Mini Mill Advice and info help

[Helstrom]

Hello Guys,

I have been lurking around the boards for a few months now and Have
decided on buying a mini mill for my home workshop.

Anyhow, I just wanted a little input on my choice of mill. I live in Ottawa, Canada and we certainly do not have the same level of accessibility to the many lovely mill drills as you can get in the states but a local company BusyBee Tools just came out with a new mini mill that seems to fit the bill.

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=CT129

I also found what appears to be the exact same mill on the WARCO UK site

http://www.warco.co.uk/productimages/documents/P53.pdf

They seem to have a little more info on it. I was wondering if anyone has used this specific mill and if so what their experience was?

My main use is for machining aluminum parts, and I would like to eventually do a CNC conversion on it. I know I could get a bigger machine for close to the same price but I am limited to getting something relatively light since it has to go down in my basement, if I had a garage I would have gone for a free standing unit .

I took a machine shop course back in 83 where I learned to use a Milling machine and metal lathe but it's been 25 years (oh how time goes..sigh) and I have lost most of my machine skills, I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on quality instructional material and books for the beginning machinist?

There is also a quick question, when a mill states that it's "End mill capacity is 5/8" does that mean that 5/8" cutting dia is the largest size that the motor can handle or does it refer only to the maximum tool shank diameter? I ask because for certain design work I will need to use a 7/8" dia endmill and ball endmill. I'm sure there must be some reduced shank type endmills that will work with shallow cuts and lubrication on 6061 aluminum.

THanks for all your help in advance!

Frank

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[Oldmanandhistoy]

Just to get you started

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40833

[ataxy]

i have exactly the same mill but branded under the name elite from garant in levis quebec i must say that i am more then happy with it the only con that i think it as is the fact that its a mt2 taper wich is not as common as the regular r8 taper but the overall built of this mill is really good it offers excellent regidity and performance and with the option of been able to get a longer table it is more then a good candidate to be converted to cnc

here is the site of the company that makes them in china
http://www.weiss.com.cn/products/wmd20v.php

There is also a quick question, when a mill states that it's "End mill capacity is 5/8" does that mean that 5/8" cutting dia is the largest size that the motor can handle or does it refer only to the maximum tool shank diameter? I ask because for certain design work I will need to use a 7/8" dia endmill and ball endmill. I'm sure there must be some reduced shank type endmills that will work with shallow cuts and lubrication on 6061 aluminum.

the motor can handle more i order this holder wich is er-32
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ER32-MT2-M10-COLL...QQcmdZViewItem

as for the morse taper i have ordered some collet true ebay for pretty cheap and the are well made for the type of performance and precision you can expect from such a machine
here is wherei bought mine
http://stores.ebay.ca/CTC-Tools

edit: i have check with busybee the one they sell does not seem to come with any equipment so you will have to buy accessorie seperatly
here is the one i bought
http://www.garantmachinerie.com/Indu...erie%20WSM.pdf

[Helstrom]

Just to get you started

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40833

Thanks Oldmanandhistoy,

Your mill looks to be the same design as the one I'm looking at, just a couple of minor cosmetic diffs and speed display. I'm glad to hear that you find it
to be a great piece of equipment!

Thanks for the links!


Frank

[Helstrom]

Thanks for all your info ataxy!
Always a pleasure to hear from fellow Canadians. Merci beaucoup mon ami pour toutes les informations (sorry my written french is a little rusty).

Based on all the positive feedback on this style of Mill just helps reinforce my confidence in my purchase. Now if only CSA will approve it and then BusyBee can get them to the store.

When you received your mill was it shipped in a single container? What were thw boxes approx measurements, did you have it delivered or did you pick it up yourself? I'm just trying to plan out how I'm going to get it into my basement and whether I can do it myself.

Frank

[ataxy]

Thanks for all your info ataxy!
Always a pleasure to hear from fellow Canadians. Merci beaucoup mon ami pour toutes les informations (sorry my written french is a little rusty).

pas de probleme sa me fait plaisir!

Based on all the positive feedback on this style of Mill just helps reinforce my confidence in my purchase. Now if only CSA will approve it and then BusyBee can get them to the store.

weird why do they to get it approved since its allready sold in canada

When you received your mill was it shipped in a single container? What were thw boxes approx measurements, did you have it delivered or did you pick it up yourself? I'm just trying to plan out how I'm going to get it into my basement and whether I can do it myself.

Frank

i got mine delivered, it was two box one that wasnt to bad +/-60pounds for the base cabinet and the mill wich was poorly crated so unless busybee recrate it you will get the same flimsy crate, 1/8" plywood for the wall and 1/2" plywood for the bottom on wich the mill is screwed, i got but the mill was still in perfect shape as for bringing it down stair, i have mine down stair, it was quite a job to bring down at around 250 pounds but whe were only two

[ataxy]

Thanks Oldmanandhistoy,

Your mill looks to be the same design as the one I'm looking at, just a couple of minor cosmetic diffs and speed display. I'm glad to hear that you find it
to be a great piece of equipment!

Thanks for the links!


Frank

take note the one you see in this link is in fact the same aside from the motor wich is 200watts stronger but aside from that you are right it is basicly the same mill

[Helstrom]

When I originally went to BusyBee, they sale was already on but they did not have a floor model in the store yet.... I wanted to see it in the flesh before making my final decision. When I asked when they would get it in I was told that the machines were at their warehouse but were undergoing CSA approval before they could ship it to the stores (That was about 2 weeks ago).

The delay worked out alright since in the original sale (which ended Jan 13) it was priced at $1158.99 CAD but since they were not ready yet they included it in their following sale for $1098.99, $60.00 cheaper . When I called on monday I was told that it should arrive this week.


Frank

[ataxy]

let me know if the have stuff coming with it or if its just a plain mill

[Helstrom]

let me know if the have stuff coming with it or if its just a plain mill

You got it!

[ataxy]

hey in case you are interested i received today my longer table from the L version of this mill/drill here is a photo with this table it now gives me ~17.5x-7.5y-12z by the way the base of this mill is easly modifiable to get 8.5y without sacrificing rigidity as it is now when i bring it foward to its max it sticks out of the dovetail by about 3\4

[Helstrom]

hey in case you are interested i received today my longer table from the L version of this mill/drill here is a photo with this table it now gives me ~17.5x-7.5y-12z by the way the base of this mill is easly modifiable to get 8.5y without sacrificing rigidity as it is now when i bring it foward to its max it sticks out of the dovetail by about 34

Thank you ataxy,

Did you get the extended table at Garant as well? I couldn't find it on the web site.

Frank

[ataxy]

yeah i got it from them they dont carry the L version since they have the wsm30v wich is the bigger sister of the 20 serie so the price difference would be to close but i have talked with them about the fact that busybee will cary the same mill for 600$ less so i think they are waiting to see if it will come with the same eqipment as them and then they will adjust the price accordingly... i guess cuz even if it comes with base, er25 holder with five collet, 6hss endmill, half inch drill chuck and vise and a 50pcs clamp set it does not justyfy the 600$ difference but they have a wonderfull customer service but so does busybee.
for your own info the extended table was 280 if i was willing to wait for there container and 380 if i wanted it inside a month but since i was in no hurry i waited and saved 100

[Helstrom]

Since I'm taking tomorrow off I'll give BusyBee a shout and see if the mill is in yet and ask them what comes with it. I tend to doubt they will give me all the stuff you got with yours, but who knows.


Frank

[ataxy]

they could busybee as some great deal sometime for homeshop

[homebrewCNC]

I went to busy bee here in toronto to look at this mill, but the toronto location won't have any in stock until the end of feb. My plan is to trash my old cnc retrofit round column fom busy bee and install some ground ball screws on the new square column. Is the Z axis of the square column operate with a lead screw or rack and pinion? I have my fingers crossed that it is lead so I can replace it with a ball screw. If not I will have to search for a square column mill from another company.

[Helstrom]

It's a little frustrating waiting for BusyBee to get the Mill in stock, they never can give me any specific time frame for it's arrival. lately I have been looking at the Taig mini mill
for sale by deepgroove1 for $1500.00 CNC ready.

http://stores.ebay.ca/deepgroove1

The more I think about it the more I am inclined to go with the taig CNC, the only down side is the more limited work envelope as well as tool size, but for the small projects that
I'm going to use it for it's adequate.... and it's CNC plug and play ready.

[ataxy]

if it fits the work enveloppe you need then at 1500$ its a good bet but if you think that ounce you would get around using it you may start to have bigger thing you would lke to do then it may be worth thinking about it but yes the taig are nice little machine for small part in soft material

[Helstrom]

I'm mostly interested in making parts in aluminum as well as molds. I plan on building a CNC router as well 2' X 2' work envelope, so this machine could help build some of the parts for it's big brother

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48363

here is my original post.

[balibalistic]

Guy's,

Would this small mill/drill be good for strictly drilling?i'm not at you crazy cnc nuts knowledge level i'm looking to accuratly drill steel and drill in bearing races to an accurate depth using counterbores.basically,could i use one of these as a accurate dead nuts on drill press?