I Bought A Minimill to see if they are Worth It

I've been wondering if a minimill is worth buying for awhile now and looking around forums about the Craftex CX605 / SIEG X2 it's hard to tell what is tested and what is speculation.

I figured I would make a quick review and get to the bottom of the question. Can the minimill cut steel? Can an amateur hold tolerances and make decent parts? Tune in to find out.

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[doodlegassum]

Tool collectors are vital in maintaining the time honoured tradition of irritating the beneficiaries of one's will.

[pauldavis]

Got a mini lathe for by 18th birthday. About 5 years later having "basic machining" experience on my resume helped me land my current job where being able to fabricate an occational part on a mill or lathe is an asset.

[Mrclean]

Running larger equipment can give someone unreasonable expectations of what a small lathe or mill should do. Tiny horsepower and tiny machine means tiny cuts. I have found that having even small machines at home is super useful for DIY project. There are so many things that pop up that could use a spacer or a bushing, a custom over-sized key or just cleaned up on the lathe with a file. And once you have the machines you can use them make parts to make them better. Rock on tiny machine owners.

[trackie]

I bought a mini lathe and found a new hobby: hotrodding my mini lathe! I learned how to lap and scrape ways, made and installed stops, saddle locks, quick release tail stock… the list goes on. Meanwhile, it was capable of really good work. Lest scoffers say I don’t know how well a good machine works, I worked on Hardinge lathes for decades. Clearly, these mini lathes are no match for a hardinge, but they are satisfying in their own right. It’s all about knowing your tools.

[Mistakes]

After my mini mill inevitably broke the gears, I had a great project for the lathe - making aluminum pullies to convert the mill to v-belt drive. Best thing I ever did for the mill. Now it's quiet, runs with less vibration and when I do something stupid, the belt slips instead of it blowing up the gearbox. SO much more pleasant to use. 100% worth doing.

[dekutree]

2:25 Use aluminum foil for finetuning. It's about .001", so folding it over a few times can give a good range of thicknesses.

[FrankBrown-cl]

Column won't hold tram ? Remove big nut, remove column, Measure holes and bolt diameter sizes, Get on lathe and turn down a sleeve to fit bolt. Make outside diam large enough when in position INSIDE the column in line with the bolt to be in contact with the two inner faces of the column. You will now be tightening the nut up to a solid column instead of tightening up to a hollow structure which can flex, loosening the nut.

[every]

Great video mate - funny and informative. The first mill I ever used (1975 as a 15 year old) was a Deckle FP1 and I had no idea what a milling machine even was until I used that. I went to trade school a few weeks after starting that job (an apprenticeship in Instrument Making) and was asked to make some parts as part of an exercise. They only had old well abused and worn out Bridgeports and I couldn't get a decent finish. I told my instructor "I never have this problem on the mill where I work." so he asked what type it was. When I told him it was a near new Deckle FP1 he looked shocked and replied "They let YOU use a Deckle?!" I felt privileged and insulted all at once.

[timmontano]

I started out with a harbor freight mini mill and mini lathe when I first got into machining and metal working.
I slowly graduated to slightly larger benchtop machines and ended up with a full sized gunsmithing lathe and a CNC mill.
When I retired, I sold most of my metal working machines thinking I'd no longer have much use for them; boy was I wrong.
I sold off my mini lathe many years ago, but I kept the mini mill all this time. I still own it and I still use it and, I just recently bought another mini lathe.
It's true that they require alot of tuning up to get them to run accurately; or, accurately enough for hobby stuff but, with a little experience under your belt that really isn't that hard to do.

[stewartsmotorcycles.]

What a great video. I have a hefty lathe and an equally hefty miling machine in my workshop.
Recently I helped a customer of mine set up a mini mill very similar to yours. We had exactly the same issue with tramming in both the X&Y axes. Once bolted down we had a go at milling some small blocks of alloy and steel, and I was surprised at how good it was.
My machines are capable of taking 3-5mm cuts in hard steel if need be, but on a mini mill or lathe that's impossible. Light cuts should be the order of the day. I found that on the mini mill 20 thou was about the maximum on steel, and about 40 thou on alloy
I think that a lot of people who slag off such machines are simply taking cuts that are too heavy, and all machines have a limit as to how much they can handle. A bad workman blames his tools etc.

[UnderearthEDO]

Minimills are absolutely fine for hobby machining. The main issue you're going to find is that many of the issues brought up are probably with using it for business purposes in mind. As in when someone says it can't be used on steel I have always read that as them saying you can use it but the amount of time is not cost effective. I'd also like to point out that you had it go out of tram on the video and your final test was checking after a clean up pass? Not saying roughing will definately make it go off tram but you basically gave it the easiest tast short of using a 1/8" endmill. Tolerance wise you'll basically be okay as long as you're taking slow small passes and creeping up on it but again this is unnaceptable for job shop type work as it takes far too long. I wan't to stress that I have no issues with mini mills but just remember their scope is very limited.

