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6x26 Milling machines

allamateur

Plastic
Joined
Dec 27, 2020
I must apologize if this is the wrong section for this or if it's been discussed to death, I'm still finding my way around the site. I'm new to milling and machining in general.

I've been looking to get a knee mill, probably 1/2 size of a regular Bridgeport, to teach myself some basic machining and make gun/car/general parts I may need. This isn't immediate and may be some months to years before I buy. I've looked around for 6x26 mills since these seem to be the go-to for 1/2 size knee mills, and the top-end suggestions are usually Clausings. These seem to be collector mills by this point in time, and I'm not a collector of milling machines.
The other options I could find of recent manufacture were the two generic Chinese import companies' 6x26 mills. One has since stopped selling this mill, so the only place I can find them are at the other (famous for lower quality tools, this knee mill is $1850 from them).
Does anyone still have one of these, and if so what are your experiences? Are they a good fit for my needs? I'd like to spend $2k or less on the machine when I do finally go for one.
Lastly is there any other manufacturer selling a 1/2 size mill like these?

What I've found: the difficulty of fitting modern stuff like power feeds and DRO to this mill is one detractor, in addition to the 8tpi threads in one axis and the general Chinese cheapness.

The reason I prefer this option over a mill/drill or benchtop is in case I want to pursue the hobby more and get into harder cuts and possibly have a stepping stone to a full-size knee mill. I'm also afraid they'll be impossible to find in a few years from any manufacturer.
 
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If you can find a Burke/Millrite vertical mill in decent shape you can't go wrong. Easy to fit DRO, power feeds etc and very capable for the size. Variable speed is a big plus.

Your thread might get locked due to the G word and HF. Suggest you edit to 'generic imports' etc.
 
Thank you Gordon, I've made edits as I did not know these were not to be mentioned, sorry.

Are Burke/Millrites equally hard to find? I've had 0 luck finding any example of a Clausing for sale. My interest in the generic import 6x26's is that they're consistently available (well, made to order, but still), at least for the time being, and are 1-phase from the factory so no need to spend hundreds or thousands more on a converter. I've also avoided 3/4 size knee mills as they seem a bit big for my purposes. It seems to my novice eyes that these 1/2 size vertical mills fell out of favor many years ago.

Also, considering I've found a few fullsize Bridgeports for the cost (or half!) of what most people are charging for smaller mills, should I just wait till I have more space and get the real deal?
 
Find the space for a full size Bridgeport. A VFD for a 2 Hp motor is not so much, and it's even a big plus if you settle for a step pulley machine. Taiwan if you want new. Just say no to China.
 
as a knife maker i lived with a hobby mill for for longer then i should have but it was R8 spindle and it let me keep adding tooling as i learned. i kept my eyes open and saw a Clist ad dovetail head with a 32" table and top RPM in the 5400 range for smaller cutters i use alot of. 1600$ got it dropped off at my shops front door. my little crappy mill is still the only drill press i have and still gets a bunch of use but any milling now goes to the BP. i have my BP crammed into a corner and it really doesnt take up alot of shop for being the size it is. i like my small table but dont think the more common 42" really woudl take up much more room
 
It's always a tough call when starting out, but I'd suggest looking for a full size Bridgeport or clone. The smaller machines are almost always less "pleasant" to use, less robust and accurate, and can put you off rather than make the work fun to do.

If you've not had any experience on manual mills before, try to find a "maker space" in your area where you can get some basic training and some hands-on time. It'll save you a lot of grief if you later decide it's not for you.

And wear safety glasses!
 
Well tell us what size parking spot you Currently have for a mill?
And what size Parking spot could you get if you decided or couldn’t pass up a full size BP style knee mill?
 
.. to teach myself some basic machining and make gun/car/general parts I may need.

Do it the other way 'round, lest you ruin your chances of making a go of it.

FIND. .a place where you can learn to use a mill FIRST.

It's Ohio. Rich industrial history. Should be such a place "somewhere", be it an educational organization, another hobbyist, or a retired MASTER at it. Even a "job".

Until ....you HAVE set up and run a mill?

You won't really have the least klew what sort of mill you need.

A bit of basic training doesn't mean you will be any sort of "instant expert".

But we would NOT be hearing a word about the Chicom "Milling Machine Shaped Objects" AKA funny-looking decorative paperweights - just because they are small and have 1-P motors.

GOOD small mills exist. They are TOO small for anything but... ta da..small WORK!

