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I'm a mill beginner

Blouin55

Michel
Just order a PDM30 from King Canada.
It is a round column machine.
What are the must tooling and accessories to get for me as a beginner...i bought mill vise, collet set, hold on set, 123 blocks.
I bought square tubing to build my own base.
I have a micrometer, a digital caliper ...
My next purchase will be a 2 inches face cutter, already have 1/8 to 1/2 in cutters.
 
Welcome from Ottawa I have the same mill, I'm just starting out too, don't forget lubrication way oil cutting oil.
Your spindle is r8 for collet chucks drill chucks etc, you'll probably need a drawbar as well.
I ordered my parallels through of all place home depot.
I am very happy with mine so far I still need to go over it a bit more with the gauges but everything cuts nice.
 
Welcome from Ottawa I have the same mill, I'm just starting out too, don't forget lubrication way oil cutting oil.
Your spindle is r8 for collet chucks drill chucks etc, you'll probably need a drawbar as well.
I ordered my parallels through of all place home depot.
I am very happy with mine so far I still need to go over it a bit more with the gauges but everything cuts nice.
Will look for the draw bar... thanks
 
Welcome from Toronto.

I use a slitting saw and gear cutters pretty often, so I would recommend arbors and some saws as being handy to have for the mill
 
Will look for the draw bar... thanks
Welcome from Ottawa I have the same mill, I'm just starting out too, don't forget lubrication way oil cutting oil.
Your spindle is r8 for collet chucks drill chucks etc, you'll probably need a drawbar as well.
I ordered my parallels through of all place home depot.
I am very happy with mine so far I still need to go over it a bit more with the gauges but everything cuts nice.
Just looking on the web but not sure what type of drawbar needed, have a model number?
 
Welcome! I have that mill (as Craig mentioned) and am very happy with it. Of course I am still learning myself. So far I haven't run into the round column mill bane of having to raise/lower the head and losing location. Always set for longest tool. (and the room needed to insert it into the chuck/collet) There is lots of travel on the quill. We'll see as I go deeper into things. (pun intended)

I have explored a DRO, but have not taken the plunge yet. I want to get a handle on manual milling before I get all digital and crazy like that. A large number of my projects still don't require a high level of precision. Getting a feel for the machine, but looking to go to the next level here soon as I get more comfortable with everything.

I am starting to wish I had a slitting saw or two, so I'll second John's recommendation on that one.
 
I think many of us want to know if it did or not.

In my view, it would be enough for me to tell them to keep the mill if it didn't come with a draw bar! A draw bar is an essential part of the machine just like a motor, a spindle, and a table.

I'd be royally p.ssed if it didn't come with a draw bar. Those PDMs are something like $2500+ new.
 
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