On Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Anders Östlund wrote:

Hello,
I am quite new in the hobby and are planning to buy a Vertical Mill
called RF-30.
I would like to know about anyone with experience from this machine
out there, and if anyone have doubts about these machines.
I live in Sweden and have been searching for a while but the message
is that the market for small milling machines (in my price class...)
not exists (almost anyway), so this is the only machine I've found for
sale so far. I discovered a EMCO FB-(something) in a catalogue from
last year but when I called the message was: "we dont sell these anymore
and have no left in stock..."
So all you RF-30 owners out there please give me some feedback...
Regards Anders Ostlund, Sweden
ka...@hem.passagen.se
http://hem.passagen.se/kasoe

First, some difficult questions: What do you plan to do with this machine? How much room do you have? How much money can you spend (assuming you will pay as much for tooling)? I have owned my RF-30 for over 35 years. Rick

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On 2/11/2022 8:13 AM, Rick Sparber wrote:

On Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Anders Östlund wrote:

Hello,
I am quite new in the hobby and are planning to buy a Vertical Mill
called RF-30.
I would like to know about anyone with experience from this machine
out there, and if anyone have doubts about these machines.
I live in Sweden and have been searching for a while but the message
is that the market for small milling machines (in my price class...)
not exists (almost anyway), so this is the only machine I've found for
sale so far. I discovered a EMCO FB-(something) in a catalogue from
last year but when I called the message was: "we dont sell these anymore
and have no left in stock..."
So all you RF-30 owners out there please give me some feedback...
Regards Anders Ostlund, Sweden
ka...@hem.passagen.se
http://hem.passagen.se/kasoe

First, some difficult questions: What do you plan to do with this machine? How much room do you have? How much money can you spend (assuming you will pay as much for tooling)? I have owned my RF-30 for over 35 years. Rick

Hey Rick , did you realize this post was from 23 years ago ?
--
Snag
My rights don't end
where your fear begins .

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On 2/11/2022 7:53 AM, Snag wrote:

On 2/11/2022 8:13 AM, Rick Sparber wrote:

On Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Anders Östlund
wrote:

Hello,
I am quite new in the hobby and are planning to buy a Vertical Mill
called RF-30.
I would like to know about anyone with experience from this machine
out there, and if anyone have doubts about these machines.
I live in Sweden and have been searching for a while but the message
is that the market for small milling machines (in my price class...)
not exists (almost anyway), so this is the only machine I've found for
sale so far. I discovered a EMCO FB-(something) in a catalogue from
last year but when I called the message was: "we dont sell these anymore >>> and have no left in stock..."
So all you RF-30 owners out there please give me some feedback...
Regards Anders Ostlund, Sweden
ka...@hem.passagen.se
http://hem.passagen.se/kasoe

First, some difficult questions: What do you plan to do with this
machine? How much room do you have? How much money can you spend
(assuming you will pay as much for tooling)?  I have owned my RF-30
for over 35 years. Rick

  Hey Rick , did you realize this post was from 23 years ago ?

Hey, I started to respond to this. Don't pick on me because I had to
search through 23 years of old posts to find something I felt I could
add a relevant reply to. (I owned an HF RF30 for a few years.) I
thought it was pretty mediocore to poor, but I did some actual work with
it. I even ran it with a master holder so I could use my Kwik 200 tool
holders with it. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.



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On 2/11/2022 10:32 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:

On 2/11/2022 7:53 AM, Snag wrote:

On 2/11/2022 8:13 AM, Rick Sparber wrote:

On Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Anders Östlund
wrote:

Hello,
I am quite new in the hobby and are planning to buy a Vertical Mill
called RF-30.
I would like to know about anyone with experience from this machine
out there, and if anyone have doubts about these machines.
I live in Sweden and have been searching for a while but the message
is that the market for small milling machines (in my price class...)
not exists (almost anyway), so this is the only machine I've found for >>>> sale so far. I discovered a EMCO FB-(something) in a catalogue from
last year but when I called the message was: "we dont sell these
anymore
and have no left in stock..."
So all you RF-30 owners out there please give me some feedback...
Regards Anders Ostlund, Sweden
ka...@hem.passagen.se
http://hem.passagen.se/kasoe

First, some difficult questions: What do you plan to do with this
machine? How much room do you have? How much money can you spend
(assuming you will pay as much for tooling)?  I have owned my RF-30
for over 35 years. Rick

   Hey Rick , did you realize this post was from 23 years ago ?