It isn't just the HP, the cutter size, or that a feature to be milled might be small. The WORK has to "be somewhere", and it has to be held VERY firmly.
 
If you are really stuck for space, Gorton made some smaller mills (8 or 8 1/2 D), and they tend to be reasonably priced and high quality. There's also small Deckels, but they are not as cheap. Hardinge made a small horizontal, but probably not what you want. On the junkier front, Fryer sold some fairly compact verticals with a sliding head, which was an okay idea. You're now getting into territory where the snotnoses will sneer at you, but who cares. You just want to make parts.
 
I went through your same thought process and read a lot of the same responses you're getting before I ended up getting a small old BP. I'm not a machinist, but I use the mill for a variety of operations and at times have wished I had a heavier machine with a larger table.
 
. . .Are Burke/Millrites equally hard to find?. . .
. . .I've also avoided 3/4 size knee mills as they seem a bit big . . .

Millrites are hard to find, because when someone gets one they don't want to let it go! I waited years to find one near me, and 'near' was an 800 mile round-trip to L.A. They are '3/4 BP' size but like Milland says, smaller mills are problematic in many ways. I personally like my Millrite better than the full-size mill at work because I have serious shoulder defects and I can much more easily reach the drawbar on my mill. Additionally, my Millrite has a pin-lock for the spindle that is mounted underneath the belt housing that I can lock/release without raising my arms much or needing to pull on a lever to hold the spindle.

Another plus, in my view is the rapid-feed for the quill. So much nicer for most operations than fine feed and if I need Z precision I just use the knee.
 
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My experience with the smaller mills is that they have a terrible ratio of rpm to stiffness. Those small mills are usually under 1000 pounds, and they seem to top out in the 2500 RPM range, at best. With such low rigidity, you can only use small tools. But with such low RPM, you can only use bigger tools. You end up with very little room between the two curves. With some experience, you can muddle through. But since you have none, you'll want something more forgiving to start with.

With a little patience, you should be able to find a decent used Bridgeport knock-off for around $1000, and you'll be much happier with it that anything you could get new for twice that. It'll likely come with some tooling, too. Don't underestimate how much that's worth. A good vice, a set of collets, a chuck or two, and a couple dozen endmills, could easily set you back another $1000. If you get it from another garage guy instead of a commercial shop, he'll probably throw in all that stuff and more.
 
Former Burke/Powermatic millrite owner here. Was a fine machine. I had it for a number of years. A friend of mine offered me a "deal I couldn't refuse" on his Bridgeport. I sold the millrite to make space for the Bridgeport. I have a request to the guy I sold it to, to give me "Right of first Refusal" if he ever decides to sell it. As I wouldn't mind having a 2nd vert mill.

Mine was R8 quill, (rapid) lever downfeed, and I want to say 8x32 table. A Kurt D-50 vise fit onto the table. I ran it off of a VFD, It was really, 3/4 the size of a Bridgeport. Maybe 1200-ish Lbs IIRC? It was easy to move w/o any diss-assy. You could break it up into smaller pieces using an engine crane to disassemble it into manageable pieces.

I think I sold mine in 2014 for around $1500, which I think, looking back, was a fair price. But could have gotten more if I didn't have a need to quickly move it so that the Bridgeport could come in.
 
I've had a Clausing 8520 for years, it works well for the small stuff I do, very accurate little mill. A buddy has a similar sized Rockwell with an R8 spindle he likes.

It's main attraction for me was I could get it into my basement shop but if I was on the main floor I'd have a Bridgeport.
 
You can also add Rockwell to the list as they made a small knee mill through the 70s but they are can also be hard to find. They do take R8 tooling, unlike the Clausing.

You can also get somewhat smaller Bridgeports with 36" table and reduced knee size.
 
Another (slight) possibility is Index. I had a Super 55 model which equates to a Bridgeport 9 X 42. The knock on Index mills is that the spindle taper is almost always B&S which is far less common than R-8. It's a minor hindrance because boring heads,etc. can be mounted on straight shanks. B&S collets grip much more positively than R-8 due to their shallow angle design. Also, the head doesn't "nod". Nodding isn't often used because of the need to retram the head. Index made a down sized version of the Super 55 that was called the Model 40. You can search this site and Vintage Machinery for additional info. Index is still operating in Michigan and parts are available. Index prices are usually 50 to 80% of those for Bridgeport.
 
Cheap Bridgeport, quicky saw before you move it into the shop (doo it outside because of the sparks)

Trim that table right down....:D
 








 
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