Bill Hime

Hi Bill, 
I have an older version of the Micro Mark mill that I got on a close out sale.  It has two pulley steps (speed zones): 70-1600 which i use with metal, and 70 to 2800 which I use for wood. 
I have had no problem with milling wood.  As mentioned above, I do need to feed slowly.  But, the parts are so small that slow does not really seem a chore and the parts are very smooth after the milling.  This is my first experience with milling so I don't know if faster speeds would really help that much in creating smoother cuts or saving time.
 
More important for me is the accuracy/precision of the x-y tables and the vertical (z) adjustment. I have experienced some difficulty with the precision and smoothness of movement. With such small tolerances, the slightest wobble, backlash or misalignment will ruin the piece.  Also important are the range of accessories, which, by the way, end up costing as much, if not more, than the mill itself. This is where the Sherline stands out. I had the opportunity to visit their factory and museum in southern California and was impressed with the quality of their tools and range of accessories.
 
I first wanted to see if I use the mill enough to warrant the expense of trading up to the Sherline.  I do use it a lot for milling as will as precision drilling (even though I also have a Proxxon drill).
 
That said, I would be curious to hear the experience of others who have the Proxxon mill.
 
Richard

speed and feed work together
you can use a speed of 500 tpm if you want but the feed will need to be  slower
20,000 is a more accurate speed  because it will leave as smoother finish on a long run
you could probably do molding at a very slow speed but a slow feed would means  it would take 10 times longer to do
The idea is to find a middle speed of a motor which will give a reasonable feed
 
you could go to 50000 tpm for wood or metal but especially with metal, such a speed will throw  metal shavings many feet away if you do not stop it

Hello Everyone!
So I'm buying a mill. I've read here that most mini mills do not have a high enough spindle speed for what we do. What is high enough and what mills have it other than Proxxon's mill?
 
Please help me spend my money
 
 
BIll

If working with wood and moving the table manually, I have a hard time imagining a need for a high speed. 1mm cutter on pear on 5k rpm gives a super clean cut, why should I spin it faster?
I am a beginner when it comes to milling, would appreciate an explanation from some more experienced members!

Each one of these small boats is a gem, and enjoyable to watch then evolve.
 
Michael

Hello,
thank you very much for your kind posts and LIKES.
Here I show the further construction of the gig.

 

Johann,
 
When you finished your first boat, I thought can this be done any better ...and yes you did that with your second, after which I thought ... indeed the same question, and subsequently the same answer. It seems you surpass yourself with every build you make ....
 
How will this one turn out ... so far you are on track, looking very crisp and flawless ...
 
Cheers

Hello Michael,

thank you for your interest in my work.
I try with my modest knowledge of English to explain the preparation of this part.
First, the dimensions of the part to be marked with a scriber on a brass plate. Then I saw using a coping saw the inner rectangle from the plate and then I cut with the tin snips, the part in the form.
With the file, the part is finally treated, as can be seen in the picture.


I hope I have expressed it somewhat understandable.

Johan I would like to know how you cut these pieces with those snips
 
Your work continues to amaze me is is so clean and precise.
 
Michael
 

Before I start my build log some information about the real La Créole and
the data from which my model will build.
 
The La Créole was a 24-gun corvette of the French Navy. The corvette
carried 4 x 18 pdr guns and 20 x 30 pdr carronades.
Her plans were drawn by P. M. Leroux in 1827. She was launched in Cherbourg in
May 1829. The ship took part in the French invasion of Mexico in 1838, and most
notably in the Bombardment of San Juan de Ulloa before French troops disembarked and captured the city of Veracruz.

There is a fine shipyard model on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris which is shown by many photos in the book of Jean Boudriot (in French). 
 
I use the following sources for building my model of the corvette:
Jean Boudriot - Historique de la corvette 1650-1850: La
Créole, 1827
 
 
Now the images of beginning:
 
 
 
To be continued...
 
Best regards
Johann
 
 
 
 
 
 

Gorilla glue is ghastly stuff! I had a friend who tried to fix a piece of furniture only to have it end up glued to his carpet....
 
Use white PVA or yellow aliphatic glues. Much better choices.

Great start Tim. Stern deadwood looks spot on and the tabled boxing joint is seldom seen on models. Is your keel and rising wood milled from one piece? If so, I don't believe I've seen that approach before.

Looks like your going to have fun with this . I will follow, of course.

Hi Tim,
 
Great start!  I will follow along for sure! Your stem box joint and stern post look very crisp.
Gary

Hi Guys
 
I have wanted to do this project for years.. so here goes!
 
This is my first plank on frame build model...
 
I am using swiss pear. I will keep you updated.
 
Thanks
 
Tim

Bill,
 
A mill's feeds and speeds are to a large extent governed by the material you are working on. Maybe this calculator can give you some insight.
 
Lou

Check Sherline Mills, you can change it to 10000 rpm spindle speed for a cheap upgrade, plus to me there is none better and it all made in the good old USA. 

Hello Everyone!
So I'm buying a mill. I've read here that most mini mills do not have a high enough spindle speed for what we do. What is high enough and what mills have it other than Proxxon's mill?
 
Please help me spend my money
 
 
BIll

Dave,
Absolutely, I'm up for that! Perhaps we could get together soon. I'm currently turning a cabin on our property into a cabinet/furniture shop. I'm also setting aside a nice enclosed area of the shop  for the shipyard. Just frame at the moment but moving forward! Would love to see your shipyard
 
Bill

Mark,
Looks great my friend! You're right about scale. went out to the shop and pulled a mantel out...but would work nicely I think at 1:48 or 1:32! I pledge never to work in 1:64th AGAIN, lol
 
Beautiful work Mark and way to stick with it!
 
 
Bill

I think a Coleman lantern mantel would be interesting, even if doubled up and stained correctly
 
 
Bill

jcoby,
 
Been a while my friend. Your Pride is looking great! I see where your frustrations over the paint are coming from. Nothing worse when a product fails to do what it's suppose to do. My .02 cents, I would sand the hull back down, seal it, then airbrush it. That paints only going to get thicker and more uneven. You've done such great work, don't let a bad product make you feel regret every time you look at it on the shelf.
 
Bill

Yea, on the AVS I just used a gunport edge to start my planking pattern, and then maintained the pattern and ignored where they fell after that just to keep it simple since it was my first planking of a ship with gunports at all.  I think I did some testing to see if one starting point in particular made it better or not by using a ruler, since the shift pattern I used was an easy 1" between the points where butts would fall, and the AVS only has 4 gunports, so I just aligned a 1" mark with both sides of each gunport and looked for the starting point that would give the least amount of overlap points with the ports.

I think a Coleman lantern mantel would be interesting, even if doubled up and stained correctly
 
 
Bill

Mark,
I think your rudder redo has been quite successfully redone...."done" being the operative word. I think the coat is a good representation whether you take a another stab at or not. Perhaps a Coleman lantern mantel dyed in tea would give it the sagging heaviness of weathered canvas. Thread count or size would not be as important to the scale as would the cloths ability to "hang".
 
She's looking quite beautiful my friend, you're courting her well
 
 
Bill