I have a couple projects that I would like to work on that needs a mill for some of the steps (or at least will save me a ton of time hand filing and chiseling to get the shape right), but I don’t have the authorization yet. Is anyone planning on teaching the mill authorization soon?
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I would like to get this authorization also, if anyone is counting. Thanks!
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The digital read out (DRO) for the manual mill is down…
I can still teach the class without the DRO, but plan on taking some advil and spending 4hrs going thru counting techniques. It sounds silly, but it’s super easy to lose track of your position while dialing a crank.
If i get time this week, i was planning on taking the head unit apart and seeing if fhere was something with the main board going wonky. I’m hoping it’s a simple fix like a cold solder joint.
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Kim helped me get the Enco back up and running this evening.
Turns out the power chord was the root cause of the issue.
And to completely go sideways on this topic…
There has been some talk of getting rid of the Deckel… given the access to the circuit breaker panel right there, would there be interest in putting a manual mill there that could handle working at industry standards?
The Grizzly G0961 is a lot closer to what I used way back in my college days. Would there be interest in learning how to use features like power feeds and flood coolant? Or does the ENCO meet everyone’s needs? (I’m not saying buy this machine, but I would be up for teaching on something similar)
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I see flood coolant as just a big mess, especially in our environment where people can’t even sweep up after themselves. I do like the idea of a knee mill, but that mean additional maintenance. The existing grizzly is pretty low maintenance. That’s not to say there shouldn’t be stuff done, but how often does anybody actually lube the lead screws? Again, I’m not against having a Bridgeport or similar, but I think it needs to come with the realization that’s it’s going to require upkeep. Along those lines, we’ve needed a decent milling machine vise for awhile. The Bridgeport vise that my son cleaned up works better than any of the drill press vises that I’ve seen mounted on the table but they really aren’t up to any “real” work holding, and I’ve not seen the Bridgeport vise used in awhile. Versus the tracer mill, a knee mill of any sort is vastly more useful overall.
I think it should require a dedicated authorization class as well. And I think that class, aside from authorizations where a user can demonstrate that they already really know how to operate the machine, needs to be more than, here’s the power switch and the handwheels do this. Things like the power downfeed are always broken on these from abuse. If somebody doesn’t understand the steps to engage the back gear, they can break things. It might be a good idea to have a quick reference placard at the machine to guide users through various activities.
Thanks for bringing this up. I would totally vote for a Bridgeport type knee mill. Power feeds for the table would be great (almost necessary for really nice cuts), as well as the DRO and variable-speed spindle.
I took the mill class for the Enco but haven’t used that machine since the class, mostly because it just isn’t a stout enough machine for anything I would want to do.
I’m not sure if anyone ever uses the Deckel but it seems to be a large machine that wastes a lot of space, in my opinion.
And while we’re on the subject of new equipment, a newer, more modern lathe would be awesome.
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A milling class has been posted for saturday.
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thank you, I already saw it and signed up
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