Proxxon MF70 - to buy or not to buy?

[PickPick]

I'm thinking about buying the Proxxon MF70 milling machine for my workshop, because I'd like to be able to do some small precision machining. But I'm not sure whether it has sufficient power. My applications would be milling cutaway locks, making my own key blanks (preferably from steel for some applications) and precision drilling for things like pin&cams, Sputnik and other decoders. Does anyone here have experience with this machine, so that he can tell me whether it will be sufficient for these applications?

[oldlock]

Proxxon stuff is a bit ' mickey mouse ' if you get what I mean

I doubt it would be good enough for what you want, personally I use a Myford for this kind of work, and I would suggest you look at an Emco (not the cheap chinese thing) as they do a combined lathe / milling machine.

Avoid the chinese lathes like the plague - they really are bloody awful.

Paul

[_Ethereal_]

My cousin has a nice Emco machine, i would reccomend that, but i havn't used any others to compare it with, and im still using a nice old Hercus lathe, which has never had any problems

[PickPick]

The problem is I'm on a really tight budget, 350-400 Euro max, it's either a cheap mill or no mill at all. So while the Emco machines look really nice, I'm afraid they'd be too expensive for me. Therefore I really need the opinion of someone who has used the machine. I know that my needs would be close to the limits of its performance, I just need to know whether above or below the limit.

[oldlock]

I would say beyond it's limit - although I have no experience of using them, I did look at them once.

Paul

[Romstar]

In North American, the Micro Mark lathe and milling machines are excellent tools for the price.

You can find them at www.micromark.com however, because of your location, I would assume the shipping costs would be terribly prohibitive.


Do you have a link for the machine you are referring to? Many of these are made by the same company, and are thus very similar.

Romstar

[_Ethereal_]

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://image01.conrad.com/xl/8000_8999/8100/8120/8121/812193_BB_00_FB.EPS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.zubehoer-fuer-computer.de/werkzeug/coe812193.htm&h=350&w=236&sz=17&tbnid=kM_N9h66BwwJ:&tbnh=115&tbnw=78&start=6&prev=/images%3Fq%3DProxxon%2BMF70%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

[raimundo]

perhaps its not all the tool but the tool user, (see the bottom of your posts) maybe if you got a machine that was not tight enough, you could find ways to fix that, or if the power was a bit light, you could overcome it with patience and very sharp toolbits, just a thought from someone who knows that sometimes you can find ways to work with what you have if you think about the problem and devise ways to beat it. I have heard it said that a lathe is a tool that can produce a lathe if necessary, its an interesting concept. no need to flame me, I'm not putting anyone down.