Cheap Chinese Mini Metal Mill Milling Machine Unboxing, Setup, Testing, and Review

hello everyone after much anticipation I have officially added a mini milling machine to the shop this video is the unboxing testing and review of the new mini milk before looking at the machine itself it came with a little tool box full of stuff that I need to check out with everything laid out it seems to have come with a pretty decent variety of tools related to this machine and in addition to the tools some hardware in regards to the chuck the various handles for the machine a bunch of allen wrenches some tea slot hardware for the table the manual and a spare fuse and finally a really cheap oiler the first thing to do is put on all the handles as a note don't take the indicator collar off this handle because there's a small spring underneath that goes flying if you do I'm not sure if I broke this cap just now or if it was already broken but either way it's broken this is also where the spindle can be rotated to put the locking pin in with the spindle locked the truck can be inserted into the spindle and then tightened using the bolt from the top to turn this mill on it seems that you have to have the dial turned all the way to the slowest or off position before pushing the green on button after that combination of events has taken place the dial can be increased to start the mill and vary the speed [Applause] with that figured out I decided to throw a cheap vise on and give it a try I'll be using a 3/8 inch for flute and Mill bit from a set I picked up a while ago for doing some milling work on the lathe they will also be linked in the description if you're interested I'm going to be testing this mill on a piece of two and a half inch aluminum round stop [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] while the surface finish isn't perfect I think it's a lot better than I can achieve doing this operation with any other method that I have access to and could always be finished to remove the machining marks I'm also pretty new to milling so if anyone has any suggestions on things I could do or tools I could use to achieve a better finish please leave a comment below that said I can't complain too much and I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out I also picked up a double sided edge and center finder for the mill and figured I'd test it out as well if you're interested it will also be linked in the description [Applause] from what I understand as you approach the edge the wobble is supposed to smooth out until you go just a little bit too far which will cause the probe to be pushed off center the idea is that you adjust until the probe stops wobbling and then you know that the center of the tool is 2/10 of an inch away from the edge of the park it's pretty low-tech but seems to work well and was cheap enough that I'm sure it will be worth having around in regards to some various things I noticed about the mill the hand cranks have very little backlash in them and the operation is very smooth the indicator on the cross table is a nice way to see low tolerance measurements while the slides can probably be adjusted slightly tighter to remove any minor looseness overall they seem like they will be very accurate in both directions both the X and y-axis also have simple locks to improve the rigidity and persistence if that axis isn't being used for a particular operation the truck that was included has a nice feel to it and a smooth operation although when turned on the collar has a wobble to it it doesn't seem to affect the rest of the truck and the collar is large enough to grab on to and quickly close the jaws there is also a functional z-axis adjustable stop and a debatably accurate angle indicator for the tool this mill does have a two-speed transmission but I'm not sure if the gears are plastic or metal the depth crank has quite a bit of backlash and is probably only accurate in one consistent direction also while it has a measurement indicator on it there isn't a reference point and I'm not sure why it spins on the handle other than to maybe zero it out in order for the high accuracy depth handle to affect the height of the tool the low accuracy crank needs to be locked in place finally the angle of the tool can be adjusted using the included 36 millimeter wrench on the nut on the back of the mill other considerations include the missing mounting bolt from shipping but at least the other three held the bellows to keep the chips out of the inner workings aren't very impressively attached and there are some obvious touch-ups in the paint the included tool box will be helpful to organize things like the shorter bolt for mounting things in the spindle the handful of allen wrenches the cheapest possible oiler and the various wrenches that were included in this set also the end mill bits and whatever other accessories I get that's pretty much it for this review and I am overall pretty impressed at the initial quality of this machine it appears to be much more functional out of the box than the equivalent mini lathe and I'm looking forward to really being able to expand on the projects I can work on I hope this review is useful and if anyone has any suggestions for different tools or accessories that I might need or find helpful please let me know in the comments also if you have any cool project ideas or other things you'd like to see me try to make leave the suggestions in the comments as well be sure to hit that thumbs up if you like this review check the description for links to the tools and the mill thanks so much for watching and be sure to subscribe if you aren't already so you don't miss any of the cool new stuff I can make now that I have the capabilities of a mini mill as well as a mini lathe you

Channel: TimNummy

Views: 1,876,484

Rating: 4.7116399 out of 5

Keywords: lathe, minilathe, mini lathe, mini, steel, aluminum, machining, metalworking, diy, upgrading, tool, tools, cutting, making, tim nummy, timnummy, mini milling machine, machnists tools, machinists projects, mini mill, mini mill projects, mini mill review, mini milling machine review, cheap milling machine, chinese milling machine, metal milling machine, metal mill

Id: nJmpV9VEQk0

Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 14 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/guncha]

Anyone actually used one here or just don’t like the sound of it?

[u/LordGarak]

That looks like a Sieg x1? I can't watch the video on this crappy internet connection.

I had an X2 and I have an SX3 at work. The SX3 is barely capable of doing real work. I sold my X2 and got a big deckle mill and haven't looked back.

The X2 could do some very light work in steel and aluminum. But it is just too small and I was constantly fighting its limitations.

The SX3 is a bit better but isn't nearly as rigid as a real mill. Most of the stuff I do at work is with plastics so it works well. But you still really need to go easy on the depth of cut when cutting steel. It just takes forever to get anything done on that mill. Compared to my Deckle mill, the SX3 is a toy.

I paid less for the Deckle than I sold my X2 for. I found a great deal and I have room for the 2600lbs machine. I've since got an even bigger 5600lbs Parkson mill for even less money and I'm currently saving up to buy the VFD to drive it.

Big old machines can come up cheap if your patient and have the room for them. They will have some issues but usually you can deal with it or repair it. The cheap little machines have all kinds of little issue. On the big machines at least rigidity isn't one of them.

[u/Intelligent_World]

Garbage machine. Buy a Sherline mill or a Taig if you want something good and small.