I got a really good deal on this used milling machine. It’s a round column mill very similar to the Rong-Fu RF-30. Probably around 20 years old. These old round column mills have some downsides but you can get them relatively cheap and they’re real workhorses. They are sold by a bunch of different brands, like Grizzly but there are many used ones on the market. They’re very sturdy and bigger than most people imagine. But for a small shop, they take up a lot less space than a Bridgeport or similar mill.
The mill wasn’t in great shape so I decided to do a complete overhaul with the help of a friend. We took everything apart down to the last screw, replaced some things, cleaned and lubed everything and I also decided to give it a new paintjob and add a frequency drive so that there’s no need for changing drive belts for different speeds.
I also built a sturdy base with some drawers for it. Welding together square tubing is getting really boring for me too, but this is hopefully the last piece of shop furniture I have to make for a while.
I’m very happy with the result, the mill is nice and heavy (about 400kgs) and has a decent amount of power for nowhere near the price I would have paid for a new mill of comparable size and weight. I will probably make more modifications to it in the future.
If you have any questions about this kind of mill, leave a comment!
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