On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 09:39:18 -0500, "Robert Swinney"
wrote:
Couple of things: The "loss of center" when moving the head vertically, is
one of the major drawbacks of a mill-drill. Reasonable location can be
re-established via good layout lines and/or an edge finder from reference
edge(s). Get a Blake, or clone, co-axial indicator for accurate re-location
of critical holes, or location from a datum hole if you want to use one.
With a little practice you will forget about the loss of center problem. A
lot of it can be overcome by carefully predicting maximum tool height
required for all tools used (vertical clearance) for any specific job.
The RF45 is the dovetail column with a gear head, no loss of
position when raising the head, pretty solidy constructed. The column
was aligned dead nuts on when I indicated it, a pleasant surprise.
Don't bother changing out the motor to 3-phase and getting a VFD. IMO, it's
not worth the expense. Moving belts on pulleys isn't that big a chore;
besides it gives you good experience in estimating speeds and feeds for
various materials. Save your money for R-8 tooling for the mill-drill and
the "Bridgie-clone" in your future.
The gear head has a few speed gaps that need filling, the origional
motor runs nice but sometimes a little lower/higher speed would
be nice. It's R8 tooled so I'm good there, I live in a remote
area with no used machine tools. The shipping for a bare used
machine was more that I paid for my free freight enco RF45 clone .So
I elected to use the difference for tooling.
FWIW, I have both. Usu. the old mill-drill is relegated to drill press work
but occasionally I use it for more critical stuff. Recently, I made a pair
of steam engine eccentric straps on the mill-drill. I sort of did it as an
exercise to see if I "still had it" on the mill-drill. It worked out OK
with some belt changes and co-axial centering required but overall it was a
bit clunky compared to my Bridgie. That's because I am more used to the big
mill with all its conveniences. The mill-drill still has a place in my
shop. You have some great experiences coming up with your mill-drill.
Consider it as affording you some apprentice training before you get a
full-featured mill. Take your time; concentrate on accurate layouts; take
pleasure in the fact you have a real milling machine at a very reasonable
price.
I'm looking forward to winter and some extended chipmaking time.
I schooled on big industial iron 30 years ago, I must have had a good
instructor as everything has come back with litte reference to my
notes, We didn't have any dro's there, I was taught to use a dial
indicator for high tolerance positioning. I never have used a dro.
DE
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----