Subject: Jet JMD-18PF Mill/Drill -- Opinions Please.

From: Phillip DeBrito <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 09:57:25 -0500

I am considering buying a JET JMD-18PF Mill/Drill. My intentions are to
do some auto head refurbishing (decking, valve jobs/porting, valve guide
replacement, block decking and honing), woodworking, and general
metalworking hobbying. (perhaps a little machine work jobs on the side
too).

If anyone has any first or second hand experience with JET or JET mills,
please, post it.  I'm really tired of buying crap. And I'm really scared
of buying an older mill, because I have ZERO knowledge of what is good
and what I have to spend double what I paid to refurbish it.

Thanks Ahead of Time!

Phil DeBrito
Beginner At Large

---

From: [email-masked] (Bart Smaalders)
Date: 13 Sep 1996 18:12:28 GMT

> I just sold a mill-drill (RF-30, Rong-Fu) because I wasn't happy with
> it. I don't know a lot about the type of work you do. Caveats aside,
> here's my opinion....

I've used my Rong-Fu mill-drill for several years; it's the 700 lb one.
Yes, it's not the most rigid thing in the world, but it will drill a 
1" hole in 1" plate w/o complaining, and it's actually quite rugged
compared to my 10" Atlas lathe.  I avoid trying to mill large slots
in stainless, absolutely.  I do try to keep milling setups as low as
possible, and tighten the gibs before trying to do tricky work.  It
sure beats trying to mill on the lathe, and lots of neat work has been
done that way.

Yes, I wouldn't mind having a Bridgeport mill or the 16" gearhead Monarch
lathe I used while at UC Davis, but I find that if I take my time and
think ahead most projects are possible and I don't end up with so much
money in the machinery that I feel I have to use it every week.

I just finished a new boiler for my boat; it involved drilling several 
13/16" holes and 112 5/8" holes in 8" steel pipe - no problem with the mill, 
but I did end up avoiding machining a 8" x 1" steel circle w/ the lathe due to
lack of rigidity and strength to handle an interrupted cut of that size.

Your milage may vary and all that....

---
Bart Smaalders			Solaris Clustering	SunSoft
[email-masked]		(415) 786-5335		MS UMPK17-301
http://playground.sun.com/~barts			2550 Garcia Ave
							Mt View, CA 94043-1100

---

From: "Steven O. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:03:24 GMT

here's my opinion.

As you imply, there are risks to both paths. There are certainly scary
stories about buying imports, even from companies like Jet. I have to
assume that these are in the minority, and you only hear the horror
stories.

There are also risks buying used machinery. I would hope that anyone
planning the type of projects you are Phil would have plenty of
commonsense and avoid most of these problems. If you have zero
knowledge, there are two approaches that work: 1. go look at machines.
DO NOT BUY. Act like you are going to buy, and educate yourself. Only
look at machines that the owners will demo for you. Watch how it cuts.
After seeing a few, you'll develop a good feeling for what is ok and
what is just wrong or broken. 2. Join a local machine tool club, make
friends there, and get some help looking at machines.

As you may have guessed, I'm a big fan of the used approach. 

My problems with mill-drills:
The machine does exactly what it is claimed to do, i.e. light milling.
You can drill one inch holes with it, but no bigger (does this interfere
with you porting/valve work?). You can run a flycutter for surfacing,
but only if you keep the cut diameter small, like one inch. Is this
going to flatten heads fast enough for you? I found that the mill drill
had no where near the rigidity I wanted. The 2 HP motor was a joke, as
there was absolutely no way to load the motor enough to matter--chatter
took over far in advance of the motor loading. Light weight machines,
exactly as advertised. Nice if light milling is all you are doing, but I
bet you aren't happy with it. Find one in a used machine tool store and
try it out!

-- 
Steven O. Smith
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Michael D. Horgan)
Date: 19 Sep 1996 23:07:40 GMT

Take a look at the new Home Shop Machinist, first. There's a good article
 from a buyer about what and how he got his machine and what it took to
 get it working.

> and what I have to spend double what I paid to refurbish it.

Michael D Horgan 
[email-masked]
http://members.aol.com/lughaid/