anyone ever heard of a sherline mill???

[negativeswitches]

i'm in the market for a small hobby mill to do some aluminum and mild steel work

saw this and kind of doubted it's rigidity, seems fairly solid looking but the motor mount seems fairly odd and small

http://www.sherlinedirect.com/images/prodimg/5000picm.jpg

[dopeassjackson]

your better off with a GOOD drill press and a vise with a table built in than that thing. stateing your price range might help people help you.

[negativeswitches]

yeah i didnt think it looked very stout

i'd like to keep it under 750$ and under a few hundred pounds because it's just a small car garage that i get to work out of

are there and good drill presses out there that can handle a side load and retain some decent tollerance like .001"-.002" i think i could live with that

[cabletech]

If you look you can find benchtop mill/drill units for pretty cheap. I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a small mill, came away with a Central Machinery round column mill/drill with a bunch of R8 collets, milling cutters, V-blocks, gauges, etc, for $300. It's basically a copy of a Rong Fu 25 mill/drill. The round column is a bit tricky to work with, but it does a decent job cutting and drilling.

I wouldn't do it with a drill press. And especially not with a drill chuck.

I think my local Harbor Freight has a significantly larger benchtop mill for around $600, open box model. Yeah, it's Chinese, but it's cheap and would probably do OK for hobby work.

Some day I'll probably upgrade to a larger machine, but for right now, this unit does OK for me.

[SeaBass44]

your better off with a GOOD drill press and a vise with a table built in than that thing. stateing your price range might help people help you.

bad idea

[negativeswitches]

thanks for the post guys i'll try a want ad on local craigslists

i may update this thread with more questions tho :) i'm a lil green at machine work

[negativeswitches]

If you look you can find benchtop mill/drill units for pretty cheap. I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a small mill, came away with a Central Machinery round column mill/drill with a bunch of R8 collets, milling cutters, V-blocks, gauges, etc, for $300. It's basically a copy of a Rong Fu 25 mill/drill. The round column is a bit tricky to work with, but it does a decent job cutting and drilling.

I wouldn't do it with a drill press. And especially not with a drill chuck.

I think my local Harbor Freight has a significantly larger benchtop mill for around $600, open box model. Yeah, it's Chinese, but it's cheap and would probably do OK for hobby work.

Some day I'll probably upgrade to a larger machine, but for right now, this unit does OK for me.

forgot to ask how a round collum is harder to work with than a square collum?

[cabletech]

With a square column, if you need to move the head up or down for some reason, it doesn't "lose position" relative to the work.

With a round column, the head rotates around the column. So, if you move the head up or down (like, say you need to change from a R8 collet for a mill cutter to a drill chuck for a hole), you lose your exact positioning with the work because the head will wiggle a little bit left-right as you move it up or down. If you don't have to move the head, it's not an issue. The spindle will still move up/down just fine, but as soon as you move the head, you have to realign things relative to the work.

There are tons of mill/drills out there - Jet, Dayton, Rong Fu, Central Machinery, etc. Mine takes R8 collets, which is the same thing a Bridgeport takes - so anything I buy now can be used on a BP later if/when I upgrade. Try to find one with as much tooling as possible.

[negativeswitches]

With a square column, if you need to move the head up or down for some reason, it doesn't "lose position" relative to the work.

With a round column, the head rotates around the column. So, if you move the head up or down (like, say you need to change from a R8 collet for a mill cutter to a drill chuck for a hole), you lose your exact positioning with the work because the head will wiggle a little bit left-right as you move it up or down. If you don't have to move the head, it's not an issue. The spindle will still move up/down just fine, but as soon as you move the head, you have to realign things relative to the work.

There are tons of mill/drills out there - Jet, Dayton, Rong Fu, Central Machinery, etc. Mine takes R8 collets, which is the same thing a Bridgeport takes - so anything I buy now can be used on a BP later if/when I upgrade. Try to find one with as much tooling as possible.

awesome explanation thank you sir

[PAToyota]

My father has both a Sherline mill and lathe - but he is more into model railroading stuff. He did use it to build a shooting tripod for my uncle that was pretty slick and a number of other things. I wouldn't begin to think about one for automotive work unless the extent of what you were doing was radio knobs and other small doodads.

Take a look around http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/ to see some of the things people are doing with them.