[zukowski]

I have a CX-605 as well, had it for a few years now. I fixed the "noise" issue by changing the gear sets from plastic to cast gears* (*little machine shop) and using a good high pressure grease cut the racket down with good results. I don't have a tramming issue, I think because I literally stripped the machine down scrubbed the packing grease off of every mating surface. I also have a CX-708 Lathe which has been working without issue, it too was noisy but changing the oil and adding Lucas Oil treatment to the gear box make an amazing difference. Great video thanks for the share!

[EngineTuning]

When buying these machines, it is IMPORTANT to understand that all the castings are finish cut in one go.
Consequently, they are ALL warped.
When one side is cut, the stresses are released, and the metal changes shape.
After initial cutting, the casting should be left to warp, and then be final machined.

Therefore, the first task, is to determine the best datum surfaces to make flat, and then get everything square.
Ideally you need another milling machine, but I re-engineered mine with a surface plate, 4mm float glass, and a large variety of abrasives.
... It was a huge task.

Don't forget to 'grind in' the circular pivot bearing surface to the pillar.
This enables the pillar to be clamped solid.

Prior to assembly, you will need to add rigidity.
Add two bolts to the base, just past the '3 screw fulcrum point' on the pivot block, so that the base has four bolts around the fulcrum point.

The three screws, are almost inline, providing limited rigidity (considering the pillar and head, are flexing around the 3 screw fulcrum point).
On the pivot block, there is only space for two additional 6mm screws (so use hardened screws).

I added concrete to the pillar, to add mass.

Finally; cast a concrete base.
I embedded a pre-cast flat cement garden slab for the mounting surface, and rub ground the base to the slab.

This is a lot of work, but you end up with a proper milling machine for a cost of just £750
Obviously, having another mill, and a surface grinder, would make this work a simple task :)

[trainliker]

I have machining experience (and a much larger lathe and mill in my garage) and 15 years ago or so bought a Chinese mini-lathe and mini-mill similarly "just to see what they were all about." There are a wide range of opinions from "works fine for me" to "these can be viewed as a kit and you have to fix and improve almost everything." I think this variance is due to a variability in the quality machine to machine, and a variability in expectations. This is the first such machine for many and they don't know what a good quality machine is like. Others DO have experience and can spot the limitations and instantly realize why there is chatter when maybe there shouldn't be and so forth.

[SuperAWaC]

Hello I am a full time machinist and it seems like these days the #1 question I get from hobbyists is "are these mini machines any good". The answer to that is "If you work within their capabilities, and if they meet your needs."

You gotta remember that a full time machinist is not a maker in a garage who can spend an hour making a single T nut by cutting off .010" at a time because they are doing it for fun. A machinist who wants to keep their job needs to be pushing the envelope of what any machine can handle. Most of us don't like standing there watching the machine make chips on a single part all day which many makers seem to be OK with. We want to get it over with and go on to the next thing.

So that is why they are unpopular with professional machinists. We look at them from a different mindset with a different set of expectations. They take up 75% the floor space as a Bridgeport and have maybe 5% of the capability. A maker would consider a Bridgeport to be a heavy duty large machine. A machinist considers a Bridgeport to be a small, light duty machine that is not very rigid, but is very versatile.

There are desktop mills out there that can take 3/8x1/2" cuts in steel with no problems. I would be interested to see if yours could do that and get any reasonable surface finish.

[StuffMadeHere]

I ran one of these for about a decade. Did tons of upgrades including stretching the Y axis, stiffening, and making it CNC. Sure X2 mills can make parts, but it has serious limitations. I regretted not saving a bit more to get a heavier machine with a couple inches longer travels on Y&Z.

[JHV]

Toolamker for over 50 years (Well, I didn't START as a Toolmaker!). It warms my heart to see a newcomer such as yourself with such a positive attitude and the ability to address the small deficiencies in an inexpensive machine. One suggestion is to find a REAL Milling Vise rather trhna a Toolmakers vice.. (although for the work that you're doing, should suffice). In five years you'll be amazed at your skil sets. Keep on. There are millions of tools and parts that are well within your capabilities. Those Capabilities will only increase with time. Very nice.Best to you!

[iaahner]

When I try to run my mini mill like I run my bridgeport I get crummy results. When I run my mini mill with responsible feeds, speeds, cutter size, and DOC for the machine, I get fantastic results in even very hard materials.

Turns out basic machining fundamentals don't care how big the machine is.


Keep up the great work!

[someguy]

I don't know much about machining, but I have a pretty serious background in electronic and physical/dimensional calibration. I knew right off the bat that you were going to get better results just from a thorough setup. It is also worth mentioning that over time parts will wear, and temp/humidity will change and cause variations, meaning you'll have to occasionally go back through the setup.

[dangmkites]

glad to see im not the only one with the idea that tools are what you make of them not what they are out of a box.