The Bench Milling/Drilling  Machine

I think this is the machine I bought the most. At around $1300 from Grizzly, this milling machine will allow you to do most of R2D2’s components, accessories and mechanical gadgets. At some points in time, it was a little bit small, but this was not the norm.

I do recommend people trying to get into milling (and with a pretty good budget), to buy the floor model. People adore Bridgeports (and so I drool as well). If you can get one of thse, don’t think it twice. Bridgeport milling machines will allow you to make any possible piece you can think of!

The Index Head

The index head is another very important piece. This is not the index head in which I made my rims (this is too small for that). However, if you are into making gears and sprockets (instead of buying them as most people do) the index head is a must. I paid around $400 and sold it for less than half (Still hurts). It did allow me to create my own light saber replicas pretty good!!!

The Metal Lathe

I think it is impossible for me to specify whether I used the milling more than the lathe. And it is just because the Lather is one of the most useful tools on this planet! This unit is way too large and heavy, though. My brother is still making me pay for his help on getting this atrocity into my basement (took about 8 hours to lower the 2000 pounder with an improvised crane).

However, the easy to make round parts is unparalleled! If you need to work on axis, shafts, etc, the lathe is the only way to go.

Metal Shaper (Rolling, Slipping, Braking and Cutting)

I do not recommend this machine unless you realize that the metal stock you want to cut, will most likely be too thick for this machine. At close to $400, this machine is perfect for too thin sheet metal. To be honest, there is very little point in having a 300 pound machine to cut metal you can cut with a pair of scissors. Yes! The cut will be straighter with the heavy monster, but scissors do the job in an acceptable fashion and do not take as much space.

Instead I recommend (if you must have a machine like this ) to buy the really expensive one. Then , the slip/roll function may work and the brake will clearly work better.

I only document this machine because I had it and it was quite useless for the project. Too bad, because the prospect of its usability was quite something!