step pulley vs gear head mills

[loose nut]

That Busy Bee mill is nice but has a limited table travel compared to the square column/dovetailed type bench mills. My ZX45 mill is really only noisy in the top speed and it's quieter since I changed the headstock oil for the good stuff, as opposed to the used tractor sludge that was in it originally and the limited number of speed is far out weighed by the quick speed changes convenience. I can't say how they compare in rigidity but the square column type are very ridged compared to other bench top type mills..

[mototed]

I have a old belt drive mill, got it for $800.00. You can change speeds in less than 10 seconds. My drill press is belt drive, but is it's a pain in the butt to vary speeds due the change over procedure. I think it depends on how easy the machine is designed to change speeds. The mill is one lever, drill press is three.

Ted

[rohart]

I go along with camdigger. If you don't budget for tooling, you'll be tempted to spend all your shop time making tooling. I'd add a nice small universal dividing head to that list.

I haven't been milling for long, but I'd put an endmill holder and a vise at the top of the list. If you don't have a vise, you need to make special jigs and fixtures, and to do that you need... you guessed it, a vise !

I have a geared head with a VFD. Best of both worlds, but then my gears aren't too noisy.

I don't know what the modern kit is like, but I enjoy my heavy old iron. When it's a bit loose, you can just plough onwards and sort it out later. I rarely stop half way through a cut, even when I know I've lost one of the flanks of my endmill.

[prostar]

I just purchased a Teco VFD for my Bridgeport. I'm curious where and how some of you mounted your VFD on your mills. If you would be willing to share pictures of the installed VFD, that would be appreciated.

Thanks

[kvom]

I'm curious where and how some of you mounted your VFD on your mills. If you would be willing to share pictures of the installed VFD, that would be appreciated.

Here's pic showing my setup:



The VFD is inside the larger wall-mounted NEMA enclosure. Attached to it (but not visible in the photo) is a toggle switch for the input power. The output 3PH power line goes to the small NEMA enclosure mounted on the motor and replaces the original switch.

The VFD/mill is controlled by the remote panel that is mounted on the arm next to the DRO.

[lakeside53]

And mine. I've posted the pictures before so here's just the link

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/f...de53/BP%20VFD/

[jackary]

Here is mine, I added a vertical head to a Senior mill which is driven by polyvee belts. I works very well
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tom_senior/message/340
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tom_se...80175/pic/list

Alan