Adam Savage Tours His New Benchtop Milling Machine!

Adam gives a tour of his newly set up benchtop milling machine! Here's how this Precision Matthews mill complements the large Sharp Industries mill Adam uses in his workshop, and how Adam has arranged all his tooling and accessories to be quickly accessible in his new machining setup. How do you set up your machining tooling and operations at your own mills?

Shot by Josh Self and edited by Norman Chan
Music by Jinglepunks

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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#adamsavage #machining #workshop

[robertsalido]

Hello Mr. Savage. We met a long time ago, when you were at ILM. You really inspired me. Now, semi retired from Ubisoft as Lead Animator and 3d Modeler, your building and, "Imagineering" has made me the the Artisan, I am today. Thank You. Still have your needle nose pliers and red Pentel, Mechanical Pencil.

[circa]

Adam, I've been a long long fan of yours since the Mythbuster days. You guys silently brought machining to the forefront of the public and as a machine shop owner I feel we are a bit forgotten as we spend our days in quiet isolation making things everyone uses. To see you shed light into this trade has inspired me and I'm sure many others to take on machining as a career. We as a country need people who can make things and use these pieces of equipment and tooling to keep our pride of things made here in USA. I've got plenty of years ahead and I hope I can continue doing what I enjoy. Other foreign countries has made it difficult for us to compete due to cost of labor being lower overseas. I'm glad your video came up on my feed, keep carrying the torch and be a light for others in the trades. Warm greetings from SoCal. -Casey

[phuzzygreene]

You have just demonstrated the most expensive and most precise etch-a-sketch ever made.

[fna-wrightengineering]

I have the little cousin to this mill... The Sieg X2D. It's honestly a great machine. I've made lots of good parts on it, and can usually hold +/- 0.001 or so (if I'm super careful). I've added DRO scales, and use TouchDRO for the display. I've upgraded the spindle bearings to angular contact bearings, and swapped out all the plastic gears for metal ones.

I've been using the Tormach TTS tool holders for a while, and absolutely love them. Having quick-change tooling on my mill is a quality of life upgrade that I can't recommend enough. No more changing collets! Plus, they're repeatable, which is amazing when coupled with the tool library in TouchDRO. I've even made my own TTS-compatible tooling.

Always enjoy seeing, and sharing, your enthusiasm for making things, and for the tools that you use to make. I've made a few videos of improvements to the machines in my shop, and it would be amazing for you to check them out.

[willshan]

Have you thought about adding a pneumatic foot valve to trigger the compressed air so that you do not have to take you hands off of the hand wheels?

[vettepilot]

The other nice thing about benchtop mills is that it’s easier to follow or cut tapers because it’s easier to manipulate both axes at the same time since the handles are closer together. I have a 4” machinist vise with an angle plate that I’ve found to be useful. I use a cordless 3/8” ratchet for a power drawbar. I had a gunsmith mentor that encouraged me to buy this machine first since it will do a large range of jobs and even if I needed a larger machine later, it won’t replace this one.

[Sean-ibpd]

Quick tip for metric tap drill size. Subtract the pitch from the dia and you have your tap drill size. (M6x1.0=5mm drill)

[LimestoneCoastCustoms]

Awesome!! I've been wanting one for years! Thank you for the insight into your machine. I do love the idea of lights inside of cabinets too! 👍

[standbackperformance]

I got the exact machine 2 weeks ago and I have used it everyday since. I also own a PM 1130V Lathe. Great stuff.

[newt]

I have been shopping for a bench top mail for two or three months now, and still had not decided until I watched this video. I’m very intrigued and the smell and I’m leaning toward getting this one.

Thanks as always for a great video
Cheers

[billbutler]

I especially enjoyed this video, THANK YOU! My better half presented me with a small bench-top mill for my birthday from THE LITTLE MACHINE SHOP over in Pasadena. Thankfully it has a 3 axis DRO which makes me seem to actually be fairly good at cutting what I intend! Watching your videos along with CEE ( Cutting Edge Engineering ), Blondihacks and others I have gotten a good jump-start on how to use the machine! As with my old Atlas/Craftsman lathe, it seems that you can never have enough different tools to plug onto the machine!! Of course, the best part about the videos is catching on to the hints and kinks of how to easily do the otherwise seeming impossible things!!

[WWBmm]

Thanks, Adam, such a good video. I have a Smithy 1324, twenty years old now in my crowded basement shop, and if I had it to do all over again, I would incorporate this mill into my shop with a standalone lathe. R8 collets are an important touch, and you've done a good job accessorizing the mill.

[joedyhicks]

Nice mill and good video.
It’s a blast setting up a new mill, one of the things I learned very quickly when I set up my work area is that chips go everywhere ! Especially if you use air to blow away chips ( which I do also )
Problem is that the chips end up in your collet rack and your hold down rack and it becomes a chore keeping things clean.
I found that setting these items under cover or out of the chip zone is a small price to pay in order to keep your tools clean.
P.S. you ask 5 people how to do something and you will get at minimum 5 different answers, lol

[gumloon]

Since I am single, I replaced my living room furniture with a modest size mill and 12 x 36 lathe. Sometimes life is good!

[duncanscales]

My dad had a logic textbook that said, (in part), when you're looking for something you've lost, turn on all of the lights. Building lights into the spot where you're looking seems like a good proactive step.

[KittyCatInAMicrowave]

For metric threads good rule of the thumb is that the pilot drill is the size of the bolt minus the pitch of the thread like for M10 thread the pitch is 1.5mm so pilot drill for it is 8.5mm

[DefaultChicken]

Amazing, I really want to buy one of these machines! Keep up the great content!

[PatJamesRicketts]

I am just on the edge of watch repair, coming from carpentry and custom liquid computer building. I got hooked on the work of George Daniels, Breguet, and many of the pioneers of Horology and Watchmaking. I hopped freight trains through California after oil rig work in the early 2010's, so I immediately fell in love with railroad grade watches. I have a few crude tools salvaged from scrap, some fine preision tools, and some antiques that feel like they carry more character than your average politician. I am looking to aim for a custom watch eventually, so videos like these are invaluable to get a feel for equipment while seeing them operated by someone as passionate about the workings of things as I am. Thank you to all of you the produce this content, and those who make it popular:) Happy Making!

[mikerr]

I just bought my first mini mill from little machine shop. It was great seeing some of your custom mods. And we have the same vice! Haha

[jcdragon]

Great Work Mate!
I really like how you explain all the acronyms for people that might not know.