Building a manual mill

[ZipSnipe]

Ok I bought this table http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8750
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8750 aaaannnndd I realized that I should a waited and just bought the Micromill. But I was tossing this idea around and thought I would get your opinions. I was thinkin of building a base to hold the table and then purchase the Minimillcolumn and head assembly from Little Machine shop. ( I like the fact that the mini mill can tilt 45 degrees) Well what ya think?

[swarfmacdaddy]

I bought the same table from them, I was sorry as it has an unreal amount of slop in the dovetails. If i tighten the gibs even a little then the hand wheels cant be turned. So now it sits under my drillpress. Does anyone know if the gib strips can be replaced, and if so will it make any difference? I would like to make it useable but dont want to waste alot of time if the results are going to be unsatisfactory. Sorry if i was of no help, but maybe someone can tell us how we can both improve on this table. I bought to put some steppers on and i dont want to put oversized motors on it just to make it work half right.

[NC Cams]

Wise words were uttered previously in another thread by a now anonymous shop teacher many moons ago:

"...You can use a mill as a drill press BUT you can't use a drill press as a mill..."

The table you're talking about gives you X & Y motion ala a mill BUT, swarfmacdaddy can already exlpain why the component is lacking for what you're actually trying to do....

[ZipSnipe]

Yeah I realized it today it today in the shop. I was milling with it and I realized theres no way to lock down an axis. But mine moves very smooth not much slop.
Oh well lesson learned.

[Halfnutz]

It should be easy to drill & tap a couple holes in the saddle for axis locks. I know I've seen the plastic and hex screw ratchet handles for sale in Grizzley's cat. http://www.grizzly.com/products/h3464 One of those set against each gibb is all you would need, if that would be enough to get you milling. Thats the same thing they use on the mini mill.

I thought about buying one of those tables as well, also theres the XY Cross Table on page 559 (H7659) but its almost as much as the mini mill. http://www.grizzly.com/products/h7659 After seeing the cost of that, I bought a dovetail cutter and a t-slot cutter and I decided I'll try making my own some day.

[ZipSnipe]

Yeah thats what I thought. I,m just tryin to utilize this table, I kinda bought in a rush. its really too big for a benchtop drill press. And I was looking at the stuff on Little machine shop site and thought that if I built a good base that I could just purchase the Minimill column and head assembly. This is what makes up the mini mill (1) base (2)column (3)xy table (4) head assembly(motor + spindle)... Right?

[Halfnutz]

The base on the mini mill is part of the X Y table. So, yes, all you need is the collum and milling head.