Posted: 8/3/2015 12:29:15 PM EDT
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Howdy Gents,
Does anyone in the DFW area have a mini mill? I'm interested in maybe doing an 80% lower and a few other projects and I was thinking about picking up one of the mini mills but I don't know much about them. Thanks! DFM |
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I don't have a mill yet, but I've been doing tons of research on them. Depending on what else your going to be doing with it and your budget. The LMS HiTorque solid column would be the minimum I would get. I was considering it just because of the features and price, but once you put a vise on it you don't have allot of room for your work piece. I have seen people do 80% receivers on it though. I have already created 3D models for my own AR15 billet receiver design and a 10/22 receiver that I would like to try and make and I don't think the LMS machine would be best for my plans. I've been looking at the next step up, a grizzly G0759 or G0704. I may eventually convert it to CNC so the 704 would be better since the DROs would be redundant, but that would probably be a few years off and the DROs would make it so much nicer to work on in the mean time.
You will hear allot of people telling you to get a used Bridgeport, but I have no idea how they can get a 1-2 thousand pound machine to fit in their garage. I'm not even sure I have room for the G0759 and I still want a small lathe as well. |
| I put a Cincinnati Tool Master in my garage to use for knife making. It was being used commercially right up to the day I bought it, although it was off a couple thousands end to end but that didn't mater for what I was doing. It took a heavy duty wrecker to get it up my driveway and into the garage, but we did it. Only cost me $2500.00 |
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Quoted:
I have 24/7 access to a full size Bridgeport milling machine. North side of Dallas. Send me an IM if you'd like to set up a time to meet up. I'd love to see an 80% AR get done without the risk of me ruining one I bought.  I thought I saw some comments on the ATF changing the rules for finishing 80% lowers. Something about you can't use a friends equipment to complete it. I think it was directly related to people setting up CNC machines and the person with the lower would just come up and push the start button. May not apply here but I would investigate it further before doing something like using someone else's machine to finish one. |
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Quoted:
I thought I saw some comments on the ATF changing the rules for finishing 80% lowers. Something about you can't use a friends equipment to complete it. I think it was directly related to people setting up CNC machines and the person with the lower would just come up and push the start button. May not apply here but I would investigate it further before doing something like using someone else's machine to finish one. Quoted:
Quoted:
I have 24/7 access to a full size Bridgeport milling machine. North side of Dallas. Send me an IM if you'd like to set up a time to meet up. I'd love to see an 80% AR get done without the risk of me ruining one I bought. I thought I saw some comments on the ATF changing the rules for finishing 80% lowers. Something about you can't use a friends equipment to complete it. I think it was directly related to people setting up CNC machines and the person with the lower would just come up and push the start button. May not apply here but I would investigate it further before doing something like using someone else's machine to finish one. I'll certainly look into it, but this is a manually operated milling machine. No automation at all, so I couldn't do any of the "work" by programming it. I believe that was the crux of the CNC machine ordeal. |