Mini-Mill -- What can it do?

Burchtree

Burchtree

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I may be showing my stupidity here, but what exactly can you do with a mini-mill?
 
A mini mill is a smaller variant of the regular milling machine, usually a table top model not free standing. They usually top out at about 300 lbs in weight. Careful disassembly allows a couple of fellows to carry them down into a basement workshop and reassemble them...try that with a full size shop model.

Because of the size and lack of heavy castings they do not have the capabilities of a full size unit. A lot of knifemakers use them non the less.
 
You can flatten bolster, and handle material, slot guards, cut guard stops, bevel bolsters, and wood scales. Do almost Anything that you can do with a larger one, just slower. ;)
 
Interesting. Thanks for the replies. I was wondering around Harbor Freight, and noticed they had one for about $300. But, of course it would probably break down after a week, and it wouldn't be worth it. :D
 
I have the Grizzlly mini mill and if I some how lost it I would replace it before purchasing anything else. It is a very important tool for me in knife making. Most of its performaance is as a fancy drill press but I often use it for other duty in knife making.

Harbor Freight offers one that may be functionally equal but it is not the 300 dollar one mentioned above. That one, the $300 wonder, is a toy. You will have to go a least 500 bucks for the smallest mill that will do relatively well for what we want for our purposes.

One major consideration in milling machines is weight. Heavy equals precision. Light equals lots of chatter (vibration). Big is good, light is bad.

Roger
 
I figured it was too cheap to do much, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I've seen that one at Grizzly -- it seems pretty nice. Of course, I wouldn't even know what to do with one. :D

I'll worry about getting my Coote before I get anything else. I don't know what's wrong with me though. Lately I've been walking into hardware/Grizzly/HF and looking at every tool and thinking "I wonder how that could be used to make a knife?"

I'm supposed to be a writer, and I already have stuff that needs to be caught up, but now all I want to do is spend time in the garage!
 
Michael,

I should have gone into more detail before, so as to better respond to your original inquiry.

Obtaining a mill is just a start in actually putting one to use. I think if I could manufacture mills I could almost afford to give them away if the customer signed a contract agreeing to buy all it's tooling from me.

You will need things such as 'end mills' in various sizes, and some specialty mills too. You will need collets or end mill holders (the Griz comes with a couple collets, I believe), vise(s), a clamp set for holding work to the table, and it goes on and can go on, and on, and on. I have 5 vises. I don't have to have that many but I use them all off and on. I have a rotary table for curving some work or cutting circles. You do not have to have a rotary table.

The Grizzly comes with a 1/2 inch utility grade drill bit chuck. So, with a small machine vise or clamp set to hold the work piece you can begin using the mill right out of the box. You can use the chuck to hold end mills but I do not recommend doing that.

I recommend you getting a mill when time and budget permits. You will not want to do without one once you have one. Research the total startup cost before buying a mill (unless you can get a brother-in-law deal from someone).

Here is a really nice little site that will help you alot: http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_mill/Main/mini-mill.htm

Here is a great little site for replacement parts and some tooling costs: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/default.php

Here is a super little site for getting tooling and tooling prices from (all your end mills, vises, clamp set, etc.): http://www.use-enco.com/

Roger
 
On Koval's website they have a desk top mini mill for around $600-$700 that seems comparable to the Sherline series of mills. I saw the one Koval offers at the Badger knife show and was pretty impressed at the quality of the unit for that kind of money. I have played with the Sherline mini mills a bit but never had the chance to actually make anything on one. But they seem well built and very versatile.

Are mills of these types useful and worth the money? I mean for a hobbyist knife maker...they might be a little light weight for a full time maker. Does anyone have one of these types of very small and light weight desk tops and how do they work?

I have always wanted one but can find a better use for $700 as I have found ways to make what I want without a mill. I don't have room for a 300 pound unit, or a full size mill for that matter. Am I wishing for something that won't do me much good?

Brian
 
Sylvester -- I second that!

"What is that tool for?"

"I don't know, but I might need it someday!" :D
 
Hey Mike,

I have that little mini-mill and I like it a great deal, but if I had to do it over again, I would have waited a few more weeks for enough money to roll in to get a better machine. As with all of the low-priced imports, there is a cult following of them and there is definitely a source of pride to be able to turn out stunning pieces of precision work from them, especially if you had to amek some of your own modifications to do it. A good place to start the search would be www.mini-lathe.com/

They have lots of links and the main theme is on the el-cheapo imports and all the cool mods one can do to them.

I got tired of milking mine along and was tired of waiting for it to do more than what it was capable of. I finally bought a Jet JMD-18 mill/drill, and I couldn't be more pleased!

One final word: I would get all my grinders, buffers, forges, etc out of the way, and then step up to a mill/drill and maybe a small lathe. Careful though... once you do you'll get hooked and start kicking yourself because you'll wonder how you ever got by without them.

Peace bro.
 
Originally posted by Higgy

I got tired of milking mine along and was tired of waiting for it to do more than what it was capable of. I finally bought a Jet JMD-18 mill/drill, and I couldn't be more pleased!
Click to expand...

That's the same machine I have.:eek: :D
 
I have a Tag mini mill and it works well for me. I got the manual feed one with the varable speed. It has the capabilities (optional) to do CNC with CAD but that exceeds my capability.
 
I recently bought one of the $300 HF mini mills and for what it is, it's really not too bad. I have already used it to mill lockbar scallops in my folders and to slit the locks. I picked up a variety of end mills and ball mills from MSC and have been fooling around with them. I could do fullers in blades, thumb ramp grooves, milled "file" work and gut hooks. I think this little mill is pretty cool and it will tide me over until we get our housing needs squared away this year. Once I have a garage I'll have someplace to put that Bridgeport my buddy is holding onto for me.... :p Eventually this will become a dedicated machine for lock cutting or some similar function.
 
Thanks for the info.

By the way, I have a garage with some room. ;)
 
I too bought one of those HF $300 mini-mills, but fortunately having read a previous post on this board, I was able to get it for $150! :) I've not had a chance to use it yet, been ordering some various tooling for it, but it does look to be a solid little machine for the price, especially for the $150 I got it for! I'll use this one until I can afford a bigger mill, but there are other equipment priorities on the list for a while.

I've heard rumor of someone developing a nice benchtop surface grinder for the knifemaking community, anyone have any further information about this?

-Darren
 
The only mini mill that I know of is $500 & $550
Are y`all talkin about the Micro Mill for $300
 
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