I know there is a forum that seems to exist for folks that build guns but darned if I can find it...  This forum has shown people making just about everything from 0% forgings...

Can someone provide a link as I think this was discussed there in some detail...?


What I am trying to research is the smaller benchtop milling machines.  I have a couple things that I want to make and sell but I need a mill to make them.  I need a small mill as the only place I have to work at this time is my basement and darned if I am going to get a Bridgeport down the stairs!

Can someone suggest a couple good places for mini mills?  I am looking for something that will do general work including steel and alloy.  I would also like to be able to use this on 0% AR-15 forgings although I predict that the worse I will ever attempt is the 80% variety.

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Well, haste makes waste but I took a chance and bought a mill on EBAY....
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2531791420&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:US:6
Time will tell if this will allow me to do what I need but god knows it has to work better than a drill press!  Now I just need a 1919 Browning Parts kit and 80% sideplate ...

Well, I do have a pair of 80% AR lowers, a Imbel Fal, a Sten MK III kit, and a Bren kit sitting in my workshop already!  I am still looking for that link if someone can help me out!

Thanks!

http://www.roderuscustom.tzo.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=3dff12f50174ffff

[url] http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Reference/reference.php[/url]

[url]http://www.roderuscustom.tzo.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=3eccc5ea07084f35[/url]

The mini lathe of choice is the Micro-Mark 14", but lacks the balls to do any serious work. Plus the threw on the spindle bore is 5/16", so forget about trying to thread a barrel.
If you start checking E-bay, you should be able to find a nice 26" mill for less than $2000 used. This would be the way to go if you plan on doing any barrel work.

P.S. Royce (from this site) has been playing with his new Mini lathe and Mini mill for the last couple of months. You may want to drop him E-mail and see what mods he has done to his machines to get them up and running (last I checked, he was trying to concur a FAL receiver from scratch).

[url=ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=4&t=148435]BIY Lower Build Site Listing[/url]

The little machince shop mills are really great. I don't about them for gunsmithing, me and my Brother used to make model airplane aluminum parts with a mill we bought from them, now we have a mini cnc, man that one is awesome.

here's Dano's first link "fixed"....


[url]http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Reference/reference.php[/url]

I know someone who has a Bridgeport in thier basement.  To get down there, he disassembled the mill and brought it down piece by piece. The base  was lowered down the basement steps with a tractor through a side door.  They put 2x8's over the steps, kind of an improvised ramp.  Once assembled in the basement the head only had a few inches clearance. And floor joists limit how far the head can be tilted.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm [url=http://www.bpt.com/]Bridgeport[/url] [:)]

I just bought a Ryobi 12" drill press from Home Depot for $130.  Was going to get the smaller one, but my wife said, "You know as soon as we get home and you start to unload that, you will be saying you wish you had spent $30 more and gotten the big one, so just do it."

Can't you add an X-Y table for milling?  I found only a small X-Y table at www.micromark.com.

www.mini-lathe.com/links.htm#Mini-Mill      

Has all the info you could ever want for mini-mills/lathes it's like the AR15.com of the mini machine world. If you buy Chinese (most are including enco,harbor freight,micro-mark etc) view it as a kit that is in need of tuning to your purpose and you will be happy. Don't buy it thinking that you will be a NASA subcontractor,they have their weak points.

edited to add: I'm too ignorant to make the link hot

7idl with the 'assist'...

[url]www.mini-lathe.com/links.htm#Mini-Mill[/url]

A_Free_Man you could do that but the bearings and such would never hold up to any horizontal presure that you would put on them. You would be milling along and your whole spindle would fall out on the table. Now if you just used the X-Y table to index holes it would work great.

The danger also lyes in the fact that most drill dresses use a morse taper in the spindle. Thhis acts as self locking under straight drilling pressure, side pressure could cause the tool holder to fall out.

Here is one place.

[url]http://www.roderuscustom.tzo.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi[/url]

Well have a nice trip to New York to pick it up, and at 460lbs I hope you have some friends to help you get it down the basement.

Other than that it should work fine.  You will need to get some end mill holders because using a drill press chuck in a lathe sucks. The collets will work will if your end mills happen to be that diameter.

OK, thanks!  

But I AM eyeing the 7x14 lathe from MicroMark.com...

Thanks for all the feedback!  I managed to get the mill and I will be honest I think the 460-pounds may be a little under the real weight...  We disassembled the mill and I will need to get a couple guys to help get that puppy into the basement if that is where she will go?

I was VERY pleased with the mill and the previous owner was VERY generous with the extras he threw in.  He added in a couple vices, a colection of collets, quite a few used end mills, and much, much more.  The previous owner was a mechanical engineer and he showed me quite a few projects he had built with this mill...  This baby really can do some impressive work, now all I need to do is get her back together and learn the basics of running a machine like this!

I see a 0% AR-15 forging in my future....  

[img]http://ebay0.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_737ad2bdc5141cca2856012f4ced09be/i-1_B_L.JPG[/img]

Looks like you’re almost ready to go.  My only suggestion would be to add a flood system. You could modify something to make the pan/shields and just buy or make a coolant pump system.  Without the flood system, you take a chance of burning up end mills on deep cuts; which the machine looks like it should be able to do without choking.

Chances are if you get creative, you should be able to build the whole flood system/containment with pump intake screen for less than $45, which is going to be around the price of a good end mill that you may burn up without it.

P.S. Forget about a fogging/misting system, since the mill is in your basement, you going to get way too much smoke and cloud out the entire basement in only a few minutes of cutting.  
Also, get something to cover up the wood behind the mill(sheet of FRP). On your first project, you going to have the wood soaked in oil.

Is that a Loembrau flag behind you mill?
Anyway, that looks Chinese, if it is, there is a massive secret to be learned, do not let the back side of the y axis rail on the top part get too much oil on it, or te entire upper portion will slip down.

Don't forget a power feed and a DRO, makes a big difference.