Glad I am only 5'-9 1/2"

[HobbyNut]

My basement work area only has 6'-0" under the floor joists. The heater ducts and cold air return hangs below that so I have to be careful!

The milling machine is in and mounted, as is the 20ton hyd. press, the bench drill, 2 bench grinders, belt sander and the bandsaw. I built a bench along the back wall and attached a vise to that, and put a couple of cabinets under it.
Slowly sorting all the endmills, tool bits, setup tools etc into parts drawers.

[bronson]

Other then your height issue it looks like you have a great set up there. I almost bought that mill how do you like it? Sorting and set up i find sometimes the biggest challenge, those plastic cabinets which you use and so do i , i find annoying but the nice ones are very costly. Bronson

[HobbyNut]

The mill seems great so far, have not done a lot with it yet.

[HobbyNut]

Word is that the new lathe is in. Hope to pick it up today.

[Jo]

  Another two days late.

Go get it, we all want to see 

Jo

[BaronJ]

Very nice work area.  The mill is virtually identical to mine.  I see that you have removed the left hand table handwheel.  Are you going to put a motorised traverse drive on there ?  I've made one for mine.  Its certainly easier than winding the handle on longer cuts.

 

[sshire]

You’ve got a very nice shop area.

The mill, sold under various brands all over the world, is a Weiss BF-20. It was my first mill (Grizzly G0704) , I had no major issues and was quite happy with it. Not sure about your Craftex manual, but the Grizzly manual is very excellent, written by English speakers, and can be downloaded from Grizzly.com website.

That said, a few things to do.
1. Keep an extra set of motor brushes on hand. When they eventually wear out, you don’t want to stop work until they arrive.
2. Be very careful with the threaded caps that hold the brushes in. Mine were some crumbly “plastic” material and a good tightening required ordering a new set from Grizzly.
3. DO NOT attempt to switch from HI to LO unless the spindle is completely stopped. The nylon gear does not like it. DAMHIK.

An excellent source for mods, adjustments, etc. is G0704.com. Everything from power drawbars to automatic oilers to full CNC conversion Plans freely downloadable.

Here are the links to the mods and fixes. The first two that I think are essential are the 3-bolt mod which significantly stiffens the head and the micro-adjustable tramming fixture that bolts to the column.


http://g0704.com/Projects.html

http://g0704.com/Projects2.html

Enjoy!

[Nerdz]

Hobbynut, How did you get your Mill downstairs? Grizzly says it weighs about 300lbs. I might be looking into buying that same mill but I only have one entrance into my basement.

[sshire]

Not sure how hobby did it but, I moved mine into the basement by myself by taking the column and head off. No issues moving the base/table and column/head separately.

[wagnmkr]

I have the same mill and took it apart (3 pcs) and moved it downstairs on a two wheeled dolly ... it was also easier to get it up onto it's bench that way as well.

Cheers,

Tom

[HobbyNut]

Hobbynut, How did you get your Mill downstairs? Grizzly says it weighs about 300lbs. I might be looking into buying that same mill but I only have one entrance into my basement.

I am "lucky" to have a ground level basement entry, at the rear of the house. The front  entry is 1 floor up, also at ground level. I took it around and down on a modified trolley, thru the sliding doors, thru the rec room, thru a 34" wide door, a quick 90 turn to the left, up 3 stairs and into the workshop. I had help!! daughter, grandsons and wife.

[HobbyNut]

Very nice work area.  The mill is virtually identical to mine.  I see that you have removed the left hand table handwheel.  Are you going to put a motorised traverse drive on there ?  I've made one for mine.  Its certainly easier than winding the handle on longer cuts.

It broke when I was uncrating it! I never use that side anyway so I will not be replacing it. I could buy the table drive but, how many long cuts will I ever do? Not too many with model engines.

[HobbyNut]

Another two days late.

Go get it, we all want to see 

Jo

Went to get it and still not in, "but it is in transit" !!!!
I did a bunch of long hard thinking, and at my level now, as well as what I intend to do, I bought a 7 x 8 instead.

[BaronJ]

Very nice work area.  The mill is virtually identical to mine.  I see that you have removed the left hand table handwheel.  Are you going to put a motorised traverse drive on there ?  I've made one for mine.  Its certainly easier than winding the handle on longer cuts.

It broke when I was uncrating it! I never use that side anyway so I will not be replacing it. I could buy the table drive but, how many long cuts will I ever do? Not too many with model engines.

Mmm !  On mine the table end frame has the leadscrew support bearing in it.  The handwheel is used to provide tension between the ends of the table and controls the backlash between them.  It does not affect the backlash in the drive nut.  If the table is a bit tight it will try to push the bearing out at one end.  You need to replace that leadscrew !  Or modify it so that it can do the job it was intended to do.

[HobbyNut]

This is what the area looked like last night at quitting time.