Question about this mill/drill

[bryanrabb]

Anyone ever heard of Rong Fu? I like the price on this unit, but like all chinese equipment, i am concerned about quality.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rong-Fu-MILLING-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Bubba]

bryan
I have one that I bought from HF several years ago and have been extremely pleased with it:}) "Traditionally", the fit and finish of a machine made in Tiawan is considered better than that made in the mainland of China.
As a manual machine, it was more than adquate for my purposes, but when cncd, it was necessary to convert to ball screws as the nuts on the acme screws did not stand up for very long.
If I were to choose between a true RF and a clone from mainland knowing now what I didn't then, I would spend the extra money for the RF.

Bubba

[Runner4404spd]

you can get the same machine at wholesale tool for $799. try

www.wttool.com

[mark c]

bryanrabb
I have that same Rong-Fu 31. I really like it. I spent the extra money, even though I'm going to CNC it later, because I figured the fit & finish would be better. If you can live with 5" of Z travel and having to move the head & not the table I'd reccomend it

[bryanrabb]

isn't it closer to this one? http://www.wttool.com/p/3006-0005

The HP is the same as the RF.

bubba, how much (effort and $$) did it cost to CNC your mill? Did you buy a kit?

[Bubba]

bryan,
Effort, lots:}) because I did a design build as I went with lots of time on the net trying to find information. BUT it was a labor of love as I would rather build from scratch than buy a kit. Thats my thing!
As for cost, give or take, US$600 for parts (including some tooling that I wanted to have). And typical of any design/build project, there were changes along the way so that actually increased the cost slightly.
IF I were to start over again, there are some changes I might make to either:
1. Make it easier to do.
2. Reduce cost
3. Be able to increase axis travel


As far the WT mill, it "might be" a mainland knockoff because it doesn't specifically state RF! But on the other hand if you are going to tear it down and cnc it, it could be just what you want? As for "moving the head", I have found that with pre-planning of my setups, this is not an issue and don't move the head by either mounting work in a vise (6" in my case, not that cheezy thing that come with it) or on a raised table that I made out of a piece of 4x4 tubing.

If you decide to go this route, I have my "sketches" in cad along with a spreadsheet listing most of the parts that I bought and you are more than welcome to them.

Bubba

[bryanrabb]

can anyone compate the RF to the G3358? Is it comparable? Better quality?

[bryanrabb]

What is the primary benefit of the x3 (G0463 is this the x3) vs the RF model?

[turbolizard]

Bubba

I am really interested to hear about your RF 31 conversion. I have an RF 31 also but seems that many people on here don't think the round column mills are so good for conversion, hence less information.

How did you handle the z-axis?

Mike

[bryanrabb]

turbo, how long have you had your RF? Who did you buy yours from? What do you hate about it? Love? Sorry for so many questions, I just havent found anyone to talk about it with. Thanks in advance.