Hi all,

have been lurking on here for some time but now thought I would contribute as well.

My story starts out with a Chester bench lathe bought 2 years ago. After that I decided I wanted a milling machine, so I got a used round column RF30 mill/drill.
Then I progressed to CNC.

So the lathe got converted first.




And then I saved up and bought a brand new milling machine from Chester again. NEVER AGAIN!

Converted that too




Never been happy with the friction or the accuracy of the Chester mill. That is because it did not come with an accuracy certificate and I found it was warped really badly. You get what you pay for.... If anybody is thinking about one of these, get the Amadeal offering or the Warco one. Better still save your money and by a professionally reconditioned Bridgeport.

Not one to give up, I have decided that I want to install linear guide rails to the Chester to make it better. This was decided after I had spent some time trying to scrape the bugger flat true and parallel. The story can be seen here:

Making a Cheepo Import machine...better...hopefully

Even asked about getting the ways reground. The general consensus from the grinders was " buy a new one mate". It is a very expensive process apparently.

The linear rails I am going to fit are the HiWin 20mm ones bought from wmh-trans.co.uk who did me a fantastic deal on medium preload carriages and flange type ballscrew mounts too.

So now I am at the point of removing the dovetails and I have reach the limit of my round columns ability. I am thus in need of help.
Is there anybody in the Bristol/Stroud or even Saffron Walden/Duxford area with a full sized milling machine with DRO that is willing to help me with the machining of the castings? I will provide the cutting tools as I have carbide endmills and clean up after myself contributing to the electricity costs too.

Kind regards