Finally ready to add a milling machine to the shop

JPSWorks

JPSWorks

Well-Known Member
UPDATED: just bought a mill. Updated in last post.

The time has finally come. I am getting ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a milling machine. I have been looking on and off for over a year and a half at everything from micro mills, mini mills to used Bridgeports. I have decided for the near future I am going to go with a smaller new mill. Unfortunately I don't currently have room for a full size knee or vertical mill in my garage/shop. Someday I am hoping to have a dedicated shop and bigger, better equipment. But until then I'm going a bit more practical. I think I have narrowed it down to