June 23, 20197 yr A machinist buddy of mine spotted a mill at auction and let me know so i could bid on it. I had very little money so i placed a 180$ max bid and walked away with a legun ft-1 knee mill 2hp i think? Quite rusty but serviceable. I only paid 115$ out the door moving the 2600lb beast was a trick but i got her home. Picture shows her partly torn down for cleaning the knee is a bit tight all the travels work spindle and quill are in great shape power feed works and so dose the dro with a bit of cleaning and a vsd to run the 3 phase i might get away with a 400$ mill du
June 24, 20197 yr Lagun makes a good milling machine. I would lean towards a rotary convertor, and ran mine back home off a jack motor for years. Just another 3 phase motor that I wired through then to the mill motor. Worked fine.
June 25, 20197 yr Author I suppose it will come down to what i can afford as i am kinda broke. i realise a rotary will give better power but a vfd is cheaper. It will come down to what i can find in the next month or two untill then she is a xxxx of a nice paperweaight. But it gives me time to paint her and fix the few problems i have. du Edited June 25, 20197 yr by Mod34 Edited for inappropriate language
June 25, 20197 yr Incredible buy! Personally, I've not got space for milling machine, lathe or press, but maybe one day I'll score a deal that good.
June 25, 20197 yr 3 phase motors are pretty cheap at commercial surplus sites, for example (setting filters and Glancing quickly at surplus site) 5hp, 3ph, $69. 25hp, 3php, $209. Frosty The Lucky.
June 25, 20197 yr Author Will check thanks for the tip frosty i think the motor is good i just need the 3phase to run it. I live in the boonies 2nd house from the end of the grid
September 26, 20196 yr i just was gifted a bridgeport with a 3 ph motor and a 2ph(yes 2ph, look it up) power feed. luckily i have 2ph but sadly no 3ph, so i bought a single to three phase converter and it runs great, now im trying to teach myself milling etc and man, there is a lot to learn! i do have a cnc machine so some of the ideas translate, but i wish i had a better handle on running this machine!
September 26, 20196 yr Vertical, horizontal, size? I only spent a little time on a vertical mill in metal shop class and there certainly is a lot to know. I've have always wanted one but in all honesty didn't have much use for one when I was doing a lot of metal work. High school metal shop text books are a good source for learning shop skills. College industrial arts texts are still around I think. Sucks industrial ed. classes aren't offered in middle and high schools anymore. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.
September 27, 20196 yr its a vertical. the bed is about 48 inches i guess? i actually havent measured that part, was too busy tramming the table and vice. machine checks out for accuracy, had very little use, my patternmaker gave it to me and he mostly used it for milling stock flat for patterns etc. wood too. haha. i honestly dont know how i went this long without this machine though in the little that i know about it ive been able to do things in the shop that id never been able to do as accurately before! its amazing. yes i agree its awful that they dont teach shop the same way anymore, we need that now more than ever. ive been on youtube and found some old machinists that have decent instructional videos guys that have been running machines for over 40 years etc. but the time it will take for me to get comfortable is going to be a while. i did luck out at an auction and got about 12k worth of cutters (from a 90 yr old machinist!) for 400 bux ! so ive got really good old school (actully nice metal) cutters to learn with.
September 27, 20196 yr Boy, did you ever score. Happy for you. I had a couple of 48" Bridgeports and sure do miss them. Mill away. I can smell the wave guide oil as I type.
September 27, 20196 yr i know! i confess to just staring at the machine sometimes in awe! the power feed is a game changer, although im still learning so ive certainly been hand cranking to get a feel for feed speed ...that gets old fast!
September 27, 20196 yr You will find more and more things to do with it. I owned my two for 27 years and I miss what they are capable of most every week that goes by. Enjoy!
September 27, 20196 yr Photos! Photos! Be sure to post reduced size photos - I keep mine at 100Kb size max. Robert Taylor
December 20, 20196 yr Couple of months ago, when we've been starting our business and making our little plant for metal processing, we've asked our partners what they could suggest as investing company for our needs. There was no profitable suggestions for us, but I've found a company in the google search results called Pivotal which possess itself like reliable investing company. Now I wonder how to check it, cause we're looking for growing our client base and production facility as well. Commercial link removed per TOS Edited December 20, 20196 yr by Mod30 Remove commercial link
December 20, 20196 yr Welcome to IFI sannders... I always suggest reading this to get the best out of the forum. It is full of tips like editing your profile to show general location and how to stay off the moderators radar. READ THIS FIRST Kind of hard to give advice, not knowing where in the world you are located. We have members from around 150 countries world wide.
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