Re: Sherline was - Re: Magnifier primary

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Jim,

I tried for a year to get a drill press style "cross vise" from Sears but 
they were always sold out.  But finally I got one when no one was a look'n 
;-))...

They are definitely not 0.002 inch things (maybe 0.020 inch ;-)) but they 
are pretty cool!  I have not used it much but it does go well with a drill 
press.  No one is going to wear out a drill press bearing with one in such 
a limited use.  I would only recommend 'tool steel' mill bits in 
them.  Cobalt bits break edges due to too much  "wiggling" (guess how I 
know this ;-)).  For only $60 (already have drill press) you probably have 
a better machine than the harbor freight mess.  But it is a really very 
useful machine!!  You can guide a bit through materials with enough 
precision for many TC uses indeed!!   But "ALWAYS" wear safety glasses with 
any power tool!!!  I have picked many a fragment of cobalt bit out of my 
forehead after they have exploded ;-))

My drill press and band saw are just those cheap little ~120$ wonders from 
Sears.  But they do fine!  I don't like Sears band saw blades, so I get 
good ones from McMaster there...  Twice the cost for 10X longer life ;-)

If I were a coiler looking for first tools.  Get a drill press first!!  You 
can drill great holes and the home center store has sanding "bits" and all 
kind of fun stuff to go in it.  Like those big 4 inch hole saw blades 
;-))  Maybe that $200 dollar second to the cheapest one instead of the 
cheapest one...  Next would be the Sears band saw.  Get an easy to move one 
since the band saw gets moved aside a lot ;-))  A C-clamp locks them in 
place wherever that may be...  Band saws are a real "hands on" tool that 
can cut just about anything, just about any way...   Very(!) useful for 
cutting stuff up!!

Next is the belt sander!  If you get it all done and it is all screwed up, 
the belt sander can fix it ;-))))  Probably need the high dollar Makita's 
there ;-))  Serious screw-ups need serious tools  to fix :o)))  Makita 
makes great tools that have never let me down.  "I" would avoid Black and 
Decker like the plague...  Dewalt and Milwalkie (sp) are fine though...

Cheers,

         Terry


At 06:23 PM 4/21/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>A
>>Before you ask...  I have asked many people about the "Harbor Freight 
>>class" Chinese made milling machines that go for $500 that do about the 
>>same thing.  They are bigger and heavier but no one that has used them 
>>seems very happy with them.  Screws falling out, impossible to adjust 
>>gibes, 65.2 mil per turn wheels (extra credit if you figure out how they 
>>do that ;-)) things never really flat and straight...  I keep thinking I 
>>will get one to use just as a fancy drill press, but I keep getting 
>>scarred off...  I know that many people love Harbor Freight stuff, but 
>>twist drill bits that "un-twist"*.......  too goofy for me ;-))
>
>The Harbor freight mills are, in fact, kind of funky. They are much 
>heavier than the Sherline (all that cast iron!). Kind of tough to set up 
>too... not to mention the weird lead screws.
>
>If you need cheap milling, at lowish precisions, you'd probably be better 
>off to buy a cheap drill press and an X=Y table. (probably about $200, 
>tops, for both drillpress and table).
>
>Your basic Sears/Harbor Freight/discount $100 benchtop drill press will 
>have a 1/2 HP motor and a stroke of 2-3", with a Morse #2 taper spindle. 
>One might be able to get collet type holders for this, but you can just 
>clamp the mill bit in the drill chuck.
>
>The cross slide vise will typically be around $50-70, and travel 6 inches 
>or so. Mine has crude markings on the handwheels, maybe 0.2"/rev? (I 
>haven't actually looked at the markings in a long time.
>
>
>The bearings in the drill press aren't really designed to take a huge side 
>load and the runout may not be ideal, and keeping the table positioned 
>relative to the quill requires a bit of care (the drill press table will 
>want to spin around the column), but, if you aren't cutting too fast, and 
>you're always cutting to a scribed line on the work piece, holding 10 mil 
>tolerances is doable.  At least you'll have a fairly good sized motor on 
>the drill press.
>
>This kind of thing works just fine for milling out slots in aluminum 
>panels, cutting UHMW PE strips with slots, etc.  Fixturing is, as always, 
>going to be half the challenge, especially for big work (like trying to 
>cut holes in a 14x19 inch aluminum panel, for instance.  The saving grace 
>for the kind of machining a TC'er is going to be doing is that you're 
>usually working with fairly soft material (aluminum, brass, plastic) and 
>not trying to do things like mill 2 thousandths off your cast iron L6 
>cylinder head.
>
>
>I've heard of people replacing the bearings in a drill press with higher 
>quality ones.
>
>I've also heard of people finding/modifying a cheap x-y table for more 
>travel in one direction (the one I've got only travels about 6 inches) by 
>sawing apart two of them and putting the ways together with a longer lead 
>screw (which sounds like more trouble than it's worth)..  If I were going 
>to cobble something together to mill big stuff, I'd start looking at the 
>"gantry" type scheme where you move the cutting head around the workpiece, 
>rather than vice versa.  Some big linear bearing rails, etc, and you can 
>shove that 100 pound cutting head around.