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"sixty-two-and-half thou" just broke my metric brain. WTF even is that? Godammit, Americans. Just pick a damn system and stick to it: decimal, fraction, thousandths of a bald eagle. Anything. JUST STICK TO IT!

I got one of these a few years back and have been perfectly happy with it. Keep everything tight and checked and absolutely flood the gearbox with a decent grease. I think I even drilled a grease zirc in to it too. Obviously I don't make things to exacting tolerances, but I fitted a cheap set of DROs to all three axis, a decent Collet chuck, and it does exactly what I want it too. First jobs were making T-Nuts (surprise, surprise) and an Aluminium fixture plate among other things and it has performed extremely well.

would you mind sharing you rprogram for the ti83

The better question is this. Is your money better spent buying a dedicated used mill from an auction and a dedicated mini-lathe. The answer is yes. The problem with these machines is that there's a fine line between getting something tight enough, and tightening to the point that it breaks. If you're only working on soft materials, they do okay. If you're going to cut steel AND you are willing to always start with a sharp cutter AND you're willing to limit yourself to slowly making shallow passes, and you're willing to accept a pretty crappy surface finish, then they will work. However, over time you will push its limits and eventually something will go wrong.

RUclipsr: Let me know if you want to see that Nobody: No we dont want to see that :P

These videos are exciting but can be mildly depressing to beginners like me who may feel overwhelmed with the jargon - perhaps you might consider at least some on-screen comments for that segment of your audience?

Forget the stepper, unless you gear it down a lot & use friction to keep backlash out. Or use it to make an index plate from thin aluminum. Use the index plate to manually rotate & index the gear blank. A wimpy machine can make tooling to handle high loads & provide high rigidity. (If you have XY small mill or engraving machine, you can make index plates on that, drilling a circle of holes in a disk.) Lacking that, you can laser print or use compass to mark magnified circle of holes, manually center punch & drill a GIANT plate (1 foot in diameter) to minimize errors, then use that on the workbench to make small plate which is more accurate & goes on your gear cutting setup. Always provide way to clamp gear spindle in position during the cut so the indexing device does not need to bear cutting loads.

The tap typically has either a point machined on its back end, or a cup. Either way, you mate this with center on tailstock which keeps everything in line while you crank the tap (or hold the tap still while you hand-rotate the spindle).

Ah, the 16 tpi thread on the ballscrew (1/0.0625)

I've had several. My Taiwanese mini lathes were the best. Earlier Chinese ones are OK. Currently, I'm running tapered bearings a, QC toolpost, and metal gears. As far as the mills, I have a Little Machine Shop (Sieg X4). Upgraded that to belt drive and DRO. Major problems with the column being out of square. Haven't found an easy solution. Will probably take it apart and try to square it up on a Bridgeport at work. For the most part, these are to be considered kits. Aligning, tweaking, de-burring, and lubricating etc are often required. Also, be realistic on material removal rates. Rigidity is always the name of the game. Best machine I have is my Taig CNC. Quite capable for it's size.

its a straight copy from myford lathes :p

This has Canada written all over it. Craftex mill, Powerfist dial indicator, And the accusize mill vise. Looks like my shop.

Pfft he cheated by using a CALCULATOR...

I'm retired after 62 years in broadcast engineering, (involuntarily) now, and no longer have access or room for my power tools and projects. (I'm down to one eye, and arthritis is a bitch). Alas, the 3D printing and these nifty mini tools came on the scene a little late for me so I am vicariously experiencing the joy of making things with my own hands through your site and a couple of others. (Not looking for sympathy, I had a great run, through the last days of being able to have fun in my job, and have great memories). Glad I stumbled upon his jewel of a site!

Got mine 4 years ago, top 5 tool purchase! My optional ranking: 1.belt drive 2.dro 3.brushless motor

hi mae can you run through your programme on the calculator to convert from imperial to metric considering the revolutions on the machine dial. I would like to do something similar respectively my dials read in imperial increments and a full revolution equating to 0.125 and being in the uk I am more inclined to work in metric.

Does the tram bolt have a torque spec? Id bet it does, try it, if it is loose and shifts over torque by 5-10% each time until its stable, then do some aggressive passes. Would be pretty scientific and a good way to test the written specs

Nice milling machine

The question being, “Are mini mills worth it?”, is a little vague. It could be worth it to you, as an individual, depending on what you need out of it. But from a cost perspective, I’d say no, they are now worth it. Mini and/or bench top mills often run in the $3-5K range. However, it is relatively easy to find a used full sized mill on fb marketplace for roughly the same price. You can perform the same maintenance procedures on it, and end up with a much more capable mill…provided you have the space for it.

Where can I buy the product in the video?

Very nice, I like it very much

I felt attacked at that tool collector joke

I have a Sherline Tabletop Mini-mill with a CNC up grade kit that I bought used and I love it, it is much more capable being used to make things than I am of using it to make those things..

The odd distance per rotation thing is a consequence of getting an imperial-marked version of a metric machine.

Are you using a tooth pulley belt on a v-pulley ?

Word of caution from years of experience. Do not try or use WD 40 for lubrication purposes...ever. WD 40 is designed as a penetrant product and is not ment for lubrication use. If used expect damage and low performance from any machine in short order. WD 40 is a great product and is one of best if used properly.

Truth. But material removal rate and max part dimensions are limited. Also no CNC features. All this is OK for hobby, but in many cases not good for some business and money earning.

Much like the complainers you are describing, an entertaining time can be had by going to Amazon and looking for various mechanical things, and then reading the reviews. Not the 5 star, the one star reviews. This is where those folks that could break an anvil reside. One of my favorites, a simple plastic hang up hook for an old school telephone handset, the kind you would use in a factory or office environment where you wanted to put the handset up and safely out of the way, but not hang up the phone while you did something else for a moment. Obvious for what it was supposed to do, and it had two holes in it to mount it to some surface. It got a one star review because, "Did not come with installation instructions."

I’ve got one. Works beautifully.

I bought a mini mill similair to this a few years back. I was satisfied with it, mostly doing small hobby stuff. Its capable of milling steel if you don't want to cut mm's in one go. Unfortunatly the engine gave out, i had not used it very much and it was out of warranty. One of the carbon brushes was detached from its little wire, thats were you see its the cheaper made stuff. The carbon brushes were very hard to get, its a size that is not available at most suppliers. So i bought something larger and custom fitted it. It works but its not running smooth. I found a replacement motor for a reasonable price and that is sitting on the bench waiting to be replaced.

I think the 62.5 thou per rev issue is because that's 1/16th of an inch. A lot of hobbyists are likely to think in 64ths (a quarter turn), 32nds (half a turn) and 16ths (full turn). Actual machinists: not so much...

Perhaps I missed it, but what is the model of this machine? How much did it cost?

I think a nice upgrade to the pulleys now that you've got a working design is to remake them out of aluminum on the mini lathe.

Anyone made a diy hand powered metal shaper?

Mini machine you have to take mini cuts. Period.

Mini machine you have to take mini cuts. Period.

A couple of things to note: - Part of the reason why the belt is slipping is because you're using a timing belt on a smooth pulley. The notches reduce the contact and dramatically reduce the grip since its just sitting on the peaks of the belt teeth. Get a flat belt and it should slip less. - The overhang that pulley has inside the V groove doesn't look aggressive enough to require supports if your print settings are correct. Use Prusa Slicer to select organic / tree supports for the bottom area and then you can pull the supports off very easily without any blemishing to the print.

I used mine to make several T-slot nuts out of a bar of cold rolled steel bar. That was my first project with it.

One day the USA will realise that it has its head on back to front and start using the metric system that the other 96% of the world uses!

I bought a mini mill and it worked on everything I tried! I eventually made it into a CNC. Loved it!Also added DRO using digital calipers

Been thinking about this , made prototype, found the forces are opposite to a mill. The forces are not handled well by the crosslide, wheras the spindle takes all forces unmoved. Going to get a small mill, knowing problems arise there too. There are lots of info about them.

machieing using imperial must be a nightmare

Proof that some of the crowd(sources) on the Internet are just stuck up. Everyone's gotta start somewhere,.why not a mini lathe and mill

Great video! Just an FYI, when milling aluminum you should use a 2 or 3 flute endmill for ideal results. Happy machining!

I fall asleep to videos like Abom all the time. That shik shik sound just puts me to sleep.

Let's see a worm gear drive! Add complexity.... FOR NO REASON!

The only mini mill bashing I have seen is over the older style "minis" with the round columns. And that knurled cheater bar was so pretty.

machine sounds great

I wonder if the handwheel turns a more reasonable distance pre rev if you switch to the metric system...??

I like your video because you had problems and talked about how you work through them and came up with solutions. That is teaching. Defining exactly how something is supposed to be is not teaching.