Harold,

Two things should come together. Your indicator, when swept in a circle
that covers the majority of the table surface, front to back, shows little,
if any deviation from your set point, and you get cross hatch when you
machine in both plains, you can assume that your mill is as close as it's
likely to be. As we both agreed, it will never be perfect-----it lacks the
kind of precision required----as do knee mills. If you're happy with how
your mill performs, I'd suggest it's fine. Remember, the amount of error
you see on your indicator translates into how holes lean, assuming your
parts are mounted to the table. Conventional machining requirements
dictate that such things have a common tolerance of .001"/inch, so if the
mill head is within a thou or two over six inches, you're well within
acceptable standards, although I prefer to be closer. I try to keep the
indicator within less than a half thou, but on a knee mill you don't really
know what is correct. Knee sag can be very deceiving.

I will certainly take another look at it. Having some more shims on
hand first would be a good idea, and I want to dig into the torque specs
before messing with it again.


Unless I am missing something, I plan to leisurely buy another pack of
shims, and _not_ bother using them until I see a problem. Do you agree?

Yep, I do. Especially considering the fact that you're learning----and are
likely to make mistakes that are far greater than the capability of your
machine. Hope you understand I'm not trying to be rude.

No offense taken - you've been very helpful, and the spirit of the
comment is clear, and quite correct.


It takes lots
of skill to make good parts, and you lack experience at this point.

For example, I more exerienced machinist would not have broken a tap in
the near complete part yesterday - it was going so well... I need the
thing, and didn't want to waste time and metal scrapping it, so I
drilled another couple of holes and milled off the burr that could have
caused injury.


As you
progress, many things that may not be obvious to you now will come into
sharp focus----at which time you may find fault with some of the decisions
you make now---so keep an open mind and consider that you're likely working
with a machine with capabilities beyond the skills you possess as a
craftsman. Hopefully that will change rapidly. That's really what it's
all about. Truth is, you'll know when the machine isn't up to your
standard, or requirements.

Whoa! I just looked at my watch =:0 I was planning to bump in my vise
using only the fixed jaw. Based on what I saw when indicating off of
that block I was using, I suspect there might be something fishy with my
vise or jaws. Hopefully anything out of whack will be easy to correct,
and even in the worst of scenarios, it has nothing to do with the mill.

There is an intermittent vibration that either gets cleared up by
adjusting the gibs or is randomly coming from the motor. Given the hour
and what I still need to do, I have made a note to describe it separately.

The bottom line is that it is quite a nice machine. In just the past
few days, it earned all the electricity and vactra it wants for the next
six months



I think you're doing fine, Bill. What impresses me more than anything is
your ability to be told, and that you listen. Makes it worth my time to
try to help.

I'm getting a lot out of it. Thanks!!!!

Bill