Does anyone use a mill?

[08K.80]

I'm in need of a drill press and I found a Grizzly mill on Craigslist. This One

It looks like a drill press, but from my understanding, it cuts metal and other materials with optional mill cutters. Is this suitable for drilling and is it practical for pen making? It's a year old with twenty hours use at half the new cost.

Thanks for your input.

 

[bobjackson]

A mill is used for metal. It is a must for machine shops. A drill press is also a must for machine shops, but is used to drill holes, where a mill is used to machine metal to a desired thickness. For your purposes, a drill press is the way to go.

 

[randyrls]

I'm in need of a drill press and I found a Grizzly mill on Craigslist. This One

This can certainly be used for hole drilling in a pen blank.

It is overkill for the purpose of drill holes in pen blanks. If you want to machine metal though, you can use it for both. $500 will get you a very good drill press.

The main difference between this a a drill press is that this has a table with X and Y leadscrews that allow the table to be positioned precisely. The bearings in the head are also able to resist side force play more than a drill press.

Note that it weighs 435 lbs!!!! you will need a sturdy table to sit it on and several friends to move it!!

 

[Curly]

That is a mill/drill, a souped up drill press if you will. It is a solid little drill press that, with the X/Y table lets you do some light duty milling. The only limitation, if any would be the travel of the quill is 3 5/8" which would prevent you from drilling holes for long pens like the Zen. With some creative thinking, jigs and an angle vice, in combination with it's ability to move the table you can make similar blanks to the ones you see Skiprat and jttheclockman doing.

I would buy it secure in the knowledge that if you didn't like it you could easily flog it later for what you paid for it. If the owner is including some tooling it is an even better buy.

I just thought of another downside. :frown: You might like working metal so much that you'll end up getting a metal lathe too. :biggrin:

 

[Sandy H.]

I've used a very similar machine. If it comes with any tooling (vise, R8 collets, end mills etc) it is a pretty good buy. It is possible that the owner also has the stand, which is nothing to write home about, but is functional.

If it was in my area, I would go look at it with cash in my pocket.

Sandy.

 

[KenV]

Mills work with wood too --- and it opens up possibility if you can afford it -- should avoid most of the "slop issues" with drill presses, especially the cheap ones discussed from time to time.

Certainly a machine you can grow into --- and have router capabilities to boot.

 

[carlmorrell]

I have a Craftsman XY bed mounted to my drill press. I love it. It's great for quickly centering blanks.

As far as the quill travel limitation is concerned, it's an exception rather than the rule. I work around it, by simply re-chucking the drill bit.

 

[Haynie]

Where did you get that funky big blue air nozzle, carl?

Kelly, You should probably ask yourself where you plan go with your creativity. If you are happy with round pens jut buy a drill press or drill on the lathe.

 

[carlmorrell]

Mark,

I'm glad that the hose has cast into it the name! For the life of me, I can not remember where I got it. Anyhow the product is called "loc-line". If you google that, you will find the company, as well a page that has their products. It's a great item. I like having the rigid flex nozzle.

The Original Modular Hose System | Loc-Line - Vacuum 2.5 Inch

 

[plantman]

This would be my take on this subject. You can buy a 1 1/2 HP heavy duty table top drill press with VS, 1/2 or 5/8 chuck, and a 5 inch stroke for just over $200.00. You can add to this a two axis milling vice for around $70.00. For less than $300.00 you would have all the tool you will ever need to do pens, plus be able to mill or drill metals. The other side of the coin, as atated above, is if there is tooling that comes with the mill you mentioned it might not be a bad investment. If the seller has a mill, he must also have some tooling. Jim S

 

[stonepecker]

If you can get it for half price........I would jump on it.

That one machine should help you in so many ways that the price is a steal. JMHO
You might have to get some help to set it up......but it should be worth it. Hope that it is close to you and that you can pick it up to avoid shipping.

 

[08K.80]

I will do some more research to see what it can be used for before committing. I found that a decent drill press costs around $300 and up.
So if this can be beneficial in another way, I thought the cost is acceptable.
I make other crafty items, so maybe this could be used in some aspect.

