I'm new to the forum and to the IH mill. I just got one the other day and upon disassembly I found that the y-axis ways on the base are not ground but machined and the left side is not very smooth. I ran a file down it lightly to check for high spots and there is definetly some high and low spots. I have attached a pic. I have already talked to Aaron and he said it should be fine but I just want to see if anyone else has had this problem with a brand new IH.

Thanks for the help
Jason

I just got my mill on Sunday but it was getting late and I didn't have time to look it over fully after I got it inside. I was up at my shop yesterday but it was too dark (no lights yet) to see. I'll be there tomorrow morning and will take pics but it didn't look ground to me either.

Sorry about the first (blurry) pics. Here is another one that is better.

Jason

Well....the scraping should be more uniform....take a look at any of the Bridgeports.....

Thats not scraping. Those are cutter marks.

Jason

I have one of the older ones which had machined ways which I then lapped as per the IH website and they move quite nicely now, what I'm not sure about is the accuracy after lapping? My understanding is the new ones come with ground ways which sound like a great improvement. If you bought yours with the understanding that it had ground ways and it doesn't then you should have some recourse with the seller, right? It's hard to tell from the photo but I suspect the ways have been ground, but not to a sufficient depth to remove all of the underlying machining marks. If that is the case and it localized to that one spot, it's probably not going to effect the overall accuarcy. Not an expert by any means, but that would be my best guess.

Strangely, Jason's saddle is ground so he can't lap the y ways even if he wanted to. I didn't check my saddle and table yet but my column and base don't look ground either. I'm sure Aaron will take care of us.

kimoyo is right. Aaron at IH is going to take care of the problem completely. Couldn't ask for better customer service. Thanks for the input guys.

Jason

That's great service! Whole new mill or just a new base? Maybe I should complain about the rust on mine, maybe I'll get a new mill;)

Sounds like IH won't be in business long with these quality issues.

After showing Aaron some pictures he has given me options that I am pleased with. I'm impressed with his response and honesty to the entire situation. My mill crate got damage in several places during shipping. There was some superficial damage to the mill column but nothing too bad. When I picked up the mill the shipping company acknowledged on the bill possible damage to contents. He could have easily said we'll make a claim but he didn't and he's handling everything.

Sounds like IH won't be in business long with these quality issues.

Jason and I are the ones with the issues and as customers we are both satisfied with IH's response, so where you are coming from?

Have you visited a harbor frieght lately? These are chinese mills, which is stated in the beginning, and if you buy one you should understand what that means. The important thing is how a company handles issues and IH is doing right by me so far. And from what I understand, IH's business is cnc conversion kits not mills.