Enco RF45 Clone First Run Thoughts · Jul 29, 18:11
After installing a 220V outlet and wiring up the mill, we powered it on and put it through some quick operations. Here are our thoughts…
1. It’s quieter than we had originally anticipated. In fact, it’s quieter than the X3 (and especially the X2 without the belt drive conversion). There is a noticeable hum as the gears mesh, but that’s about it.
2. The Forward/Off/Reverse switch while excelling in its simplicity, could benefit from an additional E-stop switch and/or alternate switch. This would make sure that you (or your friends checking out the new machine) don’t accidentally switch it on.
3. The included face mill, though seemingly inadequate in its ability to cut, as it turns out, does quite a decent job for what its apparent quality. You’d benefit from nicer inserts, but this one gets the job done out of the box.
4. It cuts nicely! Without spending time to tram it first, we put it through its paces slotting 1/4” deep slots with a 1/2” 2-flute carbide end mill running at 1180 rpm in 6061-T6 aluminum and it cuts like butter.
5. The R8 spindle seems to have some tightness with our R8-shanked ER-32 collet system. It fit, but you had to wiggle the collet shank about to get it to fit. On the other hand, our import Enco R8 collets (which work fine in the X2 and X3) slide up only to get stopped just at the taper part of the collet. Apparently, the spindle (not the slot indexing pin) has a tight spot somewhere. More on this later.
All in all, it’s a great running machine with capabilities of hogging out material and then some. Once we work out the R8 spindle issue, we’re fairly certain this one’s a keeper!
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