Mill-Drills

*** WARNING!!! *** *** WARNING!!! ***
*** DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!! ***
*** THIS IS _NOT_FLAMEBAIT_!!!_ ***
*** REPEAT, _NOT_FLAMEBAIT_!!!_ ***
(Merely a request for info).

Well, now that we've got all that out of the way.....:-)

A friend of mine has taught CAD/CAM at one of our local Community Colleges, and
has worked with CNC. According to him, all Mill-Drills are useless, and I'd
never be happy with less than a, "Gargantua 5 from Godzilla Machineworks inc",
for the following reasons:

a. A mill-Drill won't remain indexed from the start to end of the tool path,
let alone from one pass to the next.
b. There isn't enough metal, (machine too small), to soak up the vibrations.
c. The above problems are exacerbateted by a round column.
d. More that I can't recall.

I'm sure he has my best interests at heart here, but I also have to figure that
if everything he says about size/mass/etc., is 100% true, a watchmakers mill
would not be a usefull machine. Further, given the school environment, I also
have to consider that his experience probably includes a lot of old, worn out
machines that have been donated for the Tax write-off, used for numerous
examples of why you don't do "X", and have been much abused by numerous students
who didn't know any beter than to do "Y", Some of this may be due to trying to
make a mosquito do the work of an elephant, at the speed of a cheeta.

Can anyone help me get a more realistic picture here?

What about machines with a square column, like the Rong Fu Boring and Milling
Machine, (made in Taiwan)? If workable, will one readily convert to CNC?

Thanks.

Bill

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RKBA! ***** Blessings On THee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19!
----------------+----------+--------------------------+---------------------
An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no
weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his
hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a
on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ
----------------+----------+--------------------------+---------------------

Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------