Matt,

Thanks.
1. On my model, yes, the head tilts, like 90 degrees one way, and a smaller amount the other, maybe 30 degrees. I've found that I very rarely do this, as it takes a bit of effort to true it back to vertical afterwards, but have used it a couple times. The rotary table is a smaller item that clamps down on the base. The booger of using it, is to get the part clamped down to it, so that it's true to the rotation and centered under the bit, and not get the clamps tangled up in the way of the mill head. When you tighten the clamp down, it can move it just a tiny bit. I've learned that if I am doing a cut, of some size, such as a 1/2 inch radius, it's pretty easy to setup. However, trying to do the 1/8 inch radius roundover's on my scissor links were a nightmare, and I actually ended up using a router bit instead, and moved the piece under it, and that worked like a champ. Moral of the story, yes you'll probably need a rotary table, but won't use it as much as you'd first think.

2. Nope, no digital read out's on anything except the vertical of the head. I learned that it's not that big of a deal, as there is always slop in the threads on the jack screws, and once you start making cuts, you're only ever turning the wheels one way (to make the next deeper cut), so, once you're going in that way, the 1/1000 graduations on the wheels have turned out to be very accurate, and just fine for daily use. So... make an initial cut, measure it, and say hmmm, seems to be 68 thousands too big, so, I'll make 3 cuts of 20 thousands at a time, but turning in the wheel 20 at a time, then remeasure now that I'm getting real close, and lets say it's not got 8 more to go, but really 6. I turn the wheel 6 more and make the finish cut. (actually, I've learned that if you take a couple thousands off, the 'wrong way', or 'climb milling' you get a much better finish, so in this case, I'd take 4 thousands off normally, then the last 2 thousands off on the back cut, or with the bit climb milling at a higher speed.)

There are forums out there just like RCU that guys retrofit all kinds of stuff on mills and lathes, and I figured I can add stuff at a later time, but have been really surprised that it's not that big of a deal. The accuracy of the dials on the wheels really, really surprised me.

3. The lathe came with a stand, which was a huge help. No dice on the mill, and that caused me quite a bit of head scratching. I ended up getting a standard cabinet, but reinforced it all around the sides, back and an internal section, with 1 inch by 12 inch wood, 'endgrain', running vertical. I used some epoxy from the project, and lots of wood screws, and massively beefed up the weak particle board of a cabinet. I then got a section of surplus counter top, and cut it to size. All total, I probably got about $100 in the mill stand, but way too much work, but I could not find anything that would work off the shelf for it. At least this way, I've got 3 drawers under it to hold all the machine tools.

4. You've grazed across a couple of the logistical questions that I was really stumped by as well, in getting the machines actually setup in the shop. There is no simple way to do this. These things are like 300-400 pounds. And their size is such that you can't get a bunch of guys around them and just manhandle them. Grizzly offered for an extra $25 delivery on a truck that had a lift gate. I knew enough about trucking to know, that for them to actually get it off the lift gate, they would have to have a pallet jack. But they legally, don't have to move it off the curb. I called my local terminal, and asked if it would be a problem to pallet jack it up my driveway, about 40 feet and drop them in my garage. Local terminal said no problem, but be sure to confirm that before ordering. So, now they are in the garage and not in the walk out basement shop..... To get them there, I used a combo of my riding mower, and it's small 4 foot square little wagon, and a rented engine lift. So here's the routine...use engine lift, with lots of strap and webbing, get lathe into cart, drive cart and tractor around yard, into the basement (the wife is getting used to me, because when I said, I was planning on driving the mower in the basement she didn't even raise an eyebrow). Once in the basement, disassemble, the 6 parts of the engine lift, take them to the basement by hand, reassemble the lift, lift the lathe out of the tractor, hover it into place, and place it on it's stand. Rinse and repeat all this for moving the mill. This was an entire day thing, just to get these 2 machines settled into the basement. Also, you want them as level as possible.

For just a few parts at a time, doing them manually is a piece of cake. I may spend 15 minutes getting a part in the vice, measured, and square, and then it take's like 2 minutes to make the cut. Even if it was a CNC machine, the part still has to be put in the vice, and trued up so it has a zero zero zero reference point to it. For the most part the CNC helps on the cut part, not so much the setup part, which for me is most of the time anyhow.

Lastly take all of the above with a huge grain of salt. I am just figuring this out all for the first time. I read like 2 books and have subscribed to a couple machinist magazines for about 2 years now. I searched all over for an adult education class around here and after finding nothing, said "Fine, I'll just figure this out on my own." I've gotten some great advice from a few people as well, on machine choices and tools to consider. What I find fun, is figuring out the order that a part is cut out in, as the order of the cuts matter. For example, each one of my scissor links has 26 machining 'operations' on them. That's 26 separate times, the part is placed in a vice, measured, and a cut made.... per link. It's an interesting puzzle to figure out the order to make those operations in, so that an early one, does not make a later one more difficult.

Fun stuff,
Lance