Machinists - my impulse purchase...
 

My drill press was falling apart, and I came across this @ Harbor Freight. It was the floor model, so it was missing little bits here and there. I got it for $250. I bought the chuck and arbor stuff (MT2) off of ebay for $30.

Thoughts?

http://www.rennlight.com/gallery/image/5000309a.JPG
http://www.rennlight.com/gallery/image/5000309b.JPG
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Here's what my happened to my drill press:

http://www.rennlight.com/gallery/image/5000309.JPG

Looks nice! Was at HF yesterday and got out for under $100. A miracle happened...

Not a bad price. Basically, it will work fine as a drill press, with the added benefit of having an XY table at the base. The XY table will allow you to more accurately locate holes in pieces you might need to drill (layout ink, scribes, and punches are now a thing of the past :) ).

You should be able to do some very light machining with it; I'd try taking some light cuts to see how rigid it is.

As I see it, the biggest drawback is that you still have an MT spindle bore, as opposed to an R8 spindle bore, which is common on the slightly more expensive (~$1000) mill/drills. As a general rule, I never put an end mill in a drill chuck to do any milling that will have a side load. I will, however, put an end mill in a drill chuck to do simple plunges in the Z axis (counter bores, for example).

All in all, you did good. I've been toying with buying something like that for my garage for several years. Play with it and see what it can do.

Have fun,
Jim

I've said it before and will say it now "Never buy anything from HF that has moving parts." The tolerances are huge, the material is low grade and the workmanship is sub par.


But that's just what I think.... SmileWavy

Cool toy. If you want to dabble with some light machining you'll have fun but when getting into heavier stuff you'll realize why it costs a little as it does. However, you'll know if you want to go deeper into the hobby and you'll know what to look for.

Another fun avenue to consider is CNCing the beast.

Some comments on another HF mill...take note that Grizzly may make parts as well.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-8497.html

"Bought new HF33686 and was horrified at vibration, chatter and noise durring heavy metal cutting. I figured something was wrong with unit but after tearing head down isolated problem to basic design, inherent in all machines, probably all versions(comments on this?).
Noise was coming from under pulley. I thought I needed a new spindle or yoke, its called the "spindle taper sleeve" HF part no. 6. Grizzley Part No. 306. I talked with service dept. at HF and they are clueless. so called Grizzly and told them I bought a used G1007 and got on the phone with those guys. This is a trick Ive used with my HF 9x20 Lathe and a couple other HF tools. The guys at Grizzley Know alot about these machines,the HF guys are just not real familiar.
Anyway fix is a $3.00 10 minut monthly maintenance item. Pack that Mo Fo full a greeze. I covered the spindle end, the spline, with some sticky red grease and packed the tapered spindle sleeve full from underneath with the quill droped down. This may be able to be done from above through the top of the pulley, but I allready had it apart so I went up & in from the front. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MACHINE NOW. It runs smooth and has very little chatter. I dont know if everyone just tolerates the machines like it was, or if mine was unusually bad or what, but at Grizzly they told me all of the machines are like that -"real noisey". Man what a difference. Next item is ballscrews. I cant deel with the slop in the table. Then the CNC conversion. I will post all with lots of photos as I go.
Note: Pulling head apart was nothing. It was very easy to drop out the spindle and re-assemble in less than a half hour.
...
Grease has really not entirely pleased me so I went back into head and tightened up bearings in spindle. This was done by tightening a retaining nut and lock nut on top of bearing assembly. Machine runs very smooth. There is essentialy no vibration at all, even cutting CRS. I am pleasantly suprised at how smooth and powerfull this thing is. "

I like your old one better.

Thom, I recently picked up a King Midas (Taiwanese) R8 mill/drill of about the same size, and have been having a blast with it. It's fine for aluminum....

Just like the razor and the blades, I've been spending $100s on collets, endmills, chucks etc. etc. etc. Oh and I should convert it to CNC!

...:D...

Will you be using it several times a week? For every-so-often projects it seems like it would be great, for repair and fab work done everyday you may wear it out sooner than you think.

I wouldn't mind getting a small lathe / mill combo to mess with.

Yeah, I really liked it. I got it used for $25, and I worked the piss out of it.

On average, I'll probably use it once or twice a week, depends on what project mood I'm in. Some times I'll use it several times a day, and other times it will collect dust for 6 months. When I decide to upgrade, I probably won't have any problem liquidating it.

Have a look here:

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_mill/Versions/versions.htm

Thanks!

I've learned more about machining in the last 15 minutes than I did in the last 15 years! Now I actually regret buying this thing!

Thom,

This is a GREAT tool/shop forum....

http://www.garagejournal.com/

I generally agree with this. By generally, I mean that I agree with the rule but still sometimes break the rule. And I have been bitten more than once with cheap tools from HF.

I have found that lathes and mills are another one of those areas that "you get what you pay for".

Even though my needs are only occasional, hopefully later this year or next I will buy a good knee mill and a good lathe somewhere in the 16x40 range. At the very least, the upper end of Enco or Grizzley would probably be my target.

I did use a Chevalier mill with my last employer that I liked. Not top end, but not bad either.

Check out Dove Auctions . They sell used lathes, mills from companies that have quit business. Some are suitable for home/garage setup.