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Large bench top? Mill
- Thread starter Johnwa
- Start date
thriller007
Well-Known Member
If I was still looking I would be happy to find one with a 3 phase motor. VFD here we come!!
Johnwa
Ultra Member
Mine is “Machine tool Warehouse”.
The model numbering is the same though. mine is a ZAY7025. I was sorely tempted by this one, just for the larger table.
thriller007
Well-Known Member
I messaged the guy and he was pretty quick to get back to me. He does not know much about the machine and it comes with no tooling. He said they just used it for a drill press. I don’t need another one but it would be good for someone else.
historicalarms
Ultra Member
Lacome is only 20 minutes away for me, I may just try to make an "inspection appointment " for that thing.
On first blush, looking at the photo I was ready to "sell the farm" or anything on it, jump in the truck and go, but then a closer look kind of tempered my enthusiasm. From what I can see, it has no capability to swivel or rotate the head... the quill is just a 90 deg up-down orientation to the dovetail column. On of the options available to a round column mill drill is that the head can be rotated 360 deg. not often have I had to rotate more than a few deg. but even that can be used to extend a cut a few inches on a particularly long work piece. The 90 deg. swivel that most other gear driven machines have is one feature I have often lusted to have to use.
The fact that this is a gear driven machine with a transmission is very desirable and the 3-phase motor could be retro-fitted with a 220 without much cost exchange....wonder what his hobbies are that a "horse trade" might be doable LOL.
On first blush, looking at the photo I was ready to "sell the farm" or anything on it, jump in the truck and go, but then a closer look kind of tempered my enthusiasm. From what I can see, it has no capability to swivel or rotate the head... the quill is just a 90 deg up-down orientation to the dovetail column. On of the options available to a round column mill drill is that the head can be rotated 360 deg. not often have I had to rotate more than a few deg. but even that can be used to extend a cut a few inches on a particularly long work piece. The 90 deg. swivel that most other gear driven machines have is one feature I have often lusted to have to use.
The fact that this is a gear driven machine with a transmission is very desirable and the 3-phase motor could be retro-fitted with a 220 without much cost exchange....wonder what his hobbies are that a "horse trade" might be doable LOL.
The picture angle is likely hiding the nuts behind the gearbox adjacent to the vertical dovetail pillar, but I'd be shocked if the head didn't swivel left and right (facing the mill). That's how all the RF-45s work. There is no nod rotation like a Bridgeport if that's what you mean.
Interesting about the 3 phase. Its isn't something one often sees on this style of machine. There are smarter people than me on the forum that can comment on VFD-ability. I considered it on my RF-45 but would have necessitated a motor swap from my single phase motor. I wonder if 3P was a buy option new or retrofit. It certainly looks like it belongs there so guessing the former.
Yes and no. There is no question that changing speeds on this mill style is dead easy, just flip the levers. But these mills are also known 'coffee grinders'. They can sound alarmingly rattly and hard to discern what is normal (usually related to the spindle spline I'm told) and the gear train itself. Mine was loud from day-1. I've mentioned this before but when we had a meetup at Modern, Alex ran their Chinese version of same mill. I was shocked at how much quieter it was & he did some impressive hogging. So they must have changed something since the earlier models. Mind you mine was 1997/98 model. But this style of mill offers a lot of bang for buck IMO. I have no idea on parts availability or swap-ability. The mills have evolved over time and by different vendors. I believe Grizzly will sell parts but the question is - are they same? Precision Mathews will only sell parts to customers that purchased their machine there. King Canada I have not had great experience with.
Did you buy it?