Looking at a Milling Machine

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:13 am

So, I am wanting to buy a mill eventually. Not a huge one. I don't have the room. (Not that that stopped me from buying a lathe.

)

Anyway, I stumbled across a round-column mill that looks like a good deal. I don't have all the details, but here's what I found so far:
From the pics, its model number is ZAY7032G. It is a round-column, gear-head mill. Can't tell for sure from the pics, but it appears to have a table about 8"x30". It has a drill chuck installed in the pics. I don't know what type of spindle taper it has, so I don't know what else I could attach off hand. It has a vise and a rotary table as well as a cooling system. It also has a stand, though I think I would build a new one, as this one looks a little light for the presumed weight.

So, how does this sound? What kinds of things should a person look for when determining the value of such a machine? Things I can think of are: general condition, obvious damage to the table or the ways, smoothness of operation, flatness of the table. I don't plan on spending hours checking this out, but I don't want to go into it completely ignorant of obvious things either. (See, I learned something else from the lathe!)

It kinda has the look of the Enco model 307-3387.
Advice?

Dave

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:16 am

Here are the pics I have of it right now...

Post by **Harold_V** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:26 am

The one caution I'd offer concerns the round column. They aren't nearly as rigid as a cast column, but most importantly, if you move the head, you lose your reference points. That may not sound important, but if you are in the middle of working on a project and find you must move the head to accommodate a particular cutter, you will have to re-locate the spindle orientation as it relates to the part. Not a big deal, just a pain in the butt.

I have a friend, a retired tool & die man, that built a Pacific locomotive with a mill/drill. They're very capable of doing the work, just not as convenient to operate as a knee mill, and somewhat limited as to depth of cut and feed rate.

Harold

Black_Moons · Post by **Black_Moons** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:40 am

Yes general consensious is round collumn just sucks, you can do good work with it, it will just take a good deal longer.
If you want a cheap ($1500~) square collumn mill, check out an RF45 or clone of it.
For a bigger beefyer $2500~ mill, check out the IH mill http://www.ihcnc.com/pages/products.php

You'd be suprised how cheap shiping on some things can be, I got quoted $200 s/h on a 1/2 ton mill across two provinces

My lathe got delivered to my driveway from about an hour away, free (with liftgate service) due to a shiping rebate the company had.

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:42 am

Thanks, Harold. I've always read that round column mills were not as desirable as square column. I wonder how much of an impact that would have on whatever I would do with it. I'm sure that the things I would do with it will expand once I buy something. How 'bout value for the money? Assuming I can live with the round column issue, does it seem like a reasonable deal? I don't know the quality of the vise or the rotary table, but rotary tables seem to range from expensive to more expensive, regardless of quality.

I suppose I would treat it like the lathe, as far as capability goes. That's to say that I am probably going to take it pretty easy at first until I find out how much I can get away with.

So, for what it is, does it seem like a good deal to you?

Dave

tailshaft56 · Post by **tailshaft56** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:20 am

That's the mill HF sells. If you get the deal for less than a grand it would be tempting. Much more than that then I would keep looking. The spindle is prabably an R8. I have a mill drill. Someday I will get the real thing but will probably keep the M/D anyway.

Dennis

John Evans · Post by **John Evans** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:19 am

Make sure it has a R-8 spindle ,deal breaker if not. The tooling raises the value a fair bit as it can be used on a real knee mill. The cooling system !! all that does is create a big mess, cold air or mist system much better. As said under a grand would be a reasonable deal . Too bad you are not closer to Phoenix as I just came across a Ex-Cell-O 9X42 with some tooling for $1200 the other day.

Black_Moons · Post by **Black_Moons** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:45 am

Err, we can't really tell if its a good deal or not unless you actualy give the price someone wants for it..

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:30 pm

DOH! Sorry 'bout that. He's wanting $750 for all of it. Now he says he has somebody wanting to trade him a dirtbike for it, so it may all be moot now, but just in case...

Dave

Post by **Harold_V** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:24 pm

If the deal hasn't gone south due to the trade for a dirt bike, before you leap, insure that the mill/drill has a power feed for the quill. It's difficult to achieve reasonable results if you hand feed a boring head, where consistent feed rate insures a uniform bore size. It may not be important at the outset, when you're trying to learn machining, but in the long haul you'll cuss yourself for not having the feed.

If the package can be had for the price you suggested, you can't really go wrong, but notice that it hasn't run out the door for the seller. It's probably priced where it will move. You may not be able to get your money back if you liquidate in the future. Few people that have mill drills are totally satisfied with them, generally yearning for a knee type mill for greater flexibility and capability. Not trying to lead you in any particular direction------just trying to provide food for thought.

Harold

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:44 pm

Thanks everyone. I haven't heard back from the guy yet on today, so I'll wait and see. I am thinking of this as a machine to learn on. I don't think it has a power feed on the quill, but I believe this is something I could easily add. Even if I don't, it'd be a toy to play with. I did look at Harbor Freight's website and it looks like it normally sells for about $1400 there. It does have an R8 spindle, and comes with a JT2 drill chuck.

The coolant system does look like it could make a mess. That would be why stuff like that is normally enclosed, huh? But, I could use the pump for something else if I wanted to. I also don't know anything about the rotary table or vise yet. Nothing I have found online, though is cheap, so I think that could easily account for 1/4 to 1/3 of the total cost. I'm looking at the package as a whole.

I tend to look at equipment this way. As long as you know the limitations of the equipment and don't try to exceed them, you can't really be disappointed. If you try to get the equipment to do something that it isn't really capable of, then you are bound to be disappointed.

Dave

whateg0 · Post by **whateg0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:07 pm

Just talked to the guy who has the mill. He'd rather sell the mill than trade it for the bike, because it turns out the bike he was going to trade for is too big for his son. But......

The rotary table does not come with the mill. No tooling. It will have the R8/JT2 arbor and the 1/2" drill chuck. He also has a 3/4" collet that will go with it. And the table/stand and a vise. (Not sure if it's the one in the pic or not.) He said that the vise that would go with it is a Grizzly self-centering one. I haven't looked for it yet on their website.

How does that affect the value of this? That makes it less desirable than when the rotary table was part of the deal, but hey, he'd be crazy to do that, I suppose. He bought a bigger mill, so doesn't need this one anymore. So is it still worth the money? I don't have the money to buy something over $1k, and I have tax money burning a hole in my pocket. (That's a bad habit of mine - impulse buying!)

New advise?

Dave