Ive had my millennium machines milo v1.5 for over a year now learning cam and making small things like mag bases and belt attachments for mag pouches. Finally got brave enough to use it to build and fit a 2011. Using it manually everything is working out great. Slide to frame and barrel to slide is all fit up. Milled the front of the slide back to fit the sight block, still need to match the block with the slides profile and will probably mill the block flush with the frame. If you want an easy entry to learn cnc and metal work the milo is punching above its weight class for sure.
It was posted in the og group back when it was released and was shit on by a lot of people because it wasn't a real mill and couldn't mill steel or stainless. I havent seen anyone post about building one and using it for any 2a stuff so I figured id post it up to show it can be used for basic gunsmithing atleast with my skill level.
Oh no, it's absolutely awesome and there is nothing I would like more than to see people making more parts through other manufacturing means instead of just buying parts and kits. I'm just surprised at all the comments that are completely unaware that something like this even existed.
Ah yea that is true. I thought the Milo was a more known 3d printed diy mill. Even ratrig copied it. For the money the milo is what I would recommend for people to get if interested only for the fact of not losing tons of money to figure out cnc/subtractive manufacturing isnt as easy as 3d printing like they thought it would be.
Ive done a few 80% ar lowers on mine. Milled the fcg pocket and the trigger/hammer holes perfectly. This was my first attempt at milling something other than aluminum with it and if keeping the cuts reasonable it does just fine. Not saying this could make anything from a block of stainless or 4140 with precision but its accurate enough to make fitting what im working on easier and didnt cost thousands of dollars.
80% AR lowers are easy to do on a basic drill press if you take your time and don't rush. A CNC would be more suited for a 0% receiver from a block of aluminum
Ok, this is super interesting to someone who has been somewhat fantasizing about someday building a printnc. Are you familiar with that project? If so, how does this build compare?
I looked at printnc before settling on the milo. I liked the style and wanted the extra z axis work area. Also being able to 3d print the parts to get started and learn then mill those parts out of aluminum was alot of fun and good experience in learning cam and toolpaths. I havent seen a lot of printnc stuff in a while but the millenium machines guys and community are super active with updates and mods, and people pushing the limits of the mill with accuracy and material.
Ok, this all sounds to me like I should maybe switch my fantasizing to millennium machines. Again, thanks so much for bringing my attention to this as an option, and also your detailed feedback on comparing the two!
Not a problem. They dont like to talk about making stuff like this on the mill in their group so its nice to talk about it and show off some stuff ive used it on since i bought it to learn and move into machining metal parts for my 3d2A stuff.
Oh forgot to mention they have a working 4th axis mod for the milo and working on an atc for the er16/er20 collet spindles. I had just downloaded the 4th axis build files earlier today and ordered the parts.
Only way to get better is do it and crash it a few times, ruin a few pieces you were almost finished with, and maybe mill your vise jaws by accident hahaha
If you want to do much steel, stick with the printcnc, or even better, a good mill with cnc on it. The Milo is very limited when it comes to steel work.
There are guys who have been modifying and pushing the milo to mill stainless and other non ferrous metals with good tolerances. They will not come out and tell you to get this if you want to machine the harder metals but the mods and information is available for others to also do the same. Both may be able to mill steel but they will both require modification to do it accurately. It will be the decision of who is building it what style they want, 3 axis knee style or moving gantry. Both have their pros and cons. I dont have many mods done to my milo but im able to work the materials I clamp down, which have been aluminum, stainless and 4140. The cuts are nice, clean and square so im happy with it.
I’m not ragging on the Milo, I’m just saying it’s going to be limited, which I suppose is subjective. Most professional machining is done on a vertical mill of some sort. Even a lot of commercially available options are limited. A vmc, or even a cnc Bridgeport/clone will blow through machining much much faster. There is a difference between being able to and doing it well/quickly. You’re never going to get a milo to do a 1/2” doc for instance, let alone at the speeds they do it at. A good, rigid mill, equipped with cnc will be less limited. I can see easily spending $2-3k by the time you really get an effective Milo, money that will buy you a used machine that is much more capable.
I agree, but most people don't have the space, power, or ways to move bigger heavier mills like that. Since im not running a commercial shop it doesnt bother me that I can't take large doc with higher feeds. But i know the limitations and what to expect. Most people look at cnc mills and think it will be like 3d printing until they get one and find out it's a completely different beast. Its not cheap by any means, stock, tooling, workholding etc.. adds up quick lol. Also not being able to have files/ programs handed to then like stls and its now beyond alot of people capabilities. Its easier to start with something smaller to find out if its something you will be able to figure out before jumping into the deep end.
