[–] toggafreggin ago
Just build one from scratch. Leadscrews, linear rails, clearpaths, smoothieboard control, steel tubing and some gumption is all that's necessary to build a pretty capable gantry table.
What's the main difference between a vertical milling machine and a drill press?
[–] SixTeaNine ago
I believe its number of axes (the one in OP's post is 3 whereas drill press has 1) plus more configuration/control over operation. Not an expert though so may be off a bit.
The one in OP's post is pretty ancient. I know the newer ones are tens of thousands of dollars and are 5 axis.
[–] feral-toes 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
The bearings. The milling machine has bearings that maintain accuracy despite side thrust. The drill press has
bearings that get fucked up by side thrust. So you cannot use a drill press for milling.
[–] jamesed [S] ago
I have been reading the comments and YES THE MILL I POSTED IS AN OLDER MODEL. BUT (BIG BUT HERE) most of us don't have 20 to 50k to spend on a vertical mill. My post was for getting the cheapest way possible to build your own fire arm. YOU DON'T NEED A 20 to 50k milling machine to do that. So in practice I limited my search to around $2000.00. That is the price of about 3 fire arms.