Hello All

[KenL]

I just recently joined the forum; so I thought I would introduce myself. I am an engineer by profession and a wordworking, metal working and radio control airplane hobbiest in Ottawa Canada. I bought a 10x18 Craftex lathe from the local Busy Bee store along with a trunk full of accessories and tools. Its purpose was to make machined brass components for woodworking tools and to fix things in the shop but of course the role has expanded. Now I am shopping for a mini-mill which is the next big thing to add to my tool cluster!!

SO, Hello ALL. I enjoy the discussion and have already gleaned some interesting information. Thanks.

Ken in Ottawa

[Edwardo]

Welcome to the zone Ken

[Chazzmiester]

Hi there Ken, I too have just joined AND I TOO just got a Craftex CT 039 9" x 20" Lathe and the CT129N Mill\Drill. Just a thought, if you haven't yet purchased your mill, stay away from 'Radial' type Mills and stick to a ridigd coloum type. Trust me, I've worked both types, and when it comes to 'setups' and realigning the mill head not to mentioin overall ridigidity of the business end of the machine, I think the colum type is the way to go. The next thing is get the biggest machine your space and budget will reasonably allow. (In my case the Missus said I could spend $5,000. on my machines and my tooling budget is still under negoations. )

[Schweinhund227]

Welcome ! hey!

This place is Awesome !

[KenL]

Hi there Ken, I too have just joined AND I TOO just got a Craftex CT 039 9" x 20" Lathe and the CT129N Mill\Drill. Just a thought, if you haven't yet purchased your mill, stay away from 'Radial' type Mills and stick to a ridigd coloum type. Trust me, I've worked both types, and when it comes to 'setups' and realigning the mill head not to mentioin overall ridigidity of the business end of the machine, I think the colum type is the way to go. The next thing is get the biggest machine your space and budget will reasonably allow. (In my case the Missus said I could spend $5,000. on my machines and my tooling budget is still under negoations. )

Sorry fellows, I travel a lot still and haven't been back here for quite a time. I liked your budget suggestion but I usually tell herself what I'm up to and then wait awhile before I launch just to gauge the reaction.

The mill that I am looking at is the CT129 as well and it looks as good as any of the small Chinese sourced stuff that I checked. I think I'll hold that thought for a bit longer, perhaps into the winter and I'll check in with you fellows (hopefully a bit more often) whan I get the thing and get started on CNC for it.

Ken in Ottawa

[Chazzmiester]

The things you discover after....Hmmmm, depending on your budget, did you check out Syil.com? I only discovered this option\company after I got my manual mill (CT129N) from Busy Bee.

I was thinking\planning that the 'Home Hobbiest' could upgrade an inexpensive 'Far-East Import' and do a conversion over a year or so, to CNC as a budget allows, however, their turnkey offerings & options maybe worthy of consideration.

A point about the CT129N from Busy Bee, the website, catalogue and their sales reps assured me that the tooling was a 3/8" dai x 16tpi drawbar, thus I purchased the same tooling (Collet sets etc. To my shagrin, the drawbar that came with the mill was a 7/16" dia x 20 tpi!

[KenL]

I'll check out the website as you suggest. I often default to Busy Bee since their local store (Ottawa) is close by and they (Guy and his staff) have always been very customer oriented but there are other options. Aince I am in no particular hurry to spend my money, I'll explore any viable option!!

Ken

[theLane]

Hi all,

I was thinking of going out and buying the CT129N Craftex Mill. I know nothing about mills, but I am 100% sure it will do what I want for hobby/learning purposes. Does anyone have any updates on their use of this machine?

I'll be milling small plastic and small alum pieces... nothing bigger than a 3x3" block.

Is this machine metric? Is the vice or chuck that comes with it any good?

Thanks
~Lane

[samroesch]

Hi Everyone,

Like many others, I have already gained lots of useful info from CNCzone already, so its about time I joined the forums to contribute.

I'm from Ottawa too, although I'm living in Kingston currently, doing engineering @ Queen's.

I busybee is a nice place, their quality certainly seems like an improvement over the nearby princess auto. (Although, I guess they stock slightly different stuff) I got my compressor from busybee, and I've been very happy with it.

Sam