Where did you get that funky big blue air nozzle, carl?

Kelly, You should probably ask yourself where you plan go with your creativity. If you are happy with round pens jut buy a drill press or drill on the lathe.

I'm not sure what other shape to make a pen if it isn't round. I'm not sure where I will end up going with the pens...maybe nowhere.

 

[plantman]

I will do some more research to see what it can be used for before committing. I found that a decent drill press costs around $300 and up.
So if this can be beneficial in another way, I thought the cost is acceptable.
I make other crafty items, so maybe this could be used in some aspect.

Where did you get that funky big blue air nozzle, carl?

Kelly, You should probably ask yourself where you plan go with your creativity. If you are happy with round pens jut buy a drill press or drill on the lathe.

I'm not sure what other shape to make a pen if it isn't round. I'm not sure where I will end up going with the pens...maybe nowhere.

If you have a 2 axis vice you can make 6 or 8 sided pens, cut grooves, do checkering, or inlays, the possabilitys are endless whether it's mounted on a mill or a good drill press. Jim S

 

[BKelley]

Re: Does anyone use a mill

Kelly,

This would seem to be a good buy. If you only used as a drill press it would have no slop or excessive vibration. A good stout drill press.
You will get the added benefit of a moveable table. As a mill, probably not the best, but for milling on wood and light cuts on metal it will do fine.
check out the attached photo. I don't have a table saw and did this on my mini mill. ------- My advice, BUY IT.

Ben

 

[08K.80]

I contacted the guy and told him I would like to have it and now he wants more money for it. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

It is about two hours away and I would have to figure out how to move it once I got it home. Might be for the best.

Thanks for the advise.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

If its just for pens, why don't you get a chuck to drill on the lathe?

 

[PenPal]

Grab it with open arms it is designed for multi purpose be grateful for the weight when its in situ. With a little imagination and an indexing method there are limitless applications in store for you, 3/4 of the work is done for you it will increase your accuracy immensely.

Because it is in effect a Mill Drill they are extremely versatile I value mine above any drill. I did modify mine at the quill lock and fitted an electronic guide up and down movement. Also it has a hollow spindle allowing the locking of the chuck or fitting other devices etc.

Did I say I really love mine. Just noticed your other remarks depends on you anyway just my handle over the last almost twenty years in using mine it is my go to.

From this pic you can see one of the movement handles, the heavy vice on the LHS of pic this bench enables me to sit on a draughtsmans raised chair I simply swivel left and operate the Mill Drill. My workshop has spewcial areas in 30 metres foreshortening of the lens looks cramped but isnt. This set up 15 yrs ago now refined somewhat the lathe a VL100 the brown box on the table vari speed infinite control, pen press on the right eye height etc.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[plantman]

I contacted the guy and told him I would like to have it and now he wants more money for it. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

It is about two hours away and I would have to figure out how to move it once I got it home. Might be for the best.

Thanks for the advise.

Kelly; If the seller isn't honest with his priceing, he may not be telling you everything about the mill either !! Best to walk away from this person. As far as moving something this heavy around, you or your husband could build a stand and put locking caster wheels on it. I have all my heavy tools and even several of my work benches on wheels. They can be moved in and out as you need them, and it makes it easy to clean up the shop. Jim S

 

[Talfalfa33]

I use a Bridgeport mill at work, and honestly, if your not going to drill over three inches deep, and its a good price with tooling, I would go with that over a drill press. We machine aluminum as well as steel and wood. I've even gone as far as putting a piece of round bar stock in the collet and a lathe cutter in the vise and used it as a vertical metal lathe. If it has a digital readout, you can cut slots within a millionth of an inch and move it in any direction you need and duplicate it. In the pics below, you can see the slots I cut and for the indexing, I used it to drill the holes in the edge of my face plate. So with some thinking and good tooling there not much you can't do. In fact the bolt action pans are machines on something of that nature.