Is this too light a mill

Frank Barron

Frank Barron

Joined
Jan 31, 2006
Messages
542
Dear fellow makers.

I have a nice Belt Grinder, a metal cutting bandsaw, a small, but good drill press and now I'm looking for a baby milling machine. 47158.gif
The 47158 from Harbour freight looks like about as much as I want to spend. What is your opinion?

Frank
 
Frank, I would recommend saving your money and getting a bigger machine. I have the Grizzly version of the next step up (Harbor Freight's model 44991-6VGA). My mill is about 50lbs heavier and has close to a 1hp motor (rated that way anyway). Even so, my machine is too light duty for any serious milling. It works okay for slotting guards and as a drill press, but beyond that it just starts chattering and will even jump out of alignment. Once you realize that the tooling for the mill will end up costing more than a small mill itself, you realize that you should have invested in a larger machine. My next mill will either be something like a Grizzly G0519 or, even better and probably less expensive, a used Bridgeport Mill. I really need to stop screwing around and just find room for a Bridgeport.
 
Last spring I got the Grizzly G0463 and so far it has worked great. I have machined several hammers and done alot of drilling and surfacing along with quite a few guards. So far I have spent $800 on tooling and there are still few more items to get. Two people and a light winch can set it up in less then two hours. It has alot of torque even at very low RPM's and I can't fiqure out how I went so long without it.

I just finished up surfacing two 12"x 1 1/2" strips of wagon wheel iron and I would not want to be using any smaller of a machine. Once you get one you realize that they can be used for many more applications then just slotting guards.

mill-web.jpg


http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0463
 
I got the smithy 3 in 1, and love it, though I wish I'd spent a little more and got the Granite series instead of the Midas, if nothing else it'd be nice to have power feeds on everything. The smith is a china made mill/drill/lathe, but is a couple steps above most of what harbor frieght has. They also have dedicated mills and lathes. I primarily use mine for gaurds and a precision drill press, but like for the last couple of days I've been working on a crapman lawnmower and turned out new steel mandrils to replace the cheap hit a pine cone and break pot metal one. Get as good a machine as you can afford, you'll find all kinds of uses for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top