If you have an interest in making things, you must have desired to make metal parts. So you need to get a milling machine so that you can get metal parts that adhere to moderately tight tolerances.
This is the reason why used milling machines are essential to the manufacturing industry. But it can be hard to choose the right milling machine that meets your needs. This article explains some tips for buying used vertical milling machines.
Brand name
A brand name is what drives many purchasing decisions when it comes to milling machines. Keep in mind that milling machines have been on the market for years, so there are no trade secrets to their construction. Theoretically, any manufacturer can use these design principles to make high-quality machines.
The truth is that you can find several milling machines that vary in quality. To keep the costs down, most manufacturers can sometimes cut costs. This means they can use under-powered motors, bad quality materials, and many more.
Even if the specific manufacturer may not be cutting corners, there is also the risk that they can be incapable of performing high-quality manufacturing. Poorly produced lead screws, loose tolerance, and imprecise machining can leave you with a milling machine that fails to hold tolerable precision and hard to use.
Hence, you should always purchase a proven milling machine. This means you must choose a reliable brand. It’s worth noting that you can sometimes find less expensive brands that produce quality machines. They can have fewer features but can be enough to meet your needs.
Size matters
While desktop milling machines can sometimes be tempting, it’s a good idea to avoid them, especially if you want to mill metal. Drilling holes in steel or cutting off a piece using a hacksaw can be a hard task and needs a lot of force. Therefore, the milling machine must have the capability to produce that type of force without bending at all.
For this reason, the milling machine’s frame needs to be heavy and rigid. With a small desktop milling machine, it can be impossible to mill anything harder than aluminum. Simply put, it makes sense to purchase a milling machine that is large and heavy provided you have space for it.
Spindle motor horsepower
Machinists are just like car enthusiasts who consider horsepower as a big deal. And, this makes sense because you don’t want the motor stalling while you’re cutting. Most of the milling machines can have a way to slow down the motor so that they can gain torque at the expense of speed. Milling steel machines need low-speed and high torque, but aluminum requires the opposite.
Therefore, you can compensate for a motor without a lot of power. This can be a good idea because motor horsepower usually makes a difference when you think about the cost. Lastly, you need to avoid a milling machine that comes with less than 1HP.
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