Altmill Portability

Community Support šŸ› ļø Assembly
1

I am very interested in the Altmill. The biggest downside I see for me is the assembly process. I would like my machine to be somewhat portable.

I spend a good chunk of time each summer in a different location and would like to take my machine with me to do work there with minimal teardown and setup time.

This is the one feature of the Onefinity series that really has my attention. With a table in each location it would be easy to bring the machine back and forth with me.

The lack of portability for the Altmill may just be a side effect of making the table robust.

Does anybody have any idea how much of the Altmill disassembly and reassemble can be avoided for transporting it in a reasonable amount of space?

Any other ideas for portability (other than a trailer)?

2

Since nobody has answered yet and since I just finished my Altmill build, I can confidently say that in a range of 0 to 10 with ten being totally portable, the Altmill rates as a solid one. Of course that is just my humble opinion.
Even if you have a trailer, youā€™d better have two substantial hulks of men available for movement.
The legs would come off no problem but you are looking at a 200 lb (or so) very large/awkward object to move. Also, most of the threads are into Aluminum which isnā€™t the best for frequent disassembly and reassembly.
If I were in your shoes I would likely buy a smaller mill that I can set up at the remote station and schedule any large jobs so that they happen when I am in my main location with the Altmill.

2 Likes
3

Thank you for the reply.

The 2 locations are about 1000 miles apart, so it isnā€™t a matter of scheduling jobs. I would just like to bring the capability of a CNC router with me.

4

What I was suggesting was that, letā€™s say you go to a cottage in the summer ā€¦ have a small portable mill at the cottage and do not do large jobs at that location. Wait until you get back to the main machine (winter?) and then run the large jobs that require a larger mill.
If you require full capability in both locations buy two Altmills because they are not portable (to the average human being)
Anyway, you asked ā€˜how portable is the Altmillā€™ and I gave you my opinion ā€¦

5

And thank you for the information. I was just adding more context that I originally left out.

6

I suppose youā€™ve looked at the folding portable dolly style base for Onefinityā€™s Journeyman 48x32 machines. Itā€™s portable and frankly looks like it would meet your needs better than a AltMill. It acts lot like a folding miter saw stand.

7

Mounts for the LongMill are varied, supplied by the CNCer. For portability, the LongMill can be mounted on a tilting rolling stand which can go thru doorways (=< 30 inches) and up and down ramps, and be run horizontally or 15o off vertical. Heavy-duty, tilting on a pair of pinion pins, the stand is the Rockler panel and ( 56889 http://www.rockler.com - ROCKLER MATERIAL MATE). You can see it in this video, for instance, by IDC Woodcraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9ar4fdu4g
Amazonā€™s current price for the tilting cart is a hundred dollars higher than Rocklerā€™s own. Delivery in about a week.
4 inch casters
Hereā€™s to portability!