After building a bench and lifting the mill onto it, I got to accuracy measurements today.
A) .0001 (tens) indicator, mag mounted to table, against exterior of spindle
NO READING. 0 . Yes, I quad-checked I had contact and no stuck indicator
B) .0005 (5 tens) indicator, mounted in the spindle, lowered for the contact point to contact table. Eliminated cosine err as much as I could. Full motion in X.
NO READING. 0 . Yes, I quad-checked I had contact and no stuck indicator . Didn't do Y .
C) same, mounted in the spindle, ~6" sweep of the table. I could not lower the indicator for the contact to touch the table, so I used 123 block on the table ($5 variety). I got may be .0002 (2 tenths) needle motion, but I think it is the block .
Plowed through some 6061 with 3/4 4Fl EM, @ max rpm. It cuts to about .
300 DOC, full width. The motor clearly loads up, but the mill is rock solid. I think it can take 2HP (3Phase + VFD or straight DC,assuming you can find honestly-rated
2 HP DC motor for less than what I paid for the mill). I never hog metal like that anyway, but it is nice to test the limits.
I am in mill heaven ! Long live Harbor Freight and PROC.