Mill/drill thingy

[E T]

Got myself a new edition to the shop today. I've been looking for a mill for a while and stumbled on this Huvema HU 25 BF (Rong Fu 25) locally.
Milling small stuff on the Sout Bend lathe is fun, but a bit tedious. I would love a big mill as I would love a big lathe and many more big machines, but lack of money, available space and 3 phase reduces my options. This one will make a nice start for now.
It is in very good shape. Build in 2000 but looks like it wasn't worked hard or a lot. The belt guard is missing. With it came a nice wooden box with 3 caliper style readouts for the axis and I haggled for some endmills and a DI. First job is to make a nice solid stand for it.

 

[Richiew]

Looks like new.

 

[E T]

Looks like new.

It does, doesn't it? No rust and no pecking marks on the table. 1 minor scratch on the right hand side table which you can see in the foto, but you can hardly feel it with you finger.

 

[Richiew]

The specs on those always looked decent to me. Powerful motor and a good range of speeds.

 

[6ply]

Good thing about these machines is they are easy to sell if you decide to upgrade in the future. Probably good enough for many projects too.

 

[Barking Mat]

Very nice acquisition.

 

[dieselsamurai]

I have an early Graham Engineering supplied RF30 slightly bigger version and its been really handy , with careful use can do big jobs

 

[KemppiFrog]

Yum!

Green eyes here..

 

[Wedg1e]

Tidy. You have to take care with round-column designs when milling though as too much cutter load can make the head pivot around the column, b0770xing your workpiece. I've thought about running a keyway up the column on mine (a Perrin) to reduce the tendency - but it's still on the to-do list.

 

[E T]

I have the stand sort of ready and decided on a spot to put it for now without having to rearrange the rest of the shop too much.
Runout of the spindle, measured on the inside of the morse taper is less than 0.01mm and I can't measure any play in the bearings no matter how hard I pull on it. Next job on the list is tramming the head. After that the expensive bit starts. Acquiring more tooling.

 

[striker]

I had one of these. Quite capable if you take your time.

 

[Stupoty]

I might have the belt cover for that kicking about some ware. I had the same brand one.

Stu

 

[E T]

I might have the belt cover for that kicking about some ware. I had the same brand one.

Stu

I would like that. If you can find it and are willing to ship it to the Netherlands.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I might have the belt cover for that kicking about some ware. I had the same brand one.

Stu

I might have a belt cover too as the one I had, had the wrong fu mods to stop the head twisting so the cover no longer fit.

 

[Stupoty]

I would like that. If you can find it and are willing to ship it to the Netherlands.

Yeah , that is what I saw after I made the post.

If I find it I will look up postage costs

Stu

 

[E T]

Trammed the head as best I could with feeler gauges under the column base for now. Have to get some shimstock to make it permanent.
I got it to 0.02mm left to right and 0 front to back. Good enough for now and I haven't checked how flat the table is yet.
I did some testcuts with a indicator on the quill. 10mm endmill in steel. 5mm depth of cut no problem. No noticeable deflection of the quill.
For the second cut I went straight to 10mm depth. No worrying noises or chatter but between 0.05 and 0.08mm deflection on the quill depending on feedrate.
I am new to this milling stuff, so for the knowledgeable people on here. Is this good for a small round column mill or should I expect better?
No comments on the old drill vice please. A small milling vice is on order and will be here Tuesday hopefully.

 

[dave h 2]

A proper 80mm milling vice that resists the job lifting as it grips I hope.
You are supposed to mill with a minimum of quill extension and half the cutter width deep.
Sometimes the tram is off due to paint in the joint.
Be aware that you can't plunge that cutter full width, you need a slot drill for that

 

[Stupoty]

That is a fairly impressive depth of cut, I'm not sure I would go that hard all the time though as the load is going to be massive, although if you are running a high rpm I guess the chip load might have been quite low.

Did you use coolant ?

Stu

 

[E T]

That is a fairly impressive depth of cut, I'm not sure I would go that hard all the time though as the load is going to be massive, although if you are running a high rpm I guess the chip load might have been quite low.

Did you use coolant ?

Stu

I'm not going to be this hard on it all the time. This was a 'hail Mary and close your eyes' test to see how hard I could push it.
The bloody thing didn't even complain. Which makes me feel rather good.
No coolant, just some cutting oil. 840rpm which according to a online calculator should be about right for a 10mm 4 flute.

 

[E T]

A proper 80mm milling vice that resists the job lifting as it grips I hope.
You are supposed to mill with a minimum of quill extension and half the cutter width deep.
Sometimes the tram is off due to paint in the joint.
Be aware that you can't plunge that cutter full width, you need a slot drill for that

A 100mm milling vice. A Chinese one, but hopefully up to the job.

Precisie machineklem - Kin Machines B.V. Staphorst

Machineklem * Precisie klem * CNC * 100 mm * 150 mm * Voor het klemmen van een werkstuk op frees- of boormachine * info@kinmachines.nl * Tel: 06-55062286

www.kinmachines.nl

I know about the quill extension, but as this was a test to push the machine I raised the head a bit.
I'm still a bit low on tooling, I have several 10mm 4 flute endmills and only one 2 flute.
Abusing a stronger 4 flute for this test seemed a good plan.