Peter Grey wrote:

Ok. People in a previous thread have kindly beat me up and suggested I look
for alternatives to a new RF30 mill. I know very little (nothing, really)
about what exists in the used machine tool world. I'm an
automotive/racing/motorcycling hobbyist that needs a benchtop sized mill for
fabbing brackets, component mounts, and a whole bunch of stuff I'm sure I'll
think of once I get a mill. I have a very limited garage (maybe 200 square
feet) into which this must fit along with a bunch of other tools and a car.

My question is: what models of mills should I be looking for? I'm looking
for used equipment of a size and price similar to a new RF30 ($1,000 to
$1,500 without tooling). Also, who are the trustworthy dealers out there?
IOW, if I can't find what I'm looking for locally, is there a dealer who I
can call that will give me the straight scoop on something I can buy sight
unseen. Even knowing nothing about mills, but having - I think - good
mechanical intuitiveness, buying sight unseen makes me nervous... One
poster suggested a Centec mill and it looks cool but I can't find one for
sale in the States.

Thanks,

Peter

OK, this is going to look a bit funny, but, here goes.

You want to make brackets and stuff for your projects. No NASA
contracts, no defense industry prototypes. Nothing too critical. No
tolerances to a half-zillionth.

Buy the RF-30.

Get one with a R-8 spindle, rather than Morse taper. Mill tooling is
MUCH cheaper in R-8, and much more common. Think Ebay and machine tool
dealers. Morse taper stuff other than drills is not common.
If you can find a supplier that stocks the RF-30 with the taller
column, buy that. The extra couple bucks will get you lots more space to
use when you need. The rest of the time, it won't be in the way.

For a metalworker that will generally be laying out his lines directly
on the stock, and cutting to a line, these are a GREAT bargain. They are
a darn useful tool that doubles as a decent drill press (the extra
headroom, above, helps when using full length drills). This gives you
that much more space in the shop. (small enough space as it is).

I have a Centec 2A. It's a great little milling machine. In 500 lbs of
cast iron, and a steel stand, I get slightly more volume to work with
than if I had a sherline mill. It has MT-2 tapers (same as my lathes
tooling-makes for compatability) in it's vertical and horizontal
spindles. It has a power feed. Nice stuff. Not nearly what you will
want. All for more than it would have cost me to buy a new RF-30 and
tooling. It fills my needs (mostly) and I like it. I would not consider
it for what you are describing as your needs. In fact, as I STILL don't
have a decent drill press, I am still considering getting a RF-30 for
things larger than I can otherwise deal with, on the cheap. The Centec
2B is a bit larger, but not by an amount that you would appreciate.
I have used an RF-30 a lot. The inability to hold zero when raising and
lowering the head is not as much of a deal as you might think. It makes
good fodder for arguing over, though. Again, we are talking about
fabbing brackets and such for your projects, not building cylinder heads
from billet stock, right?

In my opinion, you will get more table space from an RF-30 than from
anything else you can afford, both in cash and space, without getting
very lucky. Of course, some of the best machine tool scrounges I've ever
heard of are in your neck of the woods. Luck might not be so hard to
find in this case. Still tough to beat the amount of capacity, for the
amount of shop space used for the RF-30.

The small and medium sizes of horizontal mill have smaller tables,
though they have their own advantages. The creativity required to deal
with problems on a horizontal mill are not a lot different from dealing
with the limitations of the mill drills. The small vertical mills all
seem to me to be limited to about 1/2" end mills, and really require a
lot more real estate than you seem to be able to afford. You can rarely
use the space in the base of a small mill for storage.

Anyway, that's my two bits worth.

In short, look at your "needs" at least as hard as you look at your
"wants".

Based on my experiences, I think that you will likely find what you
need in the RF-30 mill drill.

Cheers
Trevor Jones