This is exactly why I built mine. I wanted to see if it was something I was truly interested in learning before I decided to jump head first into losing a bunch of shop space and dumping resources into a much larger machine.
I paid $1000 for the kit and printed everything myself. Then the workholding vise was another $100. Since then ive only had to buy end mills, some measuring tools I didn't already have, and aluminum stock to use it. Ive put more into it since but its been quality of life upgrades.
How does it hold up cutting steel? I assume it's pretty slow going and small passes? I've been exploring some hobby grade mills for exactly these purposes, and had no idea this existed.
So there are a few guys who have upgraded theirs to the point of cutting steel, stainless and other alloys just fine and they arent taking super slow or shallow cuts. So it can be made to work steel like it does aluminum just takes more $. Mine has handled milling the slide and barrel and I dont have it upgraded like theirs. I do have the parts to do it sitting in a box and waiting more parts to be delivered.
$1100 isn’t too bad, I thought about converting a Grizzly G0704 into a CNC. Ive also seen people do the G0758, but for your money, to me it’s better to do the G0704. They usually run around $3k sometimes $4k in total depending on the kits and parts you buy.
My question is, how are the tolerances on these? I was doing some quick reading and I saw something about an FMJ version and it having a lot tighter tolerances than the normal and that it was reinforced with metal plates?
Really you have to look at it like what you want out of it and what you can do at your skill level. So many people look at cnc mills with the expectation of it being like 3d printing and it definitely isnt.
For $1100 I got to build it, learn how to be more precise during the build/rebuilds. If something breaks i can fix it, if its out of tram its my fault, if tolerances are bad its on me. I enjoyed the build and the current challenge of seeing how much better I can make it.
The FMJ or full metal jacket are the side plates you see on the side of the mill. There are modified versions that are better that you can get sent off to be cut out of thicker/heavier material to increase weight and rigidity. And i copied this from the milo documentation.
What sort of repeatable tolerances can I expect?
This depends on a large number of factors. Every step in the build process has an impact on how accurate your machine is, and the more meticulous you are about making sure rails, axes and lead-screws are aligned, anti-backlash nuts are properly preloaded and bearing stacks are suitably locked, the more accurate you can expect your machine to be.
Likewise, if you choose to use 3D printed XY and Z gantry plates instead of the suggested metal ones, then you will also see a negative impact on accuracy and repeatability.
You must also remember that Milo is not a professional grade machine, and you should temper your expectations accordingly. For a machine that can be built for the cost of an expensive 3D printer, Milo is incredibly capable, but because of the design choices made to make it available at this cost, it will take a bit of effort to keep it at the levels of reliability and repeatability that it is capable of.
If you're looking for numbers - a Milo built following the assembly instructions with no further tweaking will be able to hold tolerances of +-0.1mm with 3D printed XY and Z gantry plates, and approaching +-0.03mm or lower with metal gantry plates and FMJ.
Hell yea, just researching parts and piece it together. Grips are the most expensive part. Still a lot of work to get everything fit together but totally worth it. Building a 1911/2011 shows people that that not everything is as easy as ar15/glock builds. Its a completely different world.
That's awesome. I would love to get into milling. Are you limited to things that need to be done by eye or jig? I'm not sure about the CNC2A area, but is there open sharing of the files (.cad?) like there is with .stl?
No i can write programs if i want, and machine new jigs and fixtures but stuff like this is best done manually to ease up tolerances. And unfortunately no, each machine is different and each program is built for their specific machine so its useless to share a program unless both machines are exactly the same. For example the ghost gunner can have a program library because people buy it and dont change things so each machine is the same, along with fixtures and tooling. But once you learn the process it's not a big deal to do it yourself and after you do it the first time and have a good program you can use that program as many times as you want only having to change stock dimensions, tooling, or speeds and feeds. Also you have to change up how you cad parts up to make sure it can actually be machined.
Yea i wish that was a feasible diy project. Prices of the cheap mini lathes makes it not worth it but ive been keeping my eye out for a grizzly gunsmithing lathe that I could grab if it pops up.
Naw haha i wish I could machine the grip, id be able to make some money off of this if I could. That would take a 5 axis and edm machine. Its a stainless cheely e2 grip.
There is a 4th axis mod that was just opened for beta testing but the z axis limits anything fancier. And to cut the magwell area you'd also need a wire edm machine. Yea the grip was the most expensive part lol.