Hey, I started to respond to this.  Don't pick on me because I had to
search through 23 years of old posts to find something I felt I could
add a relevant reply to.  (I owned an HF RF30 for a few years.)  I
thought it was pretty mediocore to poor, but I did some actual work with
it. I even ran it with a master holder so I could use my Kwik 200 tool holders with it.  Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

When I was shopping I read all the reviews - probably including yours
and most certainly Rick's . I then shopped around and found the RF45
clone I now have . The stuff I do requires moving the head sometimes
while in process , and I didn't want to dick around finding my zero
after a move . The dovetail column is the biggest reason for my choice .
The lipstick on my pig is the Shumatech 350 DRO (adequate but ...)
and an X axis power feed . I have another* I'm considering mounting on
the Y but I'm not sure it's worth the effort so ...
* It was on the mill X and blew a couple of diodes so I replaced it ,
then repaired it when I had the time and inclination .

--
Snag
My rights don't end
where your fear begins .

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On 2/11/2022 10:39 AM, Snag wrote:

On 2/11/2022 10:32 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:

On 2/11/2022 7:53 AM, Snag wrote:

On 2/11/2022 8:13 AM, Rick Sparber wrote:

On Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Anders Östlund
wrote:

Hello,
I am quite new in the hobby and are planning to buy a Vertical Mill
called RF-30.
I would like to know about anyone with experience from this machine
out there, and if anyone have doubts about these machines.
I live in Sweden and have been searching for a while but the message >>>>> is that the market for small milling machines (in my price class...) >>>>> not exists (almost anyway), so this is the only machine I've found for >>>>> sale so far. I discovered a EMCO FB-(something) in a catalogue from
last year but when I called the message was: "we dont sell these
anymore
and have no left in stock..."
So all you RF-30 owners out there please give me some feedback...
Regards Anders Ostlund, Sweden
ka...@hem.passagen.se
http://hem.passagen.se/kasoe

First, some difficult questions: What do you plan to do with this
machine? How much room do you have? How much money can you spend
(assuming you will pay as much for tooling)?  I have owned my RF-30
for over 35 years. Rick

   Hey Rick , did you realize this post was from 23 years ago ?

Hey, I started to respond to this.  Don't pick on me because I had to
search through 23 years of old posts to find something I felt I could
add a relevant reply to.  (I owned an HF RF30 for a few years.)  I
thought it was pretty mediocore to poor, but I did some actual work
with it. I even ran it with a master holder so I could use my Kwik 200
tool holders with it.  Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

  When I was shopping I read all the reviews - probably including yours
and most certainly Rick's . I then shopped around and found the RF45
clone I now have . The stuff I do requires moving the head sometimes
while in process , and I didn't want to dick around finding my zero
after a move . The dovetail column is the biggest reason for my choice .
  The lipstick on my pig is the Shumatech 350 DRO (adequate but ...)
and an X axis power feed . I have another* I'm considering mounting on
the Y but I'm not sure it's worth the effort so ...
  * It was on the mill X and blew a couple of diodes so I replaced it , then repaired it when I had the time and inclination .

I had a CNCed RF45 class machine. The implementation was terrible, but
the base machine looked OK. When I finally decided I needed a half
decent manual milling in the shop last year I considered a Precision
Mathews import in that class, but I finally decided since I was going to
do a lease purchase (finance) I was going to get all the bells and
whistles I wanted and something big enough to create really stupid
setups and went with the South Bend SB1028F. So far I really like it
for manual jobs, repairs, and an amazing number of second ops that are
faster to just do manually than to program. I didn't pick the SB on
reputation since it appears to be a Grizzly owned brand now. I picked
it because it came with the most of what I wanted all in one package. I
use it almost everyday in spite of having 5 CNC mills in the shop. For
just a home or small farm shop I would certainly own an RF45. Heck, if
one comes along at the right price I'll buy it anyway. LOL. I've got a
buddy who has a similar PM machine, but slightly smaller and he is
pretty happy with it making parts for sale on Ebay.

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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:su6h3g$13kf$1@gioia.aioe.org...

...I was going to get all the bells and
whistles I wanted and something big enough to create really stupid
setups and went with the South Bend SB1028F. ...

----------------

I inherited an Enco version of the Grizzly G0731 in a consolidation of departmental model shops. It suffered from Enco quality, mainly in the small parts, but it was a size and style that I think would serve well in a home hobby shop. It was effectively a modernized version of my 1950's Clausing, which is very nice for small delicate work and capable of machining parts
for a sawmill and log splitter. The Clausing at least disassembles into
parts one person can carry down stairs.

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