy clamp a lathe tool to the table of a boring mill and the part he wanted to turn in a drill chuck and use it as a lathe lol.

As far as what to stay away from, I have saw alot of junk machines made by jet, and other Chinese manufacturers. You may wanna order an enco catalog. They have some nice small, new machines for 2-3000 and I have heard alot of good from them. It will also give you an idea of what tooling will cost. Im a machinist by trade so I stay pretty up to date on this stuff

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Toddy · Feb 12, 2014

Static converters suck. You lose a lot of power on your machine. Rotary converters are much better but you need at least twice the hp on the converter motor as the machine motor. If you can find a big 3 phase motor it's easy to hook up. That's really all you need. The fancy ones have a started but you can kick them over and start them spinning and turn power on and you got 3 phase power. All the static converters are is a cap that charges when you shut the power off on machine. Machine starts on 3 phase but only runs on single phase.

The way to go is a variable frequency drive. Can be had for reasonably cheap and the way to go.

Toddy