My gunsmith buddy lets me use his stuff. But I need to get away from that and stop using so much of his time.
First tool will be a drill press. Does it need to be great or will something from harbor freight do just fine?
It's really hard to get my gunsmith friend to give me a straight answer on stuff like this. He's great for teaching skills. Other stuff, not so much.
Thanks.

Don't know what Harbor Freight sells, but, drill presses can be used for a host of jobs. Some drill presses, when equipped with a good x/y axis table can do light milling. The drill press should be fairly rigid with very little run out. If you want to produce quality, precision work, you need a machine that will deliver. Perhaps one of the Mill Drill machines as sold by JET and Grizzly might be an inexpensive way to start.

how much do you want to spend?
rong fu (really) makes TONS of branded (other makers labels) presses

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
how much do you want to spend?
rong fu (really) makes TONS of branded (other makers labels) presses

I want to spend enough to drill holes good enough to mount sights. And put an x&y axis table on it and make some simple stuff.
Like right now, I need to make a spacer to get a front sight a little higher. And I also need to make a little thing to get a different rear sight a tiny bit higher.
I have a turkey sight to mount on a double barrel.
That's how much I want to spend.

nothing under 500 bucks is really worth looking at then.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill/G0463

this is a "toy" but has square ways and r8 taper, which is the most common for (smallish) mills, includeing bridgeports.

http://www.grizzly.com/product...ng-Machine-25/G1005Z

this is a round column.. which means it wont' repeat/return as well

jsut to give you an idea...

harbour frieght salls like tools, for less, but likely lower quality..

there have been rumors of inch dials on metric thread leadscrews on these.

It may be worthwhile to check out craigslist and the local machinery auction houses in your area. You may find a used mill for not much more than a good drill press would cost.

Thanks for the help guys. Lots of good info.

more than likely, a 110v 1hp drill/mill won't kill him..

a 2hp bridgeport MIGHT

Here's what Jeffeosso is talking about.

http://cgi.ebay.com/29-Tbl-2HP...&hash=item2a129b402f

Rong Fu makes two mills commonly available, the RF-31 and RF-45. They are Taiwan, not Chinese, and are generally considered the best of the oriental mills in this price range. They are mass marketed and also available under their own name.

I currently use a South Bend 13, a Jet drill press and an RF-31. I also have a Jet horizontal band saw for roughing out and cutting off. The RF-31 is limited because you basically have to work within a 4" vertical limit, due to the round column, but other than that I have been very pleased. I had a milling attachment for the lathe, but was limited due to a finit number of orientations, and the setup was very slow. I bought an intermediate grade Jet drill press and added the x-y table, but was completely unhappy with that setup. The accuracy was simply not ther, and I ruined most everything I did. I still use the x-y table and vice, since it is well suited to precision positioning for drilling, but that's all. I bought the RF-31, and added a rotary table, with a tilting vice on top of it. I have used it for slotting, dovetails, sculpting trigger guards, facing, making custom sight bases etc. I prefer to use it for a lot of drilling operations such as sight hole drilling. The drill press is just not as accurate in any operation.

For the jobs you are interested in (small precise work) I suspect a mill is all that will work. A lot of the difference lies in the stiffness of the bearings and the collet system. The mills as a general rule have much higher grade bearings and accept collets. Milling with a chuck is usually a dead end.

Look around. There are often used taiwan mills available cheaply, and most have very little use, since it was used by an amateur. Heavy industrial equipment is often worn out, and the rebuild cost will be more than a new Taiwan machine.

look on ebay, but only look look for local listings. the shipping keeps the bidding pool smaller and prices down. just be patient.

Don't bother with an X Y table if you plan on trying to cut with it. A drill press does not have the spindle bearings to take a side load.

And a Forester Jig is worth it's weight in gold in a shop without a milling machine. Easy way to drill sight holes and scope mounts.

Edit: that said try to find a good used machine. If not Grizzly (most likely Rong Fu factory) is a decent machine for a decent price. and Grizzly unlike Harbor freight will support spare parts.
I'd try to find an Industrial junk yard that takes in used or broken stuff and sells off for dirt cheep. We have more then a few of these out here.
Just do your self a favor. Don't buy one of the dinky bench top machines. They don't have enough HP to do the job. Get the best machine you can afford and don't jump on a deal unless you know for sure its a damn good one.
This all coming from a Guy who bought a 1927 South bend lathe, Used it for a year before rebuilding it MYSELF including a new set of spindle bearings that I machined and hand fit to the spindle. That machine made me a lot of money over the course of a few years and allowed me to give the machine to a friend when I picked up a better unit.
Don't be afraid to buy something that needs work so long as you are pretty sure you know what you are getting into and willing to accept the risk.
In my case I had no choice then but to make do.

LMS has parts and upgrades for all of the light duty mills including those sold by Harbor Freight. I've had a HF mini-mill for a couple years, upgraded it with the belt drive from LMS and have been very happy with it, have milled a couple round barrels to octagon with it which came out excellent, as well as all the usually drilling tasks required for a home gunsmith.

http://littlemachineshop.com/

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini...l/Main/mini-mill.htm