Improving Rigidity on a RongFu Clone Milling Machine

Gday Jon, thanks very much for the shout out, I’ve had the first treatment with minimal symptoms thankfully, the quick lash up certainly proved where the issue is and now moving forward once a new workshop is found you can solve the issue once and for all, great job mate, cheers

besides the improvement of your mill: you know what really matters - the health of your fellow youtuber, we all enjoy to watch.

That is a lot of flex there Jon. It is good that you now know where most of the issue is. That makes it easy to fix or improve when you move into your new place. Nice touch to shout out to our friends with health issues. I like watching Matty's videos as he does them in a down to earth style, he shows his mistakes so we can all learn from them, and I learn a lot of new things from him.

These machines all have a design defect where the column bolts to the base. The mounting bolts are too short to lock up any stretch. Best practice from earthmoving machinery is to install about 50 mm spacers between the bolt head and the flange being clamped. Grade 8 Bolts are designed to work as springs to store tension and keep the bolted joint closed. Adding a threaded backer plate to stiffen the joint from below the base casting will further stiffen the assembly as will back filling with concrete or Epoxy Granite.

good video Jon..thanks for your time

Everything points to the fact that it makes sense to check with Prussian blue paint the prints of the contacting planes at the base of the column. And bring these planes with a scraper to full contact. And do the same with the clamping bars in the machine guides.

Remember, there's nothing more permanent than a temporary fix. That said, I'm in the process of fitting a large 3 phase motor in to my small hobby mill, and there might be some temporary fixes in that. Keep them coming Jon, and thanks for sharing.

Stefan did a mod to his 45 mill by using epoxy at the join between the column and base. Well worth a watch. My own Chester RF45 mill has a similar issue, but I've just got a new to me universal mill, which won't have the issue and has less of an issue with head room.

Thanks as well Jon for the kindness and sharing Matty's and our new lifes' journey as cancer Vitim's. It's creators like you that make the YouTube community a family! Now, to the mill,,,,great resolve Jon. When I am filling better, I and coming back to this. My RU-FU 31 doesn't have this issue, but never know when it mite (@@)! Cheers ole friend, Bear

Good job, Jon. The last cut sounded good. Ya solved the biggest part of the issue.

Great video Jon, I’m looking forward to the possibility of that new workshop and room for a Bridgeport 😉

Great effect and nice improvement to cutter effect. Enjoyed , cheers!

Good job Jon. at least it’s not going to be a major job to fix in the new shop 👍👍👍

Good result Jon, nice and quick to do as well. It was amazing how much the head moved when you pushed it upwards. It's very frustrating for you being used to industrial machinery. Cheers Tony

Morning Jon. Very interesting video. I am currently chasing my tail trying to resolve chatter issues with my Dore Westbury milling machine. It is definitely a hunt with plenty of trial and error. Very enjoyable in a mechanistic way. 👏👏👍😀

Many a knackered machine tool has been "fixed"this way, though normally when its ran into the ground 😮. Possibly a combination of stiffness and resonance in use, great job Jon. Great to see support for other YT individuals. Thanks for sharing

Jon, great video. inspired me to try to reach out to you on this. Im in the process of rebuilding mine. and the column to the base with 450lbs moved 11thou. I have a video im working on that shows that. the base to column isnt fully scraped at this point though. another area of the flex is the weaker swivel mount to the column. I think your fix is fantastic. I wont be able to mount mine to the wall. Keep after it.

Great problem solving,

Thanks, I’ve got the next size larger mill than yours, but still Chinese (Grizzly). You’ve given me some great ideas for checking my mill. I’ve been kicking around the idea of moving my mill. Currently it is out in the open, not near a wall. If I find the kind of deflection you found, I will definitely move my mill and brace it. It may not be an elegant permanent fix, but appears to provide a lot of improvement with little investment.👍

Very interesting video John. I have a much smaller bench top mill, (Warco 16), which performs fairly well but it has always seemed to me that the flange in the column casting which bolts down to the base is a weak spot. Best wishes especially if you are about to move and it would be very interesting to know more about a potential new workshop.