ALB posted:@aircooled wrote- "...I have an old Atlas-Clausing mill. It uses collets..."
That's a very cool piece of machinery, Bruce! I would love to own something like that but there's just no room- you can only fit so much in a 2 car townhouse garage with bikes, camping stuff, freezer, work stuff snow/summer tires for 2 cars, beer fridge, the Speedster stuff, and oh, don't forget Beth's car.
A lot of the stuff I lightened was done at a friend's shop where I had access to a lathe and milling machine, the rest of it at home on a really basic (small) drill press. I'm presently looking (dreaming of is probably a better description!
) at bench top milling machines so I can do things a little more accurately and quickly at home, something like-
This particular unit has a working area of 8 ¼x 28¾" on the table, 1¼ drilling and ¾" end mill capacity with a 1¾ or 2 hp motor. Hoping to find it (or something similar) used. With a rotary table I could do a lot. That reminds me, time to check Craigslist (Vancouver AND Seattle) again! Al
That mill/drill will take up as much room as that Clausing. Plus every time you loosen the head to reposition, you lose zero. If you still think you need a bench top model, get something with a square column so you can raise and lower the head without losing zero.