wrote in message
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On Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:23:13 AM UTC-5, Michael Koblic wrote:
I was looking at a Rong-Fu clone today (RF30). Unlike the dovetail column
mills that I am used to this one has a round column. The head can be moved
up and down and swivelled 360 degrees, however one loses the X-Y position
doing it. The spindle (quill, really) has a maximum range of movement of
only 5".

My small mill manages 9" and I need every thou of it on some occasions,
particularly when changing for larger cutters, e.g reamers or simply
changing holders.

Furthermore I thought it was a good practice to mill with the quill
retracted as far as possible to improve rigidity. This would make it
rather
difficult to change even shorter bits let alone change, say, a mill-holder
for a drill chuck.

What am I missing? How are these issues dealt with on these machines?

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Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC

I have just found a RF31 and am searching for an operators manual. Anyone
have one they can share. A RF30 manual would be a help.

Mike Mitchell
Parsons, WV
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I know Harbor Freight sold some Rong Fu mill-drills but I don't know the
model number crossovers. Is this the right one:
https://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-...ne-33686.html?
Maybe the manual will be at least some help. Oh, also found this page with
links to both the HF manual and the Grizzly version which the author says
has a much better manual: http://cholla.mmto.org/machining/hfmill.html.

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames