Best bench mill for decking and milling.

[Brianlol]

I need to deck cylinders faster now with better results .
I was looking a grizzly
Want feed back if I need more or less
G0619 6" x 21" Mill / Drill

Sold and shipped by Grizzly Industrial, Inc., this item is brand new in factory packaging and covered by our one-year warranty!

The flat-rate freight charge shown above in the Item Specifics is valid anywhere in the contiguous United States! Buyer is responsible for unloading. See below for more details about freight delivery.

Upgrade to this mill/drill and have all of the great features shown on G0463 and add a tilting head, a multifunction digital scale on the quill, a quick reversing tapping feature, push button speed control and digital speed display. With this machine you can quickly tap one hole or dozens of holes! Press the button, start the tap and when the thread is completed, push another button and the spindle quickly reverses, withdrawing the tap from the hole. And there won't be any question about proper spindle speed! Run the RPM up or down to best suit your tooling/material and be confident that you'll have fewer worn or broken tools.

Features:

• Dovetail column with elevation handwheel graduated in 0.0005"
• Over 14" of headstock movement
• Dovetail column
• Digital spindle scale reads metric or inches, zero set, ON/OFF
• Head tilts 90°
• Push-button variable speed
• Digital speed display
• Reversing buttons on the spider handles for tapping
• Coolant trough
• Front mounted fine feed knob
• Push button motor control for forward, reverse, tapping, and off
• Front-mounted E-stop button
• See-through chip guard
• Includes: 5/8" drill chuck & arbor, 2 T-nuts, 3 open end combo wrenches, 4 hex wrenches
• Made in an ISO 9001 factory

Specifications:

• Motor: 1 HP, 110V, single-phase, brushless DC
• Spindle taper: R-8 • Spindle travel: 2-3/4"
• Swing: 18"
• Max. distance spindle to table: 14-3/4"
• Collars calibrated: 0.001"
• T-Slots: 3 @ 1-11/16" centers, 7/16" wide
• Table size: 6-1/4" x 21-5/8"
• Table travel (longitudinal): 15-7/8"
• Table travel (cross): 5-3/4" • Headstock travel: 14-7/8"
• Drilling capacity: 1"
• Quill diameter: 2.362"
• Variable speed: 100–1750 RPM
• Approximate shipping weight: 418 lbs

 

[tacomatrd98]

I think most guys use a lathe, but what do I know...

 

[tlandrum]

i use this for dropping cylinder

 

[Brianlol]

i use this for dropping cylinder
View attachment 441906

Do I need 3 phase for that lathe
I was looking at the bench mills because they could be run off a singe phase system. Am I thinking in the wrong direction. Does anyone use mills for decking cylinders ?
Thank u for ur feedback

 

[gunnusmc03]

One gent on here uses a mill to deck the crankcase. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Brianlol]

Also I was looking at the amount of space it doesn't take up.

 

[gunnusmc03]

You can send cylinders to MM to have the flange and squish cut to whatever dims you desire. It's way cheaper than buying that over grown drill press.

 

[Brianlol]

One gent on here uses a mill to deck the crankcase. Different strokes for different folks.

I could see that
Is setting up a cylinder more time consuming on a mill than lathe

 

[Brianlol]

You can send cylinders to MM to have the flange and squish cut to whatever dims you desire. It's way cheaper than buying that over grown drill press.

Not if I'm doing a lot of them for rebuilds lol

 

[tlandrum]

I can set a cylinder up and have it cut in a matter of minutes on the lathe. my lathe runs off of 220v single phase. I have a mill in my shop and use it regularly ,but not for cutting cylinder bases.

 

[gunnusmc03]

I don't see that happening. Creating the fixturing to mill various mfg and different model of cylinders is going to eat a huge hole in your wallet and not to mention time.

 

[Brianlol]

I'm used to doing it by hand with a jig and wall sander lol
A lot of hand and eye coordination

 

[tlandrum]

get yourself a 9x19 lathe and it will do all that you need .

 

[Brianlol]

I can set a cylinder up and have it cut in a matter of minutes on the lathe. my lathe runs off of 220v single phase. I have a mill in my shop and use it regularly ,but not for cutting cylinder bases.

That it then. That's the way I'm going to go.

 

[Brianlol]

get yourself a 9x19 lathe and it will do all that you need .

I'm going to look for one tomorrow
Any name brand recommend

 

[tlandrum]

enco,or grizzly or about any of the Chinese lathes are made the same and painted a different color.

 

[Brianlol]

Jet bd 920 n
9x20

 

[gunnusmc03]

Find something with a 4 jaw chuck

 

[Rx7man]

There are some small lathes with milling heads on them, so they do both mill and lathe.. never really used one though.

I have a very similar lathe to @tlandrum but older, it was 3 phase 220V and I put a solid state variable frequency drive on it (not cheap, but very nice to have for other things too)

I'm looking for a milling machine now, an old bridgeport would do me well. In the racing world the motto is "no replacement for displacement", but in machining tools it's "No replacement for sheer weight".. the bigger and heavier the mill or lathe is the better and smoother the cuts will be, especially when you get into end mills bigger than 1/2"

I was talking to a friend of mine and he said a mutual friend of ours had bought a big mill at an auction, and didn't know why he bought it except because it was only $1000... so I called him up and asked him some questions about it. Good lord! It's a 72"x32" table, about 8 feet high, and weighs in at about 14,000 lbs... not only do I not have a piece of equipment big enough to get it into the shop, it would crush the concrete of the shop floor! I had to politely pass on it and tell him what I'm looking for!

 

[Rx7man]

Oh, yes, the 4 jaw is essential to have if you don't plan on working with only round stock, or decide you need to do something off-center.

The mill or lathe is always the cheap part, the tooling will kill you!.. you will then need edge finders, a couple dial indicators, lots of jigs, a vice (get a good one), perhaps a rotary table for the mill, and then all the cutting tools... counter sinks, a couple of each end mill, perhaps ball nosed mills, taps, yadda yadda.. expect to be investing into it for years!
That said, it's really fun making stuff that looks good because you milled the edges with a 45* cutter, things line up right, you can cut keyways, and if you're really good, splines... you will never be bored.