Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Having just spent the last hour fiddling around with a new purchase, I thought I'd do a quick show and tell...:
I've been after a small milling machine for a while and the diminutive size of this wee beastie meant it was on the shortlist. Gradually going through specs and comparing prices with some of the opposition made me very comfortable that this would be a good purchase. Many of the reviews on UK and German sites are very positive; less so in the US where input duty raises the price to a point where it's compared with much more serious home-grown machines.
The final pieces in the puzzle involved selling a load of surplus H0 stuff on eBay and finding that one of the German dealers (Kedo of Dortmund, via eBay) had a sale on. Suddenly I could buy the machine new with the PM40 vise (shown in the picture) and a set of 27116 cutters (not shown in the picture) for less than I'd typically seen secondhand machines in the UK. Bit of a no-brainer that. Of course there's also the small matter of the plug; I used a Euro to 3-pin adapter which I already had about.
I should mention that the job quickly set up in the photo is the sort of thing it'll be used for. Sure, the odd 7mm scale job will surely pass across its worktable, but the main use is expected to be with my H0 scale stuff. For those who are interested the workpiece is a Proto 2000 GP9 chassis that I lost faith with half way through Candianising with a dental burr in a Dremel. With the MF70 I should be able to finish the job quickly and accurately to get the loco together. And the other one. And the other one. And you probably get the picture.
So typical jobs will include working with zinc alloys to fit sound chambers, modify fuel tanks, get rid of steps, course-scale treadplate, etc, etc. The odd bit of brass will also be used I'm sure and even plastic and PCB. All these things need high cutting speeds with small mills; not so much to keep the cutter tip speed up but to ensure that any swarf clears easily. The 20,000rpm max spindle speed is therefore something of an attraction.
So in that context you get a very accurate machine - I've done a quick test using a length of rod in the chuck and a set of feeler gauges; it's trammed up quite nicely. The main critical assembly, the co-ordinate table, is supplied assembled so that's one less thing to worry about. Of course, being Proxxon, it comes with a few get-you-going accessories; the stepped clamps looking to be particularly useful. The Micromot collet chuck and collets are also included. My experience with this on my Proxxon bench drill means I'm expecting no issues here; although the largest tool you'll be able to fit will have to have a 1/8" shaft.
I'll hopefully get the chance to give it a spin over the Christmas break and get back to you on its performance in use, but the initial impressions are very positive.
Even the vise seems to be square in all the important directions; although I can see I'll need another one when I need to grip longer frames than the one shown here.
Now I just need to find good regular sources of suitable cutters. This machine could see a lot of use!
Steph
I've been after a small milling machine for a while and the diminutive size of this wee beastie meant it was on the shortlist. Gradually going through specs and comparing prices with some of the opposition made me very comfortable that this would be a good purchase. Many of the reviews on UK and German sites are very positive; less so in the US where input duty raises the price to a point where it's compared with much more serious home-grown machines.
The final pieces in the puzzle involved selling a load of surplus H0 stuff on eBay and finding that one of the German dealers (Kedo of Dortmund, via eBay) had a sale on. Suddenly I could buy the machine new with the PM40 vise (shown in the picture) and a set of 27116 cutters (not shown in the picture) for less than I'd typically seen secondhand machines in the UK. Bit of a no-brainer that. Of course there's also the small matter of the plug; I used a Euro to 3-pin adapter which I already had about.
I should mention that the job quickly set up in the photo is the sort of thing it'll be used for. Sure, the odd 7mm scale job will surely pass across its worktable, but the main use is expected to be with my H0 scale stuff. For those who are interested the workpiece is a Proto 2000 GP9 chassis that I lost faith with half way through Candianising with a dental burr in a Dremel. With the MF70 I should be able to finish the job quickly and accurately to get the loco together. And the other one. And the other one. And you probably get the picture.
So typical jobs will include working with zinc alloys to fit sound chambers, modify fuel tanks, get rid of steps, course-scale treadplate, etc, etc. The odd bit of brass will also be used I'm sure and even plastic and PCB. All these things need high cutting speeds with small mills; not so much to keep the cutter tip speed up but to ensure that any swarf clears easily. The 20,000rpm max spindle speed is therefore something of an attraction.
So in that context you get a very accurate machine - I've done a quick test using a length of rod in the chuck and a set of feeler gauges; it's trammed up quite nicely. The main critical assembly, the co-ordinate table, is supplied assembled so that's one less thing to worry about. Of course, being Proxxon, it comes with a few get-you-going accessories; the stepped clamps looking to be particularly useful. The Micromot collet chuck and collets are also included. My experience with this on my Proxxon bench drill means I'm expecting no issues here; although the largest tool you'll be able to fit will have to have a 1/8" shaft.
I'll hopefully get the chance to give it a spin over the Christmas break and get back to you on its performance in use, but the initial impressions are very positive.
Even the vise seems to be square in all the important directions; although I can see I'll need another one when I need to grip longer frames than the one shown here.
Now I just need to find good regular sources of suitable cutters. This machine could see a lot of use!
Steph
.
And I wasn't going to enlighten him.
