Milling machine?

Will52100

Will52100

Joined
Dec 4, 2001
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I'm finaly in position to buy a mill, but not shure where to start. Mainly will be used for gaurd slotting, with the posibility of folders latter on.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
The bigger and heavier it is, the more rigid it will be.

If you can, get a Bridgeport

A lot of old machines are laying around in shops begging for new owners........start looking.
 
Listen to Tom. Wow!!!!! That is the is time I said that. The Harbor Frieght Mini-Mill will do the job (barely), but the customer service sucks.
PS: Tom: I still think you have funning looking legs and now you do not have to give me a break since I am not a new guy on the Forums.
 
I have one of the Harbor Freight variable speed mini mills for $499 and it's ok. However, if I had to do it over, I would have saved up and got at least the bigger $1000 version of it. -chris

__________________
Chris Crawford Knives

 
Have you looked at Taig's mini-mill? I bought one about six months ago to do both the jobs you described and have been very happy with it. I got it from cartertools.com for about $560 US and its been great.

Sean
 
Tom and George already gave you the best advice you will get. Somebody told me the same thing years ago. I didn't listen. I went through several of the mini mills/mill drills and took a loss each time I sold them (and I might add I was glad to be rid of the whippy little things.) At last the voice of reason sunk in and I bought a used Bridgeport. I have never looked back.
 
You can find a GOOD used bridgeport for $3000 if you look.......


Those mini mills are just that.............mini. Never owned one and never will, you can see the column flex right before your eyes.

I just bought a brand new Jet 8x36 and I am real pleased with it.

It certainly is no Bridgeport and never will be, but I am not building rocket ships and its plenty accurate for the type of work I do. They are discounted everywhere for around $3000 with free shipping in the continental US.

Remember you will have to buy a good vise and collets with a new machine, as well as some other stuff like hold downs.

and george.................. (_!_)
 
Bridgeport /knee mill types are best . Don't be tempted by round column "mill drills" as they are next to useless for precision work.

Just a suggestion, but has anyone heard anything about Grizzly's Model G3102 vertical mill? ...it 's about as compact as you can get for a knee mill. R8 tooling, tilt/swivel , 360 degree ram - weighs 980lbs.

See it here: "http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?ItemNumber=G3102"

Bob
 
I have the big brother of the G3102. Used to be the G1004. About 100 pounds heavier. Decent for the size/price, but shop around, Enco sells the same thing with a few less options for less. It works pretty well. Not quite like the 10x54 bridgeport I used at school :) but still a very usable piece. I cut some ats-34 yesterday with it no problems.
 
If you have the money and a place to put it, get a good used industrial mill like the Bridgeport. Otherwise try for the heavisest best quality machine you can afford. The tooling for the machine will cost a fortune anyway! If you are lucky, the Bridgeport will have tooling included. Stay away from the Mini Mills if you possibly can! They are betterr than nothing though, just try and get one for which you can get spare parts in under a year!
 
Look here:

www.surplusrecord.com

This is the site that many machine shops buy from.

Besides the Bridgeport brand, look at Republic Lagun knee mills as well. They are clones of the Bridgeport, and are very heavy duty.
 
Thanks guys, I'll have to do some research, but I'm leaning towards a grizzly right now. Won't be in for anougther week, so I'll have plenty of time to do homework.
 
Originally posted by southriv
Don't be tempted by round column "mill drills" as they are next to useless for precision work. Bob
Click to expand...

I beg to differ this point, Bob. I have a Jet JMD-18 Mill/Drill. The head alone weighs in at 660lbs, and I don't hesitate to do anything on it. It's not super for really hogging stuff like a knee mill is capable of, but it's a sturdy reliable machine. It certainly passes the bar for doing guards, slotting, and just about anything else for knifemaking. Oh and btw... it was $1800 brand new.
 
Originally posted by jhiggins
I beg to differ this point, Bob. I have a Jet JMD-18 Mill/Drill. The head alone weighs in at 660lbs, and I don't hesitate to do anything on it. It's not super for really hogging stuff like a knee mill is capable of, but it's a sturdy reliable machine. It certainly passes the bar for doing guards, slotting, and just about anything else for knifemaking. Oh and btw... it was $1800 brand new.
Click to expand...


I have the same(JMD18) , and it's always done great.:)

Edited to add; After I bought mine, I found that Harbor Freight had an almost identical machine, for hundreds of $$ less. Plus they pay the freight.:eek:
 
Jeff & Mike - Sorry - didn't mean to knock your machines. Several friends (more experiened than me) and myself have used the $1000-$1200 mill drills ( that the budget minded so often buy) you see offered almost eveywhere. Each of us has experienced the same thing - about .002 - .003 play in the column. If you clamp down the head and can work within the movements of the quill, then you'll be just fine. This does, place however place limits on your set-ups & type of operations.

I do more than just knifemaking, so that is important to me - as is the ability to do precison work at several levels of operations. Flexibility of movements within a rigid x-y-z axis is what I look for. Even a small Sherline mill, by virtue of its design has more rigidity within its scope of operations than your mill-drill, though it cannot handle anywhere near the same size of material.

When you come down to it, though, a really skilled machinist will perform miracles with a drill press, while an amatuer such as myself is better served by as many features as I can afford.
As far as value today, I still think $1695.00 for the Griz knee mill vs $1800.00 for the Jet is still a better deal ..then again, what works for you is what's best.


Bob
 
Originally posted by southriv
Jeff & Mike - Sorry - didn't mean to knock your machines.

As far as value today, I still think $1695.00 for the Griz knee mill vs $1800.00 for the Jet is still a better deal ..then again, what works for you is what's best.


Bob
Click to expand...

No offense taken.:D
I didn't pay $1800.00 for mine, I got a fairly good deal on it, direct from Jet, through a distributor. IIRC, it was $1200.00 plus freight, and they even discounted that.
It was afterwards, that I found that HF had the same mill for a few hundred less, plus paid frt.:(
 
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