Drill Press/ MIll MIni machine

[jatoman2006]

Hey everyone,
I am at the point right now that the dremel is not enough for what i have to do. I am looking at the dremel scroll saw to cut carbon fiber and then metals and this mini drill press. what kinds of things can you make with these, like servo brackets and stuff like that?? thanks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44506

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47158

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/tools/tool-detail.htm?H=188277&G=66210&I=66212

what would be the step up from this setup? like a milling machine? im new to this. lol. thanks

 

[ILoveRCRockCrawlin]

If you were limited to just those three, I'd get the mill. With that, you can make just about anything you'd need for your crawler. If you could, you might want to get something thats not sold at HF. They're stuff is more on the cheap side. Go to Home Depot and look around and see what they have there.

 

[andy b.]

i don't think HD will have a mini mill.
first, a word on scroll saws. if you need to make intricate internal cuts (ones where you can't start the cut at the outside and cut into the middle, like cutting an opening in the center of a piece of plate), than a scroll saw is good. for just about any other cut you would ever do, a scroll saw sucks. they vibrate, they break blades, they are slow. a bandsaw is 1000 times better (unless you need to make a hole in the center of something, which is impossible with a bandsaw).

if you get a mini mill, you pretty much can get something like a Taig:

http://www.taigtools.com/mmill.html

or a taiwanese import. Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Chicago, etc., they are all about the same. they will work, but you need to make sure they are cleaned up, oiled, and adjusted before using them. if it was me, i'd get an import mill before the scroll saw and mini drillpress. just take your time with it and get to know the flaws (like backlash in the leadscrews and play in the table adjustments, etc.). 90% of the problems with the import stuff is just getting to know the machine and what works to get accurate cuts. if you are making only one or two of each part, the imports really aren't much of a handicap. if you plan on making 100 of each part and they all must be totally interchangeable, you may be better off stepping up to something of higher quality.

andy b.

 

[Squirrel]

Hey everyone,
I am at the point right now that the dremel is not enough for what i have to do. I am looking at the dremel scroll saw to cut carbon fiber and then metals and this mini drill press. what kinds of things can you make with these, like servo brackets and stuff like that?? thanks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44506

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47158

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/tools/tool-detail.htm?H=188277&G=66210&I=66212

what would be the step up from this setup? like a milling machine? im new to this. lol. thanks

Check out these guys. They make some of the best Mini Lathe and Mini Mill machines and tooling in the biz! I have one of there Lathes with a Vertical Mill attachment for it so you basically have both machines at a lower cost. And they are super accurate, down to .oo1"! Not to shabby. http://www.sherline.com/