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Originally Posted by sanddrag
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Oh no! That mill/drill is not a true Rong-Fu but one of the cheap knock offs that Dave was talking about in his lengthy post above. It is far less quality built and will likely have significant backlash in the leadscrews and pretty poor castings and an uneven table. You would be much better off with a used mill than one of those.
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Originally Posted by sanddrag
Also, can someone explain to me the difference of round column versus dovetail column? I've only used old large bridgeports, no small machines. I read somewhere that on the round column if you move the Z position you lose your X and Y position. This isn't true is it?
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Yep that's true, more or less. A round column is like a drill press. You know how when you move the table on a drill press up or down on the column it is almost impossible to get it exactly the same? It is the same on a round column mill/drill. A dovetail/square column mill drill allows the distance between the table and the head to be adjusted without loosing the setup alignment.
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Originally Posted by sanddrag
Also, are there any mills already equipped with DRO or any inexpensive DRO packages.
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Would you be inclined to make one yourself? Check out the
Shumatech DRO-350. There is also a Yahoo group for the Shumatech DRO-350 project. Do a little research about it and you may be surprised. It's a pretty neat project if you are so inclined.