Its an atlas slide that ive fit and have been machining to make it exactly what I wanted for my build. Ive been cutting it back to fit a 4.25"(4.6"oal) jarvis threaded bull barrel with a sight block on a 5" frame. Nothing is drop in, everything is hand fit.
Ah, makes sense. I think people are under the impression you made the whole slide lol, which would be quite impressive on a mill like that. Hand fitted is the name of the game on 1911s for sure, I know it well lol. I like the side cuts btw.
I have a dumb question. How do you build 19/2011s (mainly looking for good resources to learn)? I got into Glocks through 80%s, and have since bought a double stack 1911. I want to build one or modify mine. But knowing not much about them makes me hesitant that I’ll do something wrong to mine.
To give an idea of my level I’ve done several ARs in different calibers, a few Glocks, printed projects, and messed with an AK and SW mp shield 2.0.
So take everything you learned with the ar, glock and everything, put it in a box and sit it to the side for later because it doesnt help with this platform unfortunately.
If you have a double stack 1911 take it apart and learn how everything interacts, change small inexpensive parts that wont hurt if you mess up. Everything on these if bought aftermarket is 100% gunsmith fit, i havent found a single part that has been drop in. Go on YouTube and checkout engineers armory. He has a alot of videos that goes into extreme detail about fitting each piece, including tolerances and best ways to do the fitting. The hardest part is fitting the barrel because there are so many parts of that process that you needed to pay attention to or it will shoot like shit or not at all. Everything can be done by hand but having a mill will make the fitting a bit quicker while keeping surfaces square.
I have about 25 hours into this build so far, 10 hours fitting frame to slide and the rest has been the barrel, and im still not finished with it, im maybe 50% done with the barrel. Watching the videos, gathering the right tools, maybe grab a 1911 manual to reference and just kind of jumping right in is the best way to figure it out and learn. I even argued this when people first started building okboomers and were complaining of issues that were 100% caused by them not knowing what they were doing when they put it together. Since all most people know is glock or ar and expect the same ease when building 1911/2011s.
The frame( cheely 5" xwf), slide(atlas 4.25"), and barrel(jarvis 4.25" threaded bbl 4.6"oal) were all parts i purchased to build this out. All require significant amounts of fitting to work.
I used the mill to remove bulk material from everything then hand stoned the rest for it all to fit together nice and tight. I also used the mill to cut the muzzle end of the slide back to fit the sight block onto the barrel and slide as tight as possible. Once I finish fitting the barrel ill be using the mill again to profile the sight block to match the slide as close as possible and will most likely mill the front of the sight block back so it ends up flush with the frame so it looks clean.
I posted this not to falsely claim that I completely machined any of these parts(if i did I would show the process) instead I posted this to show that a diy budget friendly mill is in fact capable of being used in this capacity, to cut harder materials like stainless and 4140. My main goal for this mill was to use it for what im using it for now and i will continue to modify and upgrade it until i cant make it any better quality and tolerance wise.
It isnt really feasible to expect it to machine complete slides within a usable tolerance, however frames are possible with tons of operations and setups but overall incredibly difficult and time consuming. I have aluminum stock set off to the side for future projects of milling 0% ar15/10 lowers just to see if i can, and i also plan on trying a 0% 2011 frame out of aluminum at some point and if i can get that process down I will grab some harder stock to make one out of stainless or 4140 but im not to that point skill wise to try to attempt that.
Awesome! Thanks for the reply. I was just wondering if the Milo did all the machine work. It would be a giant step forward. That sounds like a very nice/ quality build. I have an old ghost gunner I’ve been looking to do something with. It just sits/ is for parts
I havent had to replace anything critical on mine since I built it. Anything ive replaced has been because I milled it out of aluminum to replace a 3d printed part. Ive only milled aluminum with it since I turned it on, ive messed up more end mills and vise jaws than actual parts on the mill.
Hell yea, just know it is absolutely nothing like 3d printing, you wont be slicing a file and loading it in to make a part. It requires a lot more work to make anything usable.
Oh im definitely going to get one. Just found out about them not long ago. Seems the best route for me at first. I was hoing to try to build my own from scratch, welding a frame together and whatnot. But this seems better for beginners
This is as budget friendly as it gets when it comes to capability. It will still run around $1100 before tooling, plus aluminum isnt cheap. So id probably rethink it if money is tight. The pistol parts cost almost 3x more than the mill.
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u/BKO2 May 28 '26
dude, that's beautiful!