Jet JMD-18 Mill/Drill

Coolidge · Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:49 pm

Been looking for a used drill press locally and came up empty so I ordered this Jet JMD-18. The steel stand was on backorder and should arrive later this coming week, its on a temp wood stand for now. Made in Taiwan, fit and finish is pretty good. I drilled and tapped the 1 inch lift kit for the sander Baldor motor last week, that's the aluminum block in the vice.

Farmwelding · Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:27 pm

Jet makes some nice stuff and that looks killer. A nice vise as well. I love me some Kurt vises. That should last for the rest of the time you need it so happy drilling and milling.

Coolidge · Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:45 pm

Thanks Farm, they want $400 for a decent Asian made vice now so I popped for a USA made Kurt. Its the new Kurt DX6 Crossover which replaced the old Kurt D688. Did you spy the centering scope in the drill chuck? That thing is awesome for those like me with aging eyes. Scratch a line or X with a metal scribe, the 45x scope will put you in the center of the valley of the scribed line, badass for drilling bolt patterns.

LtBadd · Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:08 pm

Coolidge wrote:Thanks Farm, they want $400 for a decent Asian made vice now so I popped for a USA made Kurt. Its the new Kurt DX6 Crossover which replaced the old Kurt D688. Did you spy the centering scope in the drill chuck? That thing is awesome for those like me with aging eyes. Scratch a line or X with a metal scribe, the 45x scope will put you in the center of the valley of the scribed line, badass for drilling bolt patterns.

Graet looking machine, if possible I'd like more pics from different angle just to check it out, even on the Jet website them seem to have only one.

Can you post a link the sighting scope?

Thanks

Coolidge · Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:30 pm

Here's a link to the centering scope on MSC, wait for a 25% off sale I got it for $371.88. Note, I have owned the cheaper China knock off, this one is way better and not that much more money. The China knock off has a MUCH smaller eyepiece and is smaller overall, kind of difficult to get your head stuffed in next to the spindle to see through it. I took a chance on paying more for the Finn and I'm very happy I did. I'll post more pics of the mill/drill later today.

https://www.mscdirect.com/webapp/wcs/st ... s/00797688

Manufactured by Finn Tool & Instruments Canoga Park, CA http://www.finntool.com/

Coolidge · Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:35 pm

Tip: The #1 gripe about a round column mill/drill like this Jet is losing position left/right if you have to raise or lower the head. Verses one of the many square dovetail column benchtop mills. With the centering scope you can mark your position, raise/lower the head and dial right back onto your position.

BTW I have owned the square dovetail column benchtops before, they have their issues hence I purchased this one. Spindle RPM is one issue, the Jet here tops out at 3,000 rpm vs many square columns at 1,600 rpm. Plus the gear head square columns are LOUD as hell WHAAAAAAA disturbing my quiet peaceful TIG hobby zen. Jet has USA based support, parts, and a 2 year warranty.

LtBadd · Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:42 pm

Coolidge wrote:Tip: The #1 gripe about a round column mill/drill like this Jet is losing position left/right if you have to raise or lower the head. Verses one of the many square dovetail column benchtop mills. With the centering scope you can mark your position, raise/lower the head and dial right back onto your position.

BTW I have owned the square dovetail column benchtops before, they have their issues hence I purchased this one. Spindle RPM is one issue, the Jet here tops out at 3,000 rpm vs many square columns at 1,600 rpm. Plus the gear head square columns are LOUD as hell WHAAAAAAA disturbing my quiet peaceful TIG hobby zen. Jet has USA based support, parts, and a 2 year warranty.

I never thought of that, however let's say you're going to drill a 3/4" hole, you sight in on the punch mark and drill a pilot hole, then have to raise the head to allow for the 3/4 drill, can you still sight on a 3/8" hole? I haven't used one of these borescopes, but others I have used, have very limited field of view and depth of focus.

Coolidge · Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:37 pm

LtBadd wrote:
Coolidge wrote:I never thought of that, however let's say you're going to drill a 3/4" hole, you sight in on the punch mark and drill a pilot hole, then have to raise the head to allow for the 3/4 drill, can you still sight on a 3/8" hole? I haven't used one of these borescopes, but others I have used, have very limited field of view and depth of focus.

No as there would be a pilot hole and the viewing area I think is only .1 diameter. But you could make a simple guage that fits in the pilot hole and mark that, mark a piece of masking tape and stick that over it, if working magnetic metal scribe an X on a magnet and stick that on there, mark your vice jaw and the number of table turns back to center, any number of methods of keeping track of center.

Coolidge · Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:35 am

LtBadd · Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:44 am

Very nice machine, thanks for the photos.

Erich · Thu Jun 08, 2017 12:38 am

If you need to find an existing hole, you chuck a dial test indicator in the Jacobs chuck. Move the tables until the needle on the indicator doesn't move when you spin the chuck. (By hand only!)

Coolidge · Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:08 pm

A test indicator would be another method, I consider a test indicator (I like dial indicators vs digital for this) a must have instrument.

In the example he asked about its not really an issue as this machine has 5 inches of quill feed. I recently spot drilled then worked my way up using 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 1/2 inch bits all without having to adjust the height of the machine up/down on the column. On a machine with only 3 or 4 inches of quill travel this might well have been an issue.

In other news the back ordered stand finally arrived yesterday and I'm lifting the machine onto it today. The stand is pretty decent quality.