Smithy Granite 3 in 1

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scubasteve4sq

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Mar 20, 2012
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hey guys i got offered a smithy granite 3 in 1 mill/drill/lathe (never understood that any mill can drill shouldn't it be 2 in 1?) anyways i can get it for 900 bucks, so i was wondering if anyone has any experience with using one. im looking at purchasing it so i can try my hand at folders. my concerns with this machine would be accuracy, wandering, durability, and overall quality of work it can put out.
 
Hi. Never used one, but the old adage you get what you pay for applies here.

I agree, really only a 2 in 1. I guess you will have enough milling capacity for a folder, but I bet you will be wanting double the travel as soon as you get it. Also, how rigid is your setup going to be? If you are cutting steel, I don't think its going to have enough ass for any type of deep cuts, but if you are just doing onesey twosey stuff, it might be ok. Its a compromise machine, so if you can deal with limited capacities, thats not a bad price, provided it isnt ragged out. (I looked at getting one for a while. Decided to wait until I buy my next house, so I can have room to drag in the heavy iron easier)

Just buy a bridgeport man!
 
We were just chatting about these in another thread. I'll preface by saying that I've never run or even seen one in person.

I think all your concerns listed are valid. I think you could probably adapt the machine to be useful, but it's not really a great example of either tools, and makes major sacrifices in functionality in both departments, especially the lack of a knee and Z travel other than the quill, which is honestly not how you want to get that movement except for drilling.

Frankly the quill on a bridgeport is only advantageous for drilling also, which is a trade-off for versatility versus rigidity.

You *should* be able to find a much better knee mill for that price. Bridgeports can swing wildly in price by area, couldn't touch one for that here unless it was worn out bad, *but* if you've got will to move something bigger in weight (not footprint) than a bridgeport, there are some absolute GEMS to be found for scrap value. My big mill is a Kearney and Trecker No 2 Vert, from 1939, and it'll run circles around a Bridgeport of any year. Although it does have a lower spindle speed and doesn't have a quill. Try to avoid the chinese clones, although some Taiwan mills are good. I've got a chinese clone that's actually quite decent, but I got it from the guy that bought it new in '93, and it's an MSC branded machine. He used it alot for plastic so, YMMV.
 
i'd love to have a full-size knee mill, like the bridgeport we have at work, but space is an issue so i'm kind of limited to a benchtop model for the time being. is there a high quality benchtop model? i'm less interested in the lathe than i am in the mill, so i guess my question is what is a high quality reputable benchtop mill. i've looked at the grizzley's and the harbor freight specials, they look like junk to me.
 
Best you can get is an older Delta or Burke "3/4" mill. Called them baby Bridgeports. You can easily, take apart enough to get in a basement with another guy. Good, older American made, not chinese pot metal junk, like everything else out there in a reasonable price range, unfortunately.

There's a guy in vermont, name of Joe, who sells a ton of these. I will see if I can dig up his website.
 
I've got the Smithy Midas, and it works OK. If I could get my hands on a Bridgeport, I'd still keep it, but I'd keep it set up for drilling. For folder work I use it almost exclusively as a precision drill press. It's not perfect, but is way more accurate than my other two drill presses. When I got it, I didn't have space for a big mill, barley had space for the smithy. I don't regret getting it, but it does have it's limits.

The question to ask, is what comes with the mill? If it's got a bunch of tooling, then it might be worth it, if you've got to buy the tooling then look for something better.
 
A friend of mine bought a Granite new, and kept it for a couple years before moving up to a b'port pattern mill. He discovered that there was still casting sand inside all the castings and took it all the way apart for a thorough cleaning to protect the precision surfaces.

I recommend "get it" if you can negotiate on that price, and can accept the very small work envelope. They're not rigid, and they're not all that accurate -- compared to a "real" mill, but they're about 10x more accurate than trying to shoot holes with a hand drill. You'll learn to compensate for it's weaknesses, and you can do good work once you understand it's comfort zone. Just realize up front you'll never resurface cylinder heads on it, or take 1/4" deep cuts in anything.

Let's just say you'll get $900 worth of milling work out of it. I paid about the same for a mill/drill and definitely got my money's worth -- I used it for 10 years or so, and was thoroughly done with it when I sold it, but did some respectable work with it.
 
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