OK, I looked up the Van Norman Universal mill, and that is a real nice looking machine. Seems very
useful to be able to change from horizontal to vertical cutter axis. It also looks REALLY rigid.
I have seen horizontal mills, but never quite understood the need for a horizontal mill. Why is having the axis in
one direction superior? Seems like I can pretty much do all the same work by using a right angle mount to hold
the part sideways or a different cutter to make the cut. One thing that come to mind is that with the VNorman, you
can avoid having to break down your setup and move a large workpiece around, just reset the machine when a
cut needs to be made on a side. I think about small work, too. Setting up a large workpiece
on it's side, clamped to a right angle mount would be very much less convenient, and, as I
think about it, probably less rigid, too - so no heavy cuts.
I guess until you sit down and actually try to make a part, you won't necessarily see the problems making
some cuts with some machines. I'm still a beginner, making simple parts, and slowly. And I think speed is something
else us amateurs almost totally forget about. In production, speed is really important, where in a hobby machine,
not so much. Being able to really hog off material is of real value in high volume production where how many parts
you have in the bin at the end of the day is the name of the game. I'm just tickled if I can make one part without
screwing it up!
Bill
