Does anyone do a small mill but still has good travel.

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

Hi guys, just after some advice really, just built a brick work shop down the side of my house. It's aprox 1.8m wide and 7.5m deep internal, as its only 1.8m wide I am just looking at small mills but ideally something with good travel so you could still put something like a car cyl head on. I used Bridgeports at engineering college during my apprentiship but they would be to big, I saw a Tom Senior mill on the net but don't know anything about them. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

[victor mcconvilleParticipant @victormcconville47638]

Hi Martin, i have a Chester Machine Tools 625 Mill which is very like a small Bridgeport with power feed, I have R8 Tooling in mine which is pretty robust.

Have a look at the Chester UK web site and check out their smaller mills, my work shop is 2mtrs X 8mtrs any my mill is across the 2 mtr. the travel is 250mm x 350mm

You can find Chester Machine Tools on this page over to the right and down.

Hope this helps

Vic

[victor mcconvilleParticipant @victormcconville47638]

Hi again Martin, Sorry the travels are 150mm x 350mm not 250mm x 350mm.and Z travel is the same as the Bridgeport by a lifting knee.

Old age creeping up i think

Vic

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Some of the smaller mills come with two table length options which would give you say 500mm travel but you do need to be aware that the basic supporting structure is the same on either option so much like a Bridgeport with a 48" table it can sag on the overhanging end.

[Anonymous]

Posted by JasonB on 30/10/2017 10:55:18:

……..but you do need to be aware that the basic supporting structure is the same on either option so much like a Bridgeport with a 48" table it can sag on the overhanging end.

Apparently it's worst with original, mechanical, table feed. Basically a quick change gear box hanging on the end of the table. I always park my Bridgeport with the table roughly centred, even though I have the lighter variable speed table drive.

It can be quite difficult to actually utilise the full table travel taking into account clamping requirements, so it's best to go for slightly more than you think you'll need.

Andrew

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

The equivalent of the 625 from Chester is the 626 from Warco and there is a big following on here for both and an ongoing machine specific thread if you try a search.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I would have thought that you need something with a bigger table than 6" x 26" and only 14" of travel to skim the average 4cyl head. Not only do you need the length of the head but as they are usually done with a large dia flycutter type tool you want the tool to clear that at both ends So travel needs to be head length plus twice x half the cutter dia.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

If planning to flycut a lot of car heads I would first do a check of the mill to be used, using an old scrap head. Do the cut as you usually would but first jury rig a dial indicator under each end of the table, and watch them during the cut at the outer extremes of table travel. The indicators should be rigidly supported from the machine base or the floor if the mill is bolted down. If table is deflecting more than a few thou during the cut, your milled head won't likely be flat enough, and you may need extra support of the table to the floor or mill base before doing non-scrap ones.

In many automotive machine shops I have been in ( since I started going to these shops in late 1960's as a kid picking up parts for my grandfather and Dad's garage, later getting my own project work done)  I noticed the mills used for flycutting/face milling blocks and heads have especially wide bases supporting almost the whole table length. This was done for maximum rigidity to assure a flat cut on decks of the large and heavy workpieces.

Edited By Jeff Dayman on 30/10/2017 15:43:15

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

Thanks guys I will have to have a look, also are these Tom Senior mills any good?.

I guess ideally to skim something like a car cyl head you are going to need atleast 500mm plus of travel on the bed?.

I haven't really done any milling since engineering school and that was back in 1996-2001, I did have a nice Harison lathe but when I moved house it got put into storage at my uncles farm until my workshop was built, one evening some low life kids thought it would be funny to set the barn on fire that had my lathe in it, the heat was so intense all the alley gear covers and casings had melted away.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I don't think I would want any large cylinder head flycut. Tramming would need to be nigh on perfect as many head gasket failures are between cylinders.

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

I may have to settle for a smaller mill and if and when any big jobs come up just get our local machine shop to do it.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by not done it yet on 30/10/2017 16:13:46:

I don't think I would want any large cylinder head flycut. Tramming would need to be nigh on perfect as many head gasket failures are between cylinders.

Don't know why not, that is how the pros do it for example this

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Posted by not done it yet on 30/10/2017 16:13:46:

I don't think I would want any large cylinder head flycut. Tramming would need to be nigh on perfect as many head gasket failures are between cylinders.

Well yes the tram does have to be right. If you get a head done at any commercial automotive machine shop I'd say it will likely be done with a face mill with multiple inserts or by a heavy disk flycutter. No commercial shop will stand there all day with a 1" dia endmil going back and forth, and anyway the face mill will give a flat job with a beautiful finish dead nuts to spec if done in a heavy / ridgid enough mill.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

Remember when skimming a car cylinder head it needs to be bolted down well, preferably on to a substantial plate. If you just plonk one down and skim the combustion side the camshaft bearings may not be right afterwards.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Martin Turner 4 on 30/10/2017 16:05:30:

these Tom Senior mills any good?.

If you get one in good condition, yes, very.

Neil

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

I have just had a look in my workshop and if I put units/workbench down the whole r/h wall I will have a gap of about 1.4M. With that in mind I would need a small mill that only has a depth of about 800mm.

 

I was going to put a small mill where the worktops

[img]https://image.ibb.co/fa7VQw/image.jpg[/img]

[Martin Turner 4Participant @martinturner4]

And this one

https://image.ibb.co/fa7VQw/image.jpg

Edited By JasonB on 31/10/2017 18:30:38

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