12-14-2013, 01:29 PM
First of all you want to keep your costs down so what I would suggest is you get a Stirling Steel conversion kit. This does away with the plastic gears which are very prone to breaking and being a belt drive gives you a variable speed control. Check the Little Machine Shop for the current price of the conversion kit.
Next I'd suggest you seriously think about changing the X and Y axis lead screws. The backlash of the factory items on my mini mill was in excess of 30 thousandths of an inch. I obtained precision machined parts from 'Fignoggle' in the USA, these come with nylon adjustable nuts and the backlash is now less than 0.0005". Google the name you'll find him.
Get a really good machinists vice mine has 4" jaws and a swivel base. If your going to do gun work a smaller vice is no good at all.
Try and locate evening classes where you can get tuition using a mill. You learn more from an experienced machinist than all the books ever written on the subject.
DRO's on all three axe's are very nice to have but require care in fitting and they aren't cheap. Leave until later on.
Tooling, you cannot have enough, recon on spending two or three times the cost of your mill just getting a descent amount of tools. I've picked up a lot of good tooling off EBay in the U/K, much of it new and unused for far less than buying it from a tool specialist. There is a lot of 3MT tools around
That should get you started, don't try to run before you can walk though, learning to use a mill is not difficult. Safety is paramount, even this little mill can cause very serious injuries.
Harry
Next I'd suggest you seriously think about changing the X and Y axis lead screws. The backlash of the factory items on my mini mill was in excess of 30 thousandths of an inch. I obtained precision machined parts from 'Fignoggle' in the USA, these come with nylon adjustable nuts and the backlash is now less than 0.0005". Google the name you'll find him.
Get a really good machinists vice mine has 4" jaws and a swivel base. If your going to do gun work a smaller vice is no good at all.
Try and locate evening classes where you can get tuition using a mill. You learn more from an experienced machinist than all the books ever written on the subject.
DRO's on all three axe's are very nice to have but require care in fitting and they aren't cheap. Leave until later on.
Tooling, you cannot have enough, recon on spending two or three times the cost of your mill just getting a descent amount of tools. I've picked up a lot of good tooling off EBay in the U/K, much of it new and unused for far less than buying it from a tool specialist. There is a lot of 3MT tools around
That should get you started, don't try to run before you can walk though, learning to use a mill is not difficult. Safety is paramount, even this little mill can cause very serious injuries.
Harry
Rifleman01, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jun 2013.