The process began in 2007 when trying to develop a method to make simple cut out shapes to allow me to make a box for an electronic gadget.

 

I purchased a compound table and fixed it to an old drill press. I then purchased some slot drills and was on my way. It was heavy and clunky, difficult to use and awkward to move, but it did cut basic straight lines fairly well,

Humble beginnings.

Over then next year and a half I produced and sold several gadgets using the crude “milling machine” to make cut outs. As my interest in machining grew, I learned more and became more dissatisfied with the drill press / table combination and its inherent limitations. Too much side loading would cause the MT2 drill chuck/arbor to fall out of the drill. There was not enough power to mill metal, and the heavy cast iron table caused the drill press table to bend as I was asking far too much of it.

 

Time to purchase a “real” milling machine!

 

^Grae-Tech