R8 or MT3?

[sunnybob]

I'm getting ready to order my first milling machine and need advice. Do i get mt3 or R8?

It will be a bench top mill, not likely to ever buy another one. Working only in metric, on mostly mild steel and aluminium, with an occasional stainless steel item.

Pros and cons please, I am absolutely clueless here.

[awemawson]

Being 'self releasing' an R8 taper results in less thumping to remove than an MT3 - can be quite a significant advantage.

I used to have MT3 on a Mill/Drill a few years back and now have R8 on my Bridgeport - wouldn't want to go back to MT3. I do keep a set of R8 to Mt1,2,&3 adaptors for use with taper shank drills.

[Arbalist]

Depends on the cost of tooling in your area. Here in the UK MT tooling seems more plentiful and is normally a little cheaper. It also has the advantage that you can put MT taper drill bits straight in the quill without compromising  your  "Z" clearance with adaptors. Some Morse taper machines are self extracting, and if not, it's not too difficult to make it so. In the US they seem to have stuck with R8 rather than progressing to ISO like most countries maybe because of it's use on Bridgeport mills and their clones, so R8 is far more popular than Morse Taper over there. There's also the advantage with morse that you can use the same tooling on both lathe and mill if they have the same taper or use a cheap adaptor.
Apart from hobby machines Morse and R8 are only legacy tapers now found on old machines. Most new stuff have ISO tapers.

[BaronJ]

Depends on the cost of tooling in your area. Here in the UK MT tooling seems more plentiful and is normally a little cheaper. It also has the advantage that you can put MT taper drill bits straight in the quill without compromising  your  "Z" clearance with adaptors. Some Morse taper machines are self extracting, and if not, it's not too difficult to make it so. In the US they seem to have stuck with R8 rather than progressing to ISO like most countries maybe because of it's use on Bridgeport mills and their clones, so R8 is far more popular than Morse Taper over there. There's also the advantage with morse that you can use the same tooling on both lathe and mill if they have the same taper or use a cheap adaptor.
Apart from hobby machines Morse and R8 are only legacy tapers now found on old machines. Most new stuff have ISO tapers.

Agreed !  I ended up with MT3 only because I didn't know that I could have the same machine with R8.  But either is plentiful here in the UK.

[doubleboost]

R8 would be my first choice
John

[Stilldrillin]

My first mini mill had MT3 quill. I adapted to it's foibles, but was never happy with it. 

My second mini mill was immediately adapted to R8. A much better system...... 

David D

[vtsteam]

I have MT on my horizontal mill and R8 on the vertical mill drill. I like the R8 better.

I do need MT, too for the lathe. Just to complicate life, I need Jacobs taper adapters of various types for drill chucks. And to make it even worse, I have C5's for the collet spinner. A regular taper Babel here!

Naturally I want to go ER.......

[PekkaNF]

This topic is very volatile ja often asked, but my take is:
Booring heads, drill chucks, ER-holders are expensive and will add up if you need them on both MT3 or R8.

Does your lathe has MT3 taper? Mine has Mt3 on tail stock and often it's really nice to use ER-holders on both machines, but it's not really that much additional cost.

Additional consideration (not necessary related to this, but it could) is to be able to move work between milling machine (rotab) and lathe chuck. Small work go with a ER, but big  are sometimes moved while in 3/4 jaw chuck to rotab.

Both tapers have their weaknesses and strengths, choose the one:
* you are used to work with. R8 users tend to tighten MT draw bar too tight and then swear and hammer it.
* you have tooling
* Your friends give least crap about

Pekka

[Arbalist]

I have to correct an error I made in my earlier post. I should have said most "newer" stuff have ISO tapers. I've long drooled over used Swiss milling machines like the Aciera's and these invariably have ISO 30 or 40 on them. Of course in engineering terms even ISO tapers as much of an improvement over MT and R8 as they were are still ancient technology compared to modern versions.
This of course puts Morse and R8 in the prehistoric category but as we're only playing it doesn't really matter much. 

[awemawson]

Holders etc get pretty pricey when you step up to ISO tapers. My CNC  mill is CAT40, and were I to buy new collet chucks etc I'd soon be bankrupt 

Needless to say I don't buy new  - good old ebay is my tool shop 

[platypus20]

Most of the stuff available here is R8, only the real small stuff is MT#3, most of the bench tops sold in the US are R8 and until you get pretty big in manual machines everything is R8. Most of the used tooling on the market is R8, so here the choice is almost made for you.

[Kenne]

R8 is my choice also , mostly because of availability in the US , and the number of sizes both metric and Imperial . A lot of the stuff we do is now metric (I will be used to it in another 5 years or so) .

[sunnybob]

Sorry for the delay in replying, things beyond my control happened.

oK, some more details, and another question.

At this stage, I have no plans to get a lathe, and have nothing in the way of tools. So I'm starting with a clean sheet, and only buying for the mill.

Now I'm confused by the mention of iso? This doesnt seem to be an option on the mill I'm looking at.

R8 seems to be the tool of choice, so that question is answered.

Now, I have another and even more important question......

How difficult is it to strip a new bench top mill (I'm looking at the arceurotrade sieg super x 2)
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/Milling-Machines/Model-Super-X2-Plus-Mill

I Live in Cyprus, and will be buying in the UK, but if I can strip the mill into 32kg lumps, I can save hundreds of pounds in shipping (literally, like 300 or more, which will buy a lot of bits and pieces).

What do you think? I am mechanically apt, worked as an installation and service engineer for over 20 years, have built and rebuilt many motorcycles and car parts, have lots of tools, etc. Is this viable or not?

[chipenter]

ARC used to have a guide for the X2 but it's not there any more , guides for X1 and X3 are similar and the X1 uses the same table look hear .http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects.aspx