Saturday, March 17, 2012

Wabeco F1200 Mill

Looks like I'm doing it again, bearly 3 months after I received my Proxxon PD400 - I'll be going in with Mike to buy a unit of the Wabeco F1200 Mill each.

The model I'm getting is the most basic they have and their least expensive unit I'm willing to break my piggy bank for.  The other constraint is on the limited space I have in my home shop.

This is how it looks on www.wabeco-remscheid.de (the photo and drawings are from the Wabeco site):

I don't know what the 'E' stands for but this should be the unit I'm getting.

The machine, according to the specs given on the website, weighs 85kg, which is a concern to me as I don't know if my work bench can take it in operation.  I stood at my shop looking at the bench area and decided to have it on the spot where the Proxxon PD400 is sitting.  That's the area with sufficient support beneath the bench for drawers and stuff.

The dimensions from the front and side are given below:

It sure looks small from the first pic in this post till you look at the dimensions, especially after taking into consideration the space required on both side of the mill to transverse the X axis.

From the side.  Vertically, I need to allow about 1000mm (or 1 metre) for the Z axis to traverse.  Due to the window grill behind my bench, I'll have the handwheel portion of the mill sticking out of the benchtop, which is fine for easier turning of the wheel.

From the dimensions given above, I realized that I'm hitting the limits of the bench space.  This means that I'll have to release the bench space currently occupied by the Sherline 5410.  I'm quite reluctant to do that as I'm in the midst of installing the iGaging scales and DROs on it.  It is also very convenient for smaller jobs with the available tools and accessories in the shop.  Maybe I'll start by giving it some floor space beneath the bench as it is portable enough to be moved.  Unless someone can offer me an attractive enough price to take it off me, together with the Horizontal Milling Conversion Base and the iGaging scales & DROs.  But... how much is attractive to tempt me to sell? I've no answer.  Don't really like to selling my stuff though I've been a salesperson for all my working life so far...

I'll take that as a good problem, a blessing rather than lack.  I thank daddy God for the blessings showering at me despite what I am and what I am not.

3 comments:

GeneK said...

Wong, I believe the 'E' stands for the electronic speed control.
My friend Gordon French has one and it is a nice mill. The one he has was the first one converted to cnc by Flashcut.

GeneK

Wongster said...

Thanks for defining the 'E' for me. Did you friend share with you his experience with this mill? I would love to hear about it.

I'll be leaving this unit for manual work and use the Sherline 2010 as the CNC mill. Kind of enjoy turning the handwheels. May do the conversion when I find out how I can mount the steppers at the side so that I can disengage them for manual work without having to turn using the back shaft of the steppers. Don't quite like that feel.

Anonymous said...

Hey did you end up getting the Wabeco F1200? How do you like it?