Re: Outdoor Welding

On 6/30/2025 4:13 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Bob La Londe"  wrote in message news:103utuj$2cl0n$1@dont-email.me...
 Matt would be glad to hear you call it that.  The PM1440ELB is what I
would consider a heavy hobby or prosumer lathe.  ...
Bob La Londe
 ------------------- Mitre had a company machine shop with modern machines I could design for but not touch, (HLVH, Herco..) plus a separate model shop with an assortment of vintage ones that I more or less controlled, or at least maintained. Segway had a CNC lathe and mill and a Smithy Granite for when the CNC was occupied. Thus I could directly compare what could be done on both types and determine my realistic minimum needs for home, which didn't include a mini lathe or mill like I had in my lab. I was looking for a 9" SB but jumped on the Heavy Ten and don't regret it. This is an available equivalent to the old Clausing, a knee mill that can go where a Bridgeport won't.
https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-8-x-30-1-1-2-hp-vertical-mill- with-power-feed/g0731
 With sufficient attention both a 4x6 bandsaw and a 30" shear/brake/roll have worked for me though I wouldn't blindly recommend the troublesome things. None of my stuff belongs in a modern commercial shop except for occasional repair jobs.

Space is always a premium.  The mill you showed would probably have been adequate for 95% - 99% of what I do on a manual mill, but I went with this one instead. https://www.grizzly.com/products/south-bend-10-x-54-5-hp-single-phase-mill-with-dro/sb1028f   It is a beast.
I'd had two smaller manual mills prior to that one.  One was the ubiquitous RF30 and one was the even smaller one I called the noname mill drill.  The noname doesn't even have a z axis feed.  Just a quill lever, and quill lock.  That being said on a day when every machine in my shop needed air to operate and change tools my air compressor motor let out all the magic smoke.  (Previous smaller compressor.  Not the designed to fail IR I am running now.)  I had to make a mounting adapter plate to mount the only suitable size motor I could find in town the same day, and I managed to do it all on the noname mill drill including some recessed milling of bolt slots so the bolt heads would clear the motor above them.  Some how using gage blocks to measure and set the quill stop I managed to set a repeatable depth and do all the milling I needed to.
The South Bend does have an air operated power draw bar (special purpose impact really with a spline drive drawbar), but I can take it off and swap out the draw bar quickly enough if I have to, so I can change tools manually.  If I can find the hex head draw bar.
I now have three manual mills in the shop.  None "require" air to operate.  The South Bend, the noname, and a WEN mini mill I bought for the sole purpose of making a series of videos and making useful fishing tackle molds on a POS manual mini mill.  Yeah, its been a couple years and the WEN is still in the crate.  LOL.  Matt over at Preceission Matthews was actually interested in helping with that video series, but he doesn't sell any machines small enough or crappy enough for the concept.  Someday I'll do it maybe.  Or maybe I'll sell the machine still in the crate.
I would like to sell the noname, but its really not useful for a beginner.  Its barely useful for a barely capable hack like myself. Every  time I think of posting a picture on craigslist I remember that lowly POS saved production one day.  I don't need it to do that anymore with other machines at my disposal, but one day it did it.  Really its just an XY drilling machine with all the worst properties of a round column mill with no Z axis feed and smaller than most.  Of course its not even R8.  Its an MT2 spindle.  I stuck an ER25 collet chuck in it to make using different size tools easier.  I have the urge to walk back in the shop and turn it on for a minute just so I can't say, "I haven't even turned it on in years."  I would have to look and see if its even plugged in first.
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Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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