The purchase of some carbide drills via the special offer put together by Des has brought this question off the back-burner.
Any recommendations for a well made but small bench mounted miller / driller?
It would be used for our type of model making plus producing small metal parts for vintage air pistols.
I've got a floor mounted Tom Senior M1 miller which stands head height so I don't lack for raw capacity but whilst a big machine can do small jobs there is a point where it becomes ridiculous plus the top spindle speed wasn't designed with tiny milling cutters in mind.
Many of the modern drill presses I've seen & even some of the current 'hobby' millers exhibit visible 'flutter' at the tip of the drill or cutter due to run-out on the shaft or play in the bearings - this isn't good when trying to use 0.2mm diameter carbide drills.
Cowells here in the UK do a suitable miller but at £2500 it's not exactly a giveaway - my budget has some flexibility but it won't 'flex' that high.
The smaller imported machines (typically Chinese made) seem a very mixed bag.
Recommendations would be welcome.
Regards
Russell