Bought a mill to go with the lathe

This topic has 18 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 27 April 2011 at 21:02 by Derrick Watson.

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15 April 2011 at 18:19 #66936
Derrick Watson
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@derrickwatson66926
More a comment for beginners rather than a question but… I had a mini lathe for about a year, learnt the usual stuff and ‘attempted’ some milling on it with a milling adaptor thing – but was never very successful using it.

Anyway decided to get a ‘proper’ mini mill and what a total difference it’s made. So much easier to use and much quicker, neater and enjoyable than trying to use a saw and file to get simple basic shapes done.

So my point is just that I’m really surprised at the amount of difference it’s made and the extent to which I’m finding all kinds of uses for it.

Cheers all, Derrick
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15 April 2011 at 18:19 #5480
Derrick Watson
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@derrickwatson66926
15 April 2011 at 19:41 #66939
David Costello
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@davidcostello75947
Hi Derrick

What make of mini lathe is it?

Dave
15 April 2011 at 21:33 #66943
Derrick Watson
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@derrickwatson66926
Hi, it’s an Axminster SIEG SC2
16 April 2011 at 00:31 #66949
ady
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@ady
You need a good stiff hobby lathe, engage backgear and a slow feed in my limited experience of lathe milling.

I’ve been hogging out a 4.5×3 inch billet of steel with a hss woodruff cutter on and off over the last couple of weeks, it does fine but it’s not quick, (on a project to make a solid steel circular vice)

I’ve never had a carbide slot drill, hss ones are pretty good, the small cutting area means you get a huge amount of torque for munching metal.

My motor is pretty old and works away without complaint for hour after hour but without the backgear system I don’t think a hobby lathe electric motor would survive for long.

Milling -chewing your way through solid steel- is quite hard work compared with turning.

Edited By ady on 16/04/2011 00:38:08
16 April 2011 at 03:19 #66951
Ian S C
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@iansc
ady, when there’s a lot of metal to remove, I get to work with the hacksaw / bandsaw, and a drill to get rid of as much material as possible before starting with the mill, and that would be more important with the mini mill. Ian S C
16 April 2011 at 06:53 #66953
nic
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@nic
Hi there, I also have the SC2 from Axminster and attempted some milling on it,

One huge big failure!!!

In my view the lathe is just not rigid enough,

I’m saving up for a Super X3 from Arc,

Cheers Nic
16 April 2011 at 09:19 #66959
ady
Participant
@ady
ady, when there’s a lot of metal to remove, I get to work with the
hacksaw / bandsaw, and a drill to get rid of as much material as
possible before starting with the mill, and that would be more
important with the mini mill. Ian S C

I tend to use big jobs as training exercises to try and improve my experience because I’ve only been at it for just over a year. so I practice getting a feel for “perfect edges” for multi pass cuts etc because I don’t get an awful lot of time on the old girl.
16 April 2011 at 11:28 #66965
Lawrie Alush-Jaggs
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@lawriealush-jaggs50843
Hi Derrick

I couldn’t agree more about the mill. I have loads of both hand and power tools but since I bought a mill about two and a half years ago, the hand tools are scarely used.
Since buying the mill, I have stopped mucking about and bought a lathe, table saw, wood band saw, metal band saw, thicknesser, and last week, a planer.
I just got sick of not being good enough or fast enough with hand tools.
16 April 2011 at 12:01 #66967
Ian S C
Participant
@iansc
I bought a BIG file yesterday,16″ for $NZ2, needs a handle. some times a file is quiter than a mill. Ian S C PS I also got 2 little bags with 10 carbide inserts for $2ea, not bad for a total of $6.
16 April 2011 at 12:56 #66971
John Olsen
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@johnolsen79199
If the job is worth doing, there will be a power tool to do it!

(Somewhat tongue in cheek…)

regards

John
17 April 2011 at 11:01 #66995
Derrick Watson
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@derrickwatson66926
Yep agree with all the above, plus for me one of the biggest differences between the lathe milling and mill milling is the greater amount of movement in the X and Y, easier movement in the Z axes, and simply being able to see what I’m (trying) to do when the work is flat in front of you rather than at 90deg.
27 April 2011 at 09:39 #67595
Chippychap
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@chippychap
The current Mrs Chippychap reckons that power tools are a bloke thing.

Need a pencil sharpening? “I’ll need a CNC machine”

She’s getting bitter and twisted.. ………Wonder if they do a power tool to fix that?
27 April 2011 at 09:50 #67598
Nicholas Farr
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@nicholasfarr14254
Hi Chippychap, I don’t know about the power tool, but a £200.00 gift card to her favorite clothes store and a free hair do might sweeten her up a bit.

Regards Nick.
27 April 2011 at 10:04 #67599
Dusty
Participant
@dusty
Nick

£200-00 of Model Engineering tokens! I nearly had a heart attack when I read that. Maybe stretch to £20-00 but I would need guaranteed results.
27 April 2011 at 10:16 #67605
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi Dusty, whoops! the decimal point slipped.

Regards Nick.
27 April 2011 at 10:18 #67606
Chippychap
Participant
@chippychap
For 200 quid I would expect Billie Piper and a running buffet……………………………….and NEED a paramedic with a defibrillator
27 April 2011 at 17:46 #67626
Gray62
Participant
@gray62
Hi Derrick,

Just o get things back on topic ( no offence to any of the quips), which Mini Mill do you have?

I have an X2 clone waiting in the wings for a CNC conversion, just for a bit of fun, My primary mill is an AJX AJT4, fully manual, with DRO but will handle anything I throw at it

regards

CB
27 April 2011 at 21:02 #67634
Derrick Watson
Participant
@derrickwatson66926
Hi, it’s an Axminster SIEG X1.

I realise it’s on the small end of the scale but seems to do everything I’ve asked of it so far (small stuff mainly in brass, Al and a bit of EN1A).

I was also considering the X2 and X3 but space doesn’t allow at the moment and I also wasn’t sure just how much use it would get. The cost saving has also allowed a couple of other goodies to be bought (rotary table and a few other odds and ends).

cheers, d.
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