$999 mills any good? milling tables 4 drill presses any good?

[COMMANDERBOND]

https://www.alibaba.com/pla/hobby-mi...SABEgKqA_D_BwE

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Table-Milling-Drilling-High-Quality-Sine_60423054481.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.n ormal_offer.d_image.740220e55MII4L&s=p

[DocsMachine]

The mills are typical mini-mills, same as you get from Little Machine Shop, Grizzly, Jet, Harbor Freight, Busy Bee, Princess Auto, and a dozen other suppliers. They're generally considered "kits", meaning you'll need to do some work to them to straighten out the occasional issues.

One thing about getting one from Alibaba rather than, say, Jet, Griz or LMS, is you get no warranty whatsoever. You buy it, it's yours, good or bad.

The upside is, that there's a fair amount of spares and even upgrades out there- people make belt kits, gear-drive kits, screw upgrades, spindle upgrades and even complete CNC conversions. The only tricky bit is making sure the parts you're ordering fir that exact model- there's a lot of "clones" that look very similar, but aren't necessarily compatible with others.

I tend to recommend buying from one of the bigger-name dealers, rather than straight from an anonymous Chinese reseller.

Mill tables for drill presses are right out. The table itself might be okay, but drill presses are NOT set up for milling. Side loads to the spindle can literally pop the chuck loose, the bearings and quill-to-casting fit is not intended for milling duties, etc.

I have a "mill" table on an industrial drill press, and I use it for positioning only- that is, to get holes a precise distance from each other. I do NOT mill with it.

If you want a milling machine, buy a milling machine. Don't try to convert a drill press.

Doc.

[KMDPB]

I love my Chinese x2 mill for the money. Cheapest one is harbor freight. They are all the same just painted different colors and rebranded. Mill tables for drill presses are pretty much useless IMO. The round column makes it hard to properly lock the table from spinning around the column, and you dont have accurate z axis adjustment. It also is not very rigid. It can be modified to work somewhat decent but having been down that road I would recommend just getting the mini mill.

[KMDPB]

Just noticed docs, response.. he beat me to it.

[cfos00]

I have the harbor freight one with a belt drive kit, and it does what I need. I recently upgraded to a swivel clamp, which would be nice, but there are definitely size restrictions. Otherwise, I've been happy with it and haven't had any major issues at all. Works well for small projects that you can do manually.

[COMMANDERBOND]

Thanks for the advice. I had a Chinese vertical mill and sold it like an idiot. It was heavy duty as compared with the busy bee variety.