Reply To: Thee Mill Debate Continues

[david pierce]

Jan,
I and Tom bought the mills from a company in the U.S.A. called Harbor Freight. As far as I can tell the company that makes the machine is called CENTRAL MACHINERY. They supply a number of lathes and mills that are sold by various companies such as Enco and Harbor Freight. While I cannot speak for everybodys machines purchased from this company, mine ran fine out of the crate and still runs fine. I also have a 9″ swing lathe made by the same company and it also has given me great service. I checked the mill out with dial indicators when I purchased it and the spindle runout, and accuracy of the X and Y were all good. The motor is linked to the spindle with plastic gears but these provide a safety factor that protects the machine if it is pushed too hard. If desired, metal gears can be purchased and installed by the owner but I kept the original gears in place. Since I only use the mill for its intended purpose, which is accurate small work, I have had no problems with it. If I have a job that will overload the machine I have a larger mill that I use. For clock and watch size parts the mill does a good job. Problems usually come in when people put in large cutters, particularly fly cutters, and try to hog out a lot of metal with each pass. If used properly the mill should give many years of great accurate service.
There are numerous videos on Youtube showing this mill so it might interest you to watch them.
david