Rong RF-31

[Hellbringer]

i dont know if this is considered a benchtop mill but i figured that you guys would be able to answer it if not.


dose anyone own a Rong RF-31 and if you do do you like it??? are they any good???

i am also looking into doing a CNC conversion. what size stepers would i have to use and what driver boards?

Thanks Mike

[phil burman]

If you are serious about CNC don't get a round column mill.

Phil

[Bubba]

To answer your question, yes I have one and I like it! Yes there can be a problem IF you have to change head height, but so far by pre-planning, and using an assortment of setup "conventions" of my liking, I have been able to work around the problem. eg. I don't move the head up or down for the entire operation.
The biggest thing I did was to get a straight shaft ER collet extender and use ER collets for most of my tool holding. I know the purists will cringe, but this allows me to set different depths of the tool or if I have a really long tool (say a 1/2" drill or my tapping head), I use the normal R8 collet for tool holding. The other is that I generally do my work well above the table level either in a vice or on an aux table. This way, I can go off the end of the work to have enough clearance to change tools.
Can't tell you about the size of steppers, as I used servos with gecko drives.

Bottom line is, would I do it over again? And the answer is "maybe". I say maybe as the type of things I like to do are limited mostly by the Y axis travel (7") and there are many times that I wish I had quite a bit more in that area. It all depends on what type of work you are going to do and your need for axis travel and rigidity of machine.

Hope this helps.

[Hellbringer]

i am really big into airsoft and i would like to make custom gun with it. atr frist i was thinking about getting a cummins mini mill but i read another post and people where suggesting that it mite be to small for making paintball gun bodys (which airsoft is simluar) so then i was looking at the x3 att 1100 shipped. and i was set on that till i found the rf-31 and that i can get for 1200 with a stand and it is a much biger mill so i figured why not pay the 100 more and get a bigger mill that i dont have to make a stand for that is why i came and started asking question? is there a square colom mill that is around the same price and size as the rf-31??? thanks Mike

[wizard]

Originally Posted by Hellbringer i am really big into airsoft and i would like to make custom gun with it. atr frist i was thinking about getting a cummins mini mill but i read another post and people where suggesting that it mite be to small for making paintball gun bodys (which airsoft is simluar) so then i was looking at the x3 att 1100 shipped. and i was set on that till i found the rf-31 and that i can get for 1200 with a stand and it is a much biger mill so i figured why not pay the 100 more and get a bigger mill that i dont have to make a stand for that is why i came and started asking question? is there a square colom mill that is around the same price and size as the rf-31??? thanks Mike

I'm not sure how much machining experience you have or if you have the intention of CNC'ing the Mill. Many people are into CNC'ing thier mills on these forums, this desire means that this is not they ideal mill for that interest. They are however very good mill/drills, we actually have a clone at work and it is ideal for manual work. So the first thing you have to determine is if your are intrested in CNC.

It is not easy to discount CNC either, for things like airsoft guns the capability can be put to good use. It will however increase the cost of your machine. Generally I would reccomend to most people these days to buy machines that have good potential for CNC conversion even if you are of a mind that you are not interested at the moment. CNC has gotten much cheaper recently and capabilities at these low price levels are increasing rapidly.

The X3 is an interesting Mill and is easly CNC'ed. It is however a much lighter mill than the RF machines. On the plus side the X3 do have the capability for higher speed spindle operation out of the box. At least the new one that Griz is selling does, this can be an advantage when working aluminum. You will however have to looking into the travel capabilities fo the mill, where I do believe you may have issues. That of course depends upon your guns design and your fixturing approaches.

Both Griz and Industrial hobbies have larger square column mills available. YOu should seriously look at these! If you are near York PA, Cabin Fever will be coming up in a couple of weeks, there might be an oportunity to look at a few machines there. Plus you can talk to people into hobby machining. Also they run an auction which in most years has a few machine tools available. Cabin fever is certianly worth the travel if you are new to machining. The focus is model engineering and small engines but many interests are represented.

Once you get up into the +$1400 range though you should consider looking at used Bridgeports or even some of the import Bridgeport clones. Given that you have space for the mill you end up with a lot more machine. As always going the used route requires care upon the purchasers part.

Dave

[Hellbringer]

why are round column mills so hard to CNC?

Hellbringer

[acondit]

It is not that they are hard to CNC. It is that if you need to raise or lower the head, you lose X,Y position because the head can rotate on the column as you raise or lower it.

Alan

[acondit]

I was talking to Tom Caudhill (sic??) at CandCNC the other day and he said that he has a little laser pointer mounted on his mill head. It is aimed at a vertical line on his wall 6-8 feet away. When he raises or lowers the head he just twists it back to where the laser points at the vertical line, and he is back in position within a fraction of a degree. Sounds like a pretty trick solution. I would just like to try it and see how close it is to the same x,y position.

Alan

[thomasceylon]

hi..
is aybody have ainstruction manual for this Rong RF-31 milling dan drilling machine???
can i have it ?

[philbur]

Have a look here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mill_drill/files/Manuals/

Phil

Originally Posted by thomasceylon hi.. is aybody have ainstruction manual for this Rong RF-31 milling dan drilling machine??? can i have it ?

[Jim Stabe]

I just sold my RF-31 that I had for several years and bought a used Kondia FV-1 (BP clone). I use both for manual work and probably won't upgrade to CNC (but never say never). There is absolutely no comparison between the two machines. For not that much more than the cost of the RF-31 and minimal Chinese tooling I got a very rigid machine with little backlash, a DRO that needed a little work to make it functional, X&Y power feeds and a whole pile of cutting tools. The deals are out there if you are patient and willing to negotiate. Unless you are seriously space constrained, get a full sized machine, you won't regret it.

Jim