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Ed Caffrey's Workshop Talk to Ed Caffrey ... The Montana Bladesmith! Tips, tricks and more from an ABS Mastersmith.

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  #1  
Old 05-31-2007, 12:06 AM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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New milling machine

After saving my pennies for the last year I finally got my Grizzly G0463 (Sieg X3). It has an R-8 spindle and dovetail column. I also got a 5" swivel vise (70 Lbs) a quick change R-8 collet set (11), 3" face mill, 3" boring head and magnetic lamp. The unit weighs 372 Lbs but the column detaches easily by removing four bolts and two machine screws. That makes it a bit easier to set up. My neighbor and I still had to use a come-along to winch the column and power head up onto the base. Tomarrow I will finish leveling it and the rest of the break in run time. The trams were almost dead on and just a tiny bit of adjusting and they were tight.

The head moves up and down on the "Z" axis with the gib and the quill is operated by the spindle handle for using it as a drill press. It has a low/high range gear selection and forward and reverse and electronic speed control. The table is setup to catch and drain a liquid coolant. There is an aftermarket power table feed that I can bolt on for $250.

So far it looks like it is going to be very handy to use.



Last edited by B.Finnigan; 06-02-2007 at 11:02 AM.
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Old 05-31-2007, 12:22 AM
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Cool, but....

Hey Brent, I have seen your shop and I am wondering where you got all of the clean space to put that in Give me a call sometime as I have a bunch of dry ash and apple sticks (limbs) that could be used for hammer handles. It has been way too long since I seen ya. You have got to get over to my place and test out a big anvil (Nimba #260) Talk at you soon. And I am very jealous about your new purchase. Me, I am trying to sell my knives so that I can get a KMG. Daniel


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Old 05-31-2007, 12:42 AM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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I spent two days cleaning and re-organizing equipment. The drill press went to my neighbor and the 2x42 is now parked next to the 2x72. After sweeping up all the cuttings I still killed my Dewalt shop vac from overloading it.

I was very dilligent at tucking away $150 each month for the last year in order to get it w/o using plastic.

Are you sure you want me anywhere close to your new anvil with a hammer?

Last edited by B.Finnigan; 05-31-2007 at 01:20 AM.
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Old 05-31-2007, 07:26 PM
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Yep!

Of course you are more than welcome. I already put a couple little dents in it. It's called character. I could really use some more input into organization/ideas/good excuse to get out in the shop..... Dan 360-357-3359


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Old 05-31-2007, 08:20 PM
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Brent,

Im real curious about your new mill. I see that it has a square column vs. round, with i think adds rigidity. Ive been looking at the mini mills, but have not gotten one, afraid that they would not be heavy duty enough. This looks alot beefier. Im not sure youve had the time to put it into action, but i sure would like to hear any comments you have about its performance. What you like, dont like, quirks...etc. One day im going to get one, and that looks like it might be the ticket. Its bigger than the mini mills ive seen, not as big as the big boys, and for me, milling guards, slotting handles and drilling is about all i would be using it for....initially...)

Also, what is the aftermarket powerfeed you speak of?


Thanks and congrats

Robert


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Last edited by robertv6; 05-31-2007 at 08:39 PM.
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Old 05-31-2007, 09:18 PM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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So far I have only used it for around two hours but I really like it alot. It has plenty of horsepower even at very low RPM's. Right now I am cutting out an 1/8" indent on some 316 stainless for a "coke bottle" liner lock. The indent will be for some maple burl. The bit I am using is a 3/4" C-2 with TiN coating and it is making 1/32" cuts very quick and clean with very little heat. IF you push it too far it will fault out and you have to shut it down and reset it. That is annoying but it will save my bits and most likely the machine itself over the long run.

It is much bigger then the mini mills and whole lot heavier. However two people can set it up if you break it down into two pieces. It was not easy but we did it. After adjusting the slide tension on the table it stayed tight clear out to each side w/o any play or slop. The R-8 spindle allows you to use a huge variety of cutting tools and faster tool changes. A 1/2 turn on the draw bar is all that is needed to lock it in. It also comes with a very beefy drill chuck attached to an R-8 arbor.

I may get the table power feed sooner then later since my wrists seem to have tendonitis alot these days. Cranking on those gibs is not helping it.

Here is the link to the powerfeed for the X3.

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...2954&category=

It cost around $1400 with sales tax and frieght and I dropped another $600 on tooling so far just for the basics. Within a few months the tooling will be more then the machine itself.
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Old 05-31-2007, 09:23 PM
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man, that is nice. I just want to go kick my mini-mill now...Good tool purchase!
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  #8  
Old 05-31-2007, 10:30 PM
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I just finished up my first half of the folder body. It did a great job with no chatter and very little machining marks to deal with. I kept the RPM's at 120 except on the sides I kicked it up to 700 to make a .0001" cleaner pass. It will handle 1/16" deep cuts without straining the motor at all. I really like that it can be turned down to 100 RPM's without any power loss.



I bought a used 5x10" magnetic chuck over a year ago that was in fairly good condition. It did need surfacing and I wanted to play with the face mill. So after drilling some mounts so it can attach to the table I started with some .0005 passes. After two passes it was all cleaned up. It looks like it was never surfaced before since I found a few valleys while cutting.

Video of the surfacing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLS8WIJc_bw

After cleaning the mag chuck I wanted to see how well it held and how deep I could tear into blade steel. The first pass was just to take off the highest spots and then I made a few more that were .0005 and the chuck held perfect at 150 RPM.

It is by no means a surface grinder but it does a great job of getting a chunk of 1084 dead flat in not too much time. At 150 RPM there was no heat at all and most of the shrapnel was not reaching me. After it was perfectly flat I made a few 700 RPM passes to clean up the mill marks.

So far I am extremely impressed with the accuracy and power of it. The base of the mag chuck is 1/2" thick and I zipped two 3/8" holes through with no problems and without lugging the motor, even during the break through at the bottom it never slowed up.


Last edited by B.Finnigan; 06-03-2007 at 06:51 PM.
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Old 06-04-2007, 09:35 PM
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So neat, pretty, clean.

Boy! all I have is a filthy, old, used Bridgeport, (grump! (insert evil grin here))


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