Mini-Lathe Beginners

7x12 mini-lathe - and now a micro-mill

I have purchased a small mini-mill, or, as I think it should be termed, micro-mill. I got it from Axminster Tools in the UK, there website is here

It is a well known fact that it will only be matter of time before any mini-lathe owner goes out and buys a mini-mill. I did not have money or space for a proper mini-mill, so I purchased a micro-mill. These are very small devices but can still be used for useful work on a small scale. For example my homemade dovetail bar for my telescope.

Milling machines eat money even faster than lathes! In the above picture you can see I've added a 3 inch milling vice. Some kind of milling vice is on the "must have list". I've also got some collets for holding end mills. I use end and slot mills up to 10mm in size. These can be purchased on ebay for a few quid. They might not be the best quality, but they get the job done. I've also got a fly cutter and a lot of drill bits.

A micro-mill is not very powerful. However, the design of the gearbox leaves a lot to be desired. As a biginner you are very likey to stall the mill by getting the tool to jam in the job. The power gear attached to the motor in the micro-mill is made of cheese! OR at least, some kind of very soft plastic. After you have jammed the mill a couple of times this gear will disintegrate. I have replaced by cheese gear with a steel gear from a local hardware shop. The other gears should be replaced, but they take less stress, and I haven't done this yet. The metal parts on the left are where I have tried to fix the broken gear on my micro-mill

It is also possible to get a morse taper tool stuck in the spindle - I advise using a tin of penetrating oil overnight and then try and hit the drawbar in the normal way

The best thing you can buy for your micro mill is a decent 3inch milling vice. Buy the best you can afford, and expect to spend at least 50 ukp.