If you go the 'two mill' route Becky, then a Taig (Peatol in UK) or Sherline would both be good choices for the smaller machine. They are easily transportable and have ER16 collet heads that will hold 10mm tooling. They are both capable of high RPM and can either be upgraded to CNC or purchased with it fitted (Sherline) – or as you mention DRO's

In terms of a larger (new) mill I'm not really the go-to guy here for best advice – especially on Chinese kit.

I already have two mills but they are both old iron (Atlas MF & Victoria H0  ). I have a MT2 vertical head for my Atlas MF (which is driven by the existing motor arrangements) but I am looking at mounting my Taig milling head (with its own motor) on the MF instead. This is a pretty simple thing to do – the Taig head is secured via an aluminium 'gib' strip and can be detached by loosening one screw. A similar gib fitting on the MF would make the Taig head easily movable. This will give me the added advantages of the MF's longer table, power feed and generally heavier machine build, with the Taig's ability to spin much smaller tools quickly.

The other possible solution (for high speed work) is to make a special 'through' spindle that fits the existing milling head but that is driven separately by its own power. I have thought about this for my Victoria H0, which also has a vertical head and is again driven via the existing (but speed limiting) motor arrangements. This head is MT3 so there should be room to fit an MT3 adaptor with a fast spindle through it, driven by a small top mounted motor. Again the advantages are having a very fast spindle on a massive base and a long table (20" travel) with power feed. I haven't needed to do this so far but it remains an option if the need arises. The Taig head is the much simpler/quicker upgrade route.

So you might also want to consider fitting a larger mill (or perhaps your existing one?) with either a high speed milling head, such as the Taig – or a "through" high speed spindle.

Regards,

IanT

Edit: damn thing keeps inserting 'smilies' instead of brackets!

Edited By IanT on 06/02/2014 10:42:04

Hi Becky,

you mentioned you have an X2, what is it about that mill that you're looking to upgrade or eliminate ?

Have you considered the new style rigid column, X2 from ArcEuroTrade or their lighter weight Hi-Torque X1, which is the same large 400mm table, but a 250w 5000rpm spindle (which might suit your needs!)

**LINK**

**LINK**

If I didn't just but an RF20 as it was "the right price" I would have been upgrading to their X2 (for it's wider section column and stronger 500w motor over the same table X1LP although a 5k spindle right out of the box would have been nice)

Regarding spindle speed, I would recommend something like a layshaft attached to your quill, and driven via a 5 or 10 to 1 belt drive – it's compact, cheap to make, and cheap to maintain (smaller bearings) – its limited to small cutters, but then what else would you use a 12.5k-25k spindle for on this type of machine =)

I think you had in mind "two strong young men" when you were thinking of "transportable" Becky.

Two of us went to collect the Atlas MF (about 300lb) in a van and used a trolley to move it but lifting it back onto the bench (on arrival back home) resulted in one of us having problems getting out of bed the next day! With about 140 years between the two of us you would think we would know better by now.

For any Atlas MF owners out there, the Taig head idea is not new and there's a version on YouTube here:

**LINK**

I think you will get the general idea – and it will work well for anyone else (especially those with a small horizontal mill) who would like a vertical milling capability.

IanT

I fitted one of these to the side of my SX2P mill for use with small mills, dental burrs, and engraving cutters in much the same way as JS's picture. It has a much better spindle than most of this type of drill and I've had no problems so far.

Russell.

.

It even appears to have great potential as the foundation for a "special" machine.

MichaelG.

.

… if I had an X2 to upgrade, and

… if I wanted a wobbly column for the special.

MichaelG.

> … if I wanted a wobbly column for the special.

My 'special' could be a surface grinder, so even without the large bracing plate fitted to my X2 it would probably be rigid enough. However, I was thinking of lying the column on its back as the base of a new machine.

Neil

Hi

I have an X3 and am very please with it one thing it is not is portable, my two sons mid twenty's and strong only just manage to lift it onto the bench its an awkward lift.

That said a very good machine great support from Ketan at Arc when I had a little problem with it.

Oliver

Generic question.

Why does this forum out of the 5 or 6 I visit have so many pedantic's, whingers and whiners, spelling nazi's, flat earth society members but never produce what the other forums produce or have I answered my own question. ?