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Re: Mill Suggestions?
Congratulations! I think you will like the machine. As with any mill, you will need a big slug of tooling to go along with it. Some where back in my files, I have a list of all the tooling elements that go with a Rong-Fu mill to provide a good basic capability. If I can find it, I will send it along. Also, there are a lot of people in the NoVa area that have these machines (Team 116 included), that can help you get up to speed with it. Set up is pretty straightforward. If yours ends up being anywhere near as ready-to-go as ours was, you will just need to uncrate it, clean off the cosmoline, lube it up, tram the head, tighten up all the fasteners, and you are ready to go.
Make sure that when you mount it, you put it on a very solid, stable base. One of the biggest enemies of this class of machine is vibration, which will be amplified if the machine is sitting on a wobbly folded metal stand. Also, the perfect mounting location will have a hole in it so you can access the Y-axis acme screw from underneath the machine. This will make it very easy to periodically lube the acme screw without having to tilt up the machine (you CAN do this, but it is a bit of a pain).
These machines are heavy, about 600 pounds. To move the mill around (like putting it on your base when you uncrate it), an engine hoist is the perfect solution. If you don't have one in your shop already, you can get them locally at rental shops in the area for about $30/day.
-dave
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My OTHER CAR is still on Mars!!!
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