If you search you should find some home made bed mills,I saw one and it all looked amazing, I never saw it finished though. I would guess it will cost more to make one than buy one. There is an interesting fabricated cnc lathe on a web page[no idea where I saw it] again it looked very promising but not finished.
Thanks for the reply graffian , I fancy building rather than buying due to the hassel of transporting one as i have no van and im not qualified to tow a trailer. Ive seen some impressive CNC machines, but was wondering if anyone here had made one.
I'm pretty sure I've still got the old quill assembly from a damaged Warco mill head. Morse 3 taper in it with a double pulley at the top. It could no doubt be bodged in to some sort or solid head assembly and be pretty effective. Let me know if you're interested and I'll go and check if it's still lurking in the workshop.
Talking of milling machines, it reminds me that I really must get around to selling my old Marlow machine. It'll just be a nightmare as it has to be pretty much completely dismantled to get it out of the workshop, not a happy experience
Might be less pain to take off the table and squeeze a proper one in.
I had to go through two normal sized doorways with my arno, and had to take off the table and the vert head and roll it on steel rollers to do so...
A friend of mine has a milling machine head (can't remember any details sorry), no bed- in Edinburgh. Ill try and get the details if you want? Could deliver to you. Matt
The home made type tend to be the bed or table type with a light weight high speed head whizzing about on a gantry above. If it's CNC controlled and can be left to get on with it's own thing it doesn't matter that it only takes very light cuts as that's all the machine is capable of.
If you are looking to do a manually controlled machine then heavier cuts are the order of the day to get any amount of material removed quickly.
This needs a very stiff machine preferably with heavy castings. I have seen some fabricated versions , but you maybe be better re-conditioning a viable industrial machine.
How big do you want to go and are you intending to go the CNC route now or in the future?
I am leaning the same way. My milling machine is still in the idea stages, but I have started formulating what I feel will result in a well built machine. I suspect that a lot of us would be machinists would love to own a vertical mill, but simply cannot justify the thousands of dollars that a decent one costs, and that's before we buy tooling. In looking at decent machines, two or three things seem to dictate success.
The first concern is Rigidity. This is usually achieved through mass in a stand-alone machine, but it can also be achieved by anchoring to mass. In my case this will be accomplished by anchoring to one of the 4 inch steel columns in my basement. I will achieve rigidity in the spindle by mounting 3/4 inch drill rod in 2 ball bearing pillow blocks mounted to a 4 x 6 inch I beam mounted to the aforementioned column. I may have to settle for a good quality drill chuck, instead of a draw bar and collets, but I think the chuck will provide enough accuracy for my purposes.
I will achieve rigidity in the table by purchasing a good quality X and Y Axis Table and mounting it to that same rigid column.
I have not worked out the Z axis travel yet but I will work that out with ACME threaded rod.
I will gain versatility by using a 2HP DC variable speed motor to turn my spindle. I converted my SB lathe to DC Variable speed, and it increased its versatility and ease of use tenfold.
I look forward to hearing from those of you that have ideas that may help me in my endeavor.
When you said one was made from an engine block, I imagined the crankshaft being turned by an electric motor on the pulley end with tooling attached to the flywheel. The bearings would be lubed under pressure, although the big ends would need blocking up.
That arrangement would make an interesting lathe headstock