RF 45 Geared Head Mill Question

[Kraftsmann]

I viewed an "RF 30 on order" post mentioning
an aluminum quill box on an RF 31 plus potential for broken gears.
I'm interested in the
Rong Fu "RF 45" Geared Head Mill
offered by MSC or Penn Tool Company.
I've no room for a full size Bridgeport & don't like belted mill drills
due to the circular support column
>
Do any of you own an RF 45?
To those who own other geared head mills:
have any of you been able to to obtain replacement gears or other parts
for their geared head machines or do you end up making your own parts?
Thanks in advance for your help!
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[Kraftsmann]

No one out there owns a geared head mill;
just belt drive mill drills?

[billr]

i own a gear head mill drill that is not a rong fu. but i haven't broken it yet so i don't know about parts. don't know anything about rong fu's.

i would sure get one with a dovetail column if i was gonna do it again.
bill

[tony]

i have one works fine got at wttool.com 1395.00 as far the gears goes imthink they have shear pins in them .
nice unit little noisy but works fine [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[northof54]

I agree with get dovetail- much faster changes
gear head is noisy- ran 3 series of breakin oils, then Lucas gear box oil, much better
tore the head apart when I got it so I'd know whats in there; stuck 3 or 4 1x magnets
in the box to pick up floaters

try Yahoo drill/mill forum lots of good hints.

You'll see Lathemaster mentioned- Bob is an honorable man, won't bs you-
comes from a machine tool family (Baton Rouge oil country)

my 2 cents

Hi Regis, if you're still out there- old Atlas still kickin'

Mike in Fla

[David Powell]

I was in the same position in that I simply didn"t have the headroom for a Bridgeport type of mill. I seriously looked at a Chinese made belt drive R8 taper mill floor mount 8"x30" table job but was annoyed by poor salesmanship at my local dealer so decided to mount the head and column from my mill drill on to my horizontal mill without altering either machine in any way which could not he reversed'. I found a piece of dirty old angle iron about 1ft by 1ft by 1ft by 7/8 faced off the outside s as squarely as I could, then I bored a hole in one leg to be an easy slide fit over the bearing retainer on the front face of the horizintal mill . As there were 4 tapped holes in the face of the hor mill I drilled the angle to suit and then drilled to mount the column of the mill drill on the othrt leg of the angle . A trial run showed some , not unexpected , lack of rigidity, so firstly I added gussets to the angle. screwed on so that they can be removed to give more access if I want to use the horizontal spindle, thinge were better but not yet to my liking so I made up another column from steel tube, bolted thatto the ways where the overarm should sit and bracketed that to the top of the mill drill column. It was more work in all than I had anticipated, however the results, considering it cost me nothing except time, are very worthwhile. I certainly cannot hog out heavily with the mill drill head, but can do so by using the horizontal spindle. and now I am not usually moving the head on the column because the knee travel saves me the so annoying resetting of the mill drill head. When my son teaches me how to post picturesI will do so. Good steaming, er I mean machining, David Powell.

[bruceg]

I agree with the dovetail thoughts above. Have you looked at the new Grizzley with gear head, dovetail column and 32" under the spindle? It is the 0519 model. I haven't seen it in the flesh, but it looks good on paper for a lightweight machine. Combine it with a VFD and variable speed would be an added feature. Having used a continuously variable speed machine - I have to say it is really nice.

[Kraftsmann]

Thanks to all who posted replies.
I'll check the Yahoo mill/drill forum posts.
Perhaps I'll schedule a "Field Trip" to a Grizzley dealer
this summer. (closest to Chicago, I believe, is Missouri )
As I'm new to the hobby, I am trying to be
as careful as possible before I buy.
Also helps to see the new toy in person B4 I plunk down $.
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]
I'll look into metal working & steam engine hobby groups in the Chicago area.
Used to be a Northwest Model Engineers for
Park Ridge (Chicago), Illinois, USA
but last I checked, the link was down.