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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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if you had a choice between a big drill press, or a mill/drill machine
for another $150, which would you take?. I'm not quite sure what all I can do with a mill-drill, other than cut slots in stuff. Can I do most of my drilling with a mill-dril? Thanks! Ronnie |
#2
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My idea of "big drill press" and yours may differ somewhat. To me, a big
drill press would weigh several thousand pounds. You may be talking about something like a 17" import floor model, though. Assuming the latter, then I recommend you go with the mill-drill as long as it's in decent shape. You should be able to learn a lot about it by looking at it carefully, running it, and listening. Don't worry about incidental dings in the table, these can be stoned flat and they won't hurt anything. Do worry if the quill is real sloppy or if the table is real loose. I'd personally accept backlash in the table feedscrews up to 180°, it doesn't matter very much. A mill-drill makes an excellent drill press. I would recommend buying a really good quality chuck with integral R8 taper (assuming the MD has R8, else integral #3 Morse taper or whatever it does have). You won't be able to axially drill down into the end of a broomstick, but you will be able to make a little bushing that slips over your broomstick so you can use a hand drill - you get the idea. You can also do light milling with a mill-drill. Grant Erwin Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho wrote: if you had a choice between a big drill press, or a mill/drill machine for another $150, which would you take?. I'm not quite sure what all I can do with a mill-drill, other than cut slots in stuff. Can I do most of my drilling with a mill-dril? Thanks! Ronnie |
#3
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If I just needed a drill press, I'd go with the drill press. If I didn't
already have a mill, the mill/drill would be a better choice. The problem with the mill/drill is that it won't have the depth of drilling available that the floor mounted drill press will have. As to milling, the machine is a lightweight mill so you aren't going to be swinging 6" face cutters or other such stuff but anything that you can do with a larger machine, you can do within limits on the smaller machine. -- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried! |
#4
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"Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho" wrote in message
om... if you had a choice between a big drill press, or a mill/drill machine for another $150, which would you take?. I'm not quite sure what all I can do with a mill-drill, other than cut slots in stuff. Can I do most of my drilling with a mill-dril? Thanks! Ronnie Just some HSM perspective. For the various drilling & boring needs I have two lathes, two mills, a sturdy (300 lb) old Rockwell floor drill press and a small (300 lb) mill/drill. The two real mills have been in storage the last 4 years and for the stuff I have been doing (odd home construction and equipment repairs) I have done OK without them. Recent tasks on the mill/drill: Machining 1/4" off the edge of 6 feet of 1" thick of cast iron drain gratings, couple gallons of chips. Messy job, nice to not gunk up a real mill. Worked great though, side cutting with a roughing end mill. Boring some accurate 4" holes in high-density particle board using a fly cutter - really not safe on a typical drill press, just too much side load and too hairy at the lowest speed of most drill presses. Drilling hot rolled angle and flat stock - 3/8" and 1/2" holes, could do in the drill press but easier and more controllable on the mill/drill. I do a lot of large forstner bit cutting, for the most part that would work OK at the lowest drill press speed. Drilling several 1-1/4" holes in 3/4" steel plate for a friend - was beyond the safe limit of the mill/drill but I did it anyway. Better done on a real mill or I suppose with a mag drill. Drill press out of the question. I do a lot of messy work on it, that gets particle board and plywood sawdust and plastic chips in the ways and all over the machine. It is nice to have the built-in X-Y table. for drilling. It is nice to have a real milling vise on the mill/drill for clamping work more securely than a typical drill press vise. The headroom is the limit - with a drill in a chuck, can't get the drill point more than about 8" above the table. Before I had the drill press, I would swing the head out over the floor and drill material clamped to the side of the stand. Recent tasks on the drill press: The speed range is 250 to 4000 rpm. I pretty much use it for wood and for drilling holes in metal up to about 3/8". Above 3/8" it's hard to prevent the belt from slipping, but that's because it has only a single belt reduction not the double reduction like a similar size modern import. So at least in this example if I had only a drill press I'd have been better off with the import. But I'd still take the mill/drill over the drill press, and just deal with the headroom problem. I have been keeping an eye out for an old gear-head drill press in the ~ 1000 lb range - something with at least the drilling power of the mill/drill, but with 3'+ of headroom. Bob |
#5
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![]() I have both and generally the mill/drill is the first choice for drilling steel. It has lower speeds available than the drill press. The mill/drill can be used to drill long items (broomsticks etc. ;^) by swiveling the head 180 degrees opposite the table. Cheers, Kelley On 15 Jan 2004 10:23:34 -0800, (Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho) wrote: if you had a choice between a big drill press, or a mill/drill machine for another $150, which would you take?. I'm not quite sure what all I can do with a mill-drill, other than cut slots in stuff. Can I do most of my drilling with a mill-dril? Thanks! Ronnie |
#6
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if you had a choice between a big drill press, or a mill/drill machine
for another $150, which would you take?. I'm not quite sure what all I In my opinion it depends on what you are doing. It depends on the accuracy you need and the size of your projects and maybe your skill level as well. For low accuracy the drill press is adequate, fast and cheap. If you can locate your holes with a ruler and center punch, all you need is a drill press. I feel that I can achieve more accurate and faster results with a mill/drill. If you need to drill a hole and you only have a drill press, you must lay out the part, center punch the hole and hopefully drill a hole where the centerpunch mark is located. There are lots of oppurunity for mistakes and for errors to build up in this process. With the mill/drill I can accurately located a hole by finding an edge and then using the leadscrews to position the spindle where I want the hole. Fewer steps, less chance for error and less skill required. As other have stated, you can do larger projects on a drill press and you can do simple low precision projects faster on a drill press which is the only time I ever use my drill press. chuck |
#7
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