New Toy

[SKIPRAT]

Well i have finally taken the plunge and bought a milling machine that came along at the right price it is a Warco Minor Mill/Drill i am quite aware of it's round column nature and the drawbacks of this design of machine tool .Reading around there has been a lot of mud slung at this type of machine but for what i can see there is nothing that there is not a workround for. I am no newbie for what it is worth i have quite a few years of production machining under my belt but on the other hand i still am quite willing to learn further new tricks. Back to my new machine well it's new to me it is an imperial machine and it came with the makers cabinet stand a nice 4 inch astra milling vice a posilock collet chuck with 4 imperial collets and a drill chuck some cutters and 4 t bolts the only snag i have at the moment is i have to re hash the shed maybe extend it a bit to fit the machine in.

Cheers Paul




Cheers Paul  

[wongster]

Hi Paul,

May I know how much you pay for this?  There isn't much options available in where I live and this looks like it can fit into my little apartment.

Regards,
Wong

[ilia-45]

Paul,my congratulations to the award

[fluxcored]

I've decided that my next buy is going to be a similar kind of machine. Stumbled on one at an OK price today but unfortunately I have to fork a lot of dough to do the roofing on my house in the next couple of days.

It seems that you can do a fair bit of work with these Mill/Drills, even in steel contrary to what sceptics say.

Nice buy and all that tooling really makes it a good find.

[Rob.Wilson]

Nice one Paul 

That should keep you out of trouble 


Rob 

[stefang]

Nice, thats all you need to start

A sturdy mill (with belt drive...very silent..), a good vice and a few cutters...

I would not see the round column as a drawback...it can enlarge the machinable area, when there are large pieces to be machined..

Stefan

[Brass_Machine]

Paul,

Nice find. I have seen a lot of good stuff come from round column machines. Heck, I own an X2 that the experts say is only a toy and is worthless. BUT, I have made quite a bit of stuff from it (and sold!).

Lets see the pictures of it when you set it up.

Eric

[Rob.Wilson]

Its the man that makes the machine 

I still have my first round column mill/drill , had it for yonks ,,,,,,,,,, even though i have two other mill's i have no plans to get rid of it 

Rob 

[SKIPRAT]

Hi All

I was right i do have to extend my 10'x 5' shed to accomodate my new toy  soon to be 12'x5' first i had to rip off the boarding on the end wall the fasten two uprights to the existing ones suitably notched to carry on the existing roof beam line extend the roof the put the machine in before replacing end boarding and hopefully i shall be then able to make some swarf all this working with the brown stuff i hate working with it it has a mind of its own all i want to do is play with my new toy i wiil post some pictures tomorrow as the light outside is now fading.

Cheers Paul

[Stilldrillin]

That's a really nice pick up, Paul!

You're off to a great start..... Enjoy! 

David D

[John Stevenson]

I bought one when they first came out, it was a big step up from the Dore Westbury.
It did sterling work whilst I owned it, I did fit a Heidenhain DRO to it which sounds a bit like quilding the lily but I was making prototype laser mirror mounts and they had to be spot on.

I only got rid of it when space forced a move, I now have a Bridgeport which is only an American Mill / Drill in a different colour.

John S.

[SKIPRAT]

Hi All

Well we have finally got the mill in the shed and in position but not useable yet I need to put some power up that end of the shed. When I got the mill home it was a bit bigger than I thought it would be so the shed had to be extended, as it would not fit in. So here we go we will do it first problem I could only extend it just less than 2 Feet due to a manhole cover in the way. It was quite interesting the way I did it first rip off the boarding on the end fix two uprights to the end so I could hang the extension off them put the boarding back for security reasons, next day carried on with the framework and roof, board up the two sides bother no room for pillar drill and mill so extract pillar drill put mill in board up end again throw some timber treatment on this leaves me a problem I will have to decide what to do with the pillar drill as there is certainly no room for it ,the mill just fits in and there is enough room for full travel of the table with a couple of inches to spare each side








Cheers Paul

[andyf]

  Ye Gods, Paul - it's a bit tight in there! Won't the handles hit the wall when you traverse the table?

Andy

[Stilldrillin]

Precision fit Paul!   

I think the phrase is, compact and bijou...... 

David D

[SKIPRAT]

Hi Andy

There is a couple of inches clearance between the handles and the walls at fiull table travel each way i am thinking of getting some folding handles to get a bit more clearance as well. The camera makes it look tighter than it is yes my shed is compact but it has an advantage it does not take a lot to heat it last winter i could keep a temperature of around 18 degrees centigrade with a 1Kw heater and that was on only half the time insulating the ceiling helps a lot as well.

Cheers Paul

[cidrontmg]

Good grief... I always thought (in fact, still do sometimes) that my shop is a bit short of space.   
 

[AdeV]

You've put it in the wrong way around, haven't you?    Isn't it awkward reaching around the machine to do any work? 

;)

[SKIPRAT]

Hi Ade

It seems to be wrong way round but the machine cabinet is much deeper than it is wide i tried it the otherway round and it is much better this way round as it gives me the most room the camera due the wide angle on the lens makes it appear out of proportion ,by the way i have seen pictures of shops in broom cupboards and other compact places but on the other hand if i ever move house i will make sure i have a garage which would be my ideal size of shop untill then i will carry on with my "Compact Shop".

Cheers Paul

[andyf]

You've put it in the wrong way around, haven't you?    Isn't it awkward reaching around the machine to do any work? 

That fooled me, too, until I read one of Paul's earlier posts and realised the photo was taken before he walled the thing in. You can just see the diagonal braces on the door at the far end.
Paul, I hope you've put a low-level hatch in the end wall to save  when that vital bit of equipment drops down behind it!

Andy

[SKIPRAT]

Hi Andy

Fear not the end wall has removable panels for maintenance purposes coach bolted with nyloc nuts on the inside and the left wall will have a lockable "Cat Flap" in line with the mill table for that extra long job i might need to do just stick it through with a roller stand outside in the yard quite a bit of forward planning has gone into the installation of the mill seeing as the end of the shed was built round it once again the pictures are a bit deceptive.

Cheers Paul

[SKIPRAT]

Hi All

There has been some misunderstanding about the size of my shed so i am posting a couple more pictures of it i have taken a tape measure to it today it is 3.5m long and 1.5m wide it is a little bit untidy inside as we now have to get it tidy enough to work in and try out my new toy .





Cheers Paul

[Stilldrillin]

That's a better pic! Looks more like it now, Paul! 

I think the word is snug........ 

David D