Recommend me a Milling Machine

I’ve always wanted one, having used friends machines on and off for years for making stuff. However, they are all really old machines with Imperial scale milling benches, so what is a good modern choice?

E.g. Axminster do one, which looks quite nifty, but without seeing it in the flesh, I can’t tell how good the milling bench is.

Ideally I’d like a vernier style milling platform with sub mm control for accurate milling.

That looks more like a pillar drill than a miller 🙂

That looks more like a pillar drill than a miller

OK, A Pillar milling machine then……

I’ve got 5 of these (2 with 5th axis). Very good for general machining 😆

Take a look at the Deckel FP1. Most have Metric scales as they were designed for the German Market, They are superb for awkard jobs and don’t have a huge footprint. Only one problem, you’ll spend ages hunting one out!

If you don’t allready know of it, this site is superb for info.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/

Quite like the look of those:

I’ve always wanted one, having used friends machines on and off for years for making stuff. However, they are all really old machines with Imperial scale milling benches, so what is a good modern choice?

Probably one of the various Chinese jobs. Although they are sold by several UK companies with various models, there’s a lot of commonality between them.
Google Arc-Euro / Warco / Chester / Amadeal
Buy the heaviest you can afford – depending on what you want to do, you may out grow the one you posted very quickly. Don’t get too hung up on the metric requirement, as for a variety of reasons you’ll probably still find that you’ll be swapping between metric and imperial on a regular basis.
Also take note that some cheaper machines may claim to be metric and have 2.5mm travel per a turn, but actual have a 0.1″ lead screw pitch e.g 2.54mm 🙂

Google Arc-Euro / Warco / Chester / Amadeal

Cheers, this looks like a good starting point:

If you do get one, try and find one with both the plain and swivel tables. I have only the swivel on mine and could do with the extra daylight the plain table gives. On the up side you mount angle plates / jobs directly without the bed in place giving a huge workspace.

Sadly, you see one or two come up in the uk a year.

Buy second hand or from some auction site that is selling off a factory closure contents .
Some of those hobbyists machines are a world of S**T* and will dance all over your work bench 🙂

Depending how much ‘machining’ you really intend to do ,it’s sometimes a lot easier,just to have a pet machinist 🙂

Cheers, this looks like a good starting point:

Yeah that looks a bit more like it.

Depending how much ‘machining’ you really intend to do ,it’s sometimes a lot easier,just to have a pet machinist

It’s really just a hobby so more the fun of machining than the actual purpose of the job. At work, we send out loads of bits to local CNC companies, but there’s no fun in just signing a purchase order…….

Buy second hand or from some auction site that is selling off a factory closure contents .
Some of those hobbyists machines are a world of S**T* and will dance all over your work bench

Hence I’m after recommendations as until you use it, you won’t figure out how good / bad it is….

If it just for hobbying how about a small CNC router? You can pick up a Chinese one for around £700 or a little more for something a little better. They’ll cut aluminium if you go slow and will chomp through wood and plastic. They are generally marketed as engravers but will do full 3D cutting

If it just for hobbying how about a small CNC router?

I’ve seen those, but I really want the Pillar Drill for general DIY, so combining the two takes up less space…..

What about something like this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raglan-Vertical-Milling-Machine-/160973122863?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item257abeed2f

Then one of the to get it working;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l2736&_nkw=transwave

I always fancide something like a bridgeport turret mill or even a decent copy, but my garage dowsn’t have the headroom.

actually its single phase so wouldn’t need the transwave.

I’ve seen those, but I really want the Pillar Drill for general DIY, so combining the two takes up less space…..

If I was going for a pillar drill, I’d go for a floor standing one.

There are some amazing 2nd hand machines on Ebay:

MP-1H accurate to 0.00008″ (0.002 mm)!!

OK, I’m thinking something more like this:

As a good size. German made as well, so hopefully it will last and stay accurate.