Cheap Chinese Mill-drill

John Husvar · 2005-11-29T15:47:32+00:00

Well, the boss finally broke down and bought a mill -- sorta.It's from Cummins Tools, those guys who periodically descend on some unsuspecting town and hold a "Truckload Tool Sale."It's a red-painted beast with the head on ways rather than on a round post. (Which I like) It's about 18 inches tall with decent X and Y table motions, (8 inches on the Y axis and 4+ on the X) there's not a lot of backlash and for what little slot-cutting, etc. we do, it'll probably be adequate.Now comes The Problem. Since it was the last one they had for this trip and was a little shopworn, boss got it for $250; as is, where is. It came with no collets only an attachment with a 1/2-inch chuck on it. The chuck will hold an end mill well enough for cutting slots, but the damn chuck won't stay on the drawbar. I've tried cleaning the drawbar taper up, marking it with magic marker each trial. The mating surfaces now appear to be touching each other correctly, but the damn chuck still won't stay on anyway.Since I'm by no means a skilled or knowledgeable machinist, (or even _a_ machinist) I'm asking for some ideas how to correct this problem. I'm tempted to just chuck the attachment bar in a lathe, turn down the chuck taper until I can get the chuck against the shoulder of the attachment and just weld the thing together. We'll never need to cut more than 3/8 slots, but I just think that's a poor way to solve the problem, just a desperation move.Does anybody know what collets the thing _should_ use and if they are available? Would the welding plan work at all, disregarding the hack-and-slash methodology?I'm trying to get this thing operating well enough for occasional use on very small tasks generally. So far, it worked fine, though incorrectly, for a simple slot lengthening job, but I'd really like to get it going right. It's not a Bridgeport, but I'd like to make it work well enough for our small shop.Advance thanks: I know somebody on this group will have a answer besides "throw the POS out!"...

Nov 29, 2005 42 Replies

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Rex,

First, I hope I didn't scare you with the "next machine" crack; just couldn't resist.

Absent expert advice (which you will obviously need to get from other sources), I would be very careful about adding oil ports. Somebody here can probably tell you how to lubricate the thing by other means that will not reduce strength or throw chips into its innerds. It is quite possible that you machine does not have ports because it does need that much lubrication. At a minimum however, I would get some Mobil Vactra 2 and keep the screws and ways covered.

If I were going to modify a machine, I would try for something closer to a one shot system. The problem with ports is that one is never quite sure whether they are full.

I have a Bestline feed on a rebranded RF 31 and am struggling a little with how often to oil the port that it covers. It is not difficult to remove and reinstall, but I hate doing that to it every day :(

Bill