Well, I got the major problems fixed with the little mill/drill. It's now
got a universal draw bar, and adaptors for both standard and metric internal
threaded tapers. The missing gibb adjusting shoulder screw (draws it in or
pushes it out) has been fabricated. Its been tested with end mills and with
drill bits. The flaky power switch has been fixed, and the conclusion is...

It makes a fine drill press. Actually as a drill press its quite good
compared to any of the half dozen or so I have used in the past.

Since it has more power than anything else I currently have running except
the floor standing drill press I was impressed with it at first. It
actually does an amazing job at plunge cutting with a ball mill.
Unfortunately it quickly shows its limitations when actually milling. Pair
that with a lack of a fine feed and a quill lock that I really do not trust,
and it makes a fine drill press within its range. Actually far superior to
my regular drill press. I will probably keep it for that, but I doubt I'll
use it for my original intended purpose. I was hoping to use it for
flycutting flat surfaces on mold plates. I don't think so. I do think it
will do a better job than my old drill press for punching alignment pin and
clamping screw holes. Its got a lot less slop in the spindle bearings and a
lot less vibration at higher speeds. Now to find or make the right clamping
hardware for it so I don't drill holes in the table. LOL.

The XY table itself is actually not bad given that is has cast iron or steel
(not sure which) gibbs instead of brass or bronze ones. If it did have a
fine feed for the quill I think it would make a fair manual mill for modest
work. I considered removing the head and putting on my own Z slider, but
the Taig and the MaxNC are both superior for precision CNC work so why
bother, unless I wanted to turn it into a dedicated single purpose
machine... which I might. For now it will sit on the end of the bench with
the mini lathe and get occasional manual jobs when the CNC mini mills are
busy. I doubt I'll ever bother to convert it to CNC.

Dang it... I just had an idea for adding a fine feed to the quill. One
that can be engage and disengaged as needed, and it doesn't require
modification of the head. Well, not much. Now I'll be up until midnight
making it.

Have you mentioned what specific size/type of machine you're referring to?

--
WB
..........


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Well, I got the major problems fixed with the little mill/drill. It's now
got a universal draw bar, and adaptors for both standard and metric
internal threaded tapers. The missing gibb adjusting shoulder screw
(draws it in or pushes it out) has been fabricated. Its been tested with
end mills and with drill bits. The flaky power switch has been fixed, and
the conclusion is...

It makes a fine drill press. Actually as a drill press its quite good
compared to any of the half dozen or so I have used in the past.

Since it has more power than anything else I currently have running except
the floor standing drill press I was impressed with it at first. It
actually does an amazing job at plunge cutting with a ball mill.
Unfortunately it quickly shows its limitations when actually milling.
Pair that with a lack of a fine feed and a quill lock that I really do not
trust, and it makes a fine drill press within its range. Actually far
superior to my regular drill press. I will probably keep it for that, but
I doubt I'll use it for my original intended purpose. I was hoping to use
it for flycutting flat surfaces on mold plates. I don't think so. I do
think it will do a better job than my old drill press for punching
alignment pin and clamping screw holes. Its got a lot less slop in the
spindle bearings and a lot less vibration at higher speeds. Now to find
or make the right clamping hardware for it so I don't drill holes in the
table. LOL.

The XY table itself is actually not bad given that is has cast iron or
steel (not sure which) gibbs instead of brass or bronze ones. If it did
have a fine feed for the quill I think it would make a fair manual mill
for modest work. I considered removing the head and putting on my own Z
slider, but the Taig and the MaxNC are both superior for precision CNC
work so why bother, unless I wanted to turn it into a dedicated single
purpose machine... which I might. For now it will sit on the end of the
bench with the mini lathe and get occasional manual jobs when the CNC mini
mills are busy. I doubt I'll ever bother to convert it to CNC.

Dang it... I just had an idea for adding a fine feed to the quill. One
that can be engage and disengaged as needed, and it doesn't require
modification of the head. Well, not much. Now I'll be up until midnight
making it.

"Wild_Bill" wrote in message
...
Have you mentioned what specific size/type of machine you're referring to?

It's an unknown Chinese mill drill. Realistically its just a fair benchtop
drill press that happens to be mounted on an XY table. And it's a light
weight. I haven't put it on a scale, but since I was able to lift it from
the back of the truck to the ground I am thinking its about 250 pounds. 300
is my absolute things are popping max, and I wasn't hurting when I set it
down. I used a block and tackle to lift it up onto the work bench.













--
WB
.........


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Well, I got the major problems fixed with the little mill/drill. It's
now got a universal draw bar, and adaptors for both standard and metric
internal threaded tapers. The missing gibb adjusting shoulder screw
(draws it in or pushes it out) has been fabricated. Its been tested with
end mills and with drill bits. The flaky power switch has been fixed,
and the conclusion is...

It makes a fine drill press. Actually as a drill press its quite good
compared to any of the half dozen or so I have used in the past.

Since it has more power than anything else I currently have running
except the floor standing drill press I was impressed with it at first.
It actually does an amazing job at plunge cutting with a ball mill.
Unfortunately it quickly shows its limitations when actually milling.
Pair that with a lack of a fine feed and a quill lock that I really do
not trust, and it makes a fine drill press within its range. Actually
far superior to my regular drill press. I will probably keep it for
that, but I doubt I'll use it for my original intended purpose. I was
hoping to use it for flycutting flat surfaces on mold plates. I don't
think so. I do think it will do a better job than my old drill press for
punching alignment pin and clamping screw holes. Its got a lot less slop
in the spindle bearings and a lot less vibration at higher speeds. Now
to find or make the right clamping hardware for it so I don't drill holes
in the table. LOL.

The XY table itself is actually not bad given that is has cast iron or
steel (not sure which) gibbs instead of brass or bronze ones. If it did
have a fine feed for the quill I think it would make a fair manual mill
for modest work. I considered removing the head and putting on my own Z
slider, but the Taig and the MaxNC are both superior for precision CNC
work so why bother, unless I wanted to turn it into a dedicated single
purpose machine... which I might. For now it will sit on the end of the
bench with the mini lathe and get occasional manual jobs when the CNC
mini mills are busy. I doubt I'll ever bother to convert it to CNC.

Dang it... I just had an idea for adding a fine feed to the quill. One
that can be engage and disengaged as needed, and it doesn't require
modification of the head. Well, not much. Now I'll be up until midnight
making it.