I know I asking a lot, but I would sacrifice some travel for a better surface finish. Making triple clamps would be rare, only have 1 bike I want to do it for at the moment so could farm that job out if needed, to get better results on everything else. Ideally I would like to get a surface finish and tolerance to be able to fit bearings pretty much straight off the machine, though this might be unrealistic?No direct experience, I have purchased a couple of his low profile vices which are good.
Good surface finish, small, bench top, cheap are generally mutually exclusive.
I’m building a mill for aluminium parts and it’s currently up to about 2 tons:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/yet-another-cnc-project-build-thread.114862/post-2110944
That Emco looks like a nice machine, having been making them for 20 years there should be a few 2nd hand ones about if not too worn out.I don't think you've stated your budget... That might be useful.
I dabble with an Emco Concept Mill 55 at work, it's quite a nice machine, good for plastics and aluminium though no flood coolant (probably could be added) and no tool changer (an option). The one I use is 20+ years old and the old Emco software is clunky but I have used it with MasterCAM in the past. I believe the actual hardware is still in the current Emco catalogue.
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