Vertical Mill

gzig5 said
If head work was on the menu for the mill, I would be holding out for a 10x50 table machine. More room for fixturing and you can get to each end of the head with some table travel left. You need to be able to swing a big facing mill to do a head in one pass and it should go all the way off each end so you need all the Y-travel you can get. These big machines are less popular with home hobby guys. Bridgeport is the big name but don't pass up a TREE, Index, Wells-Index, or one of the better quality Asian imports. Be prepared to support a three phase motor with a VFD or if your machine has multiple motors for feeds or pumps, a rotary phase converter is a better solution.

A 10x50 table won't do it either....or at least that's what my milling machine is and it won't go off the end of the cut. If I'm taking a lot off, I'll do it with a fly cutter and then take the head to a shop for a light finish cut. Lots of shops around here don't like to take off more than .010 but it's not problem if I bring heads to them with .040 or more cut off. Most I've done was .100! That was just to see what an open chamber head would take lol. Even dissected stock heads to see how much material is around the ports etc. I know about core shift but still wanted to see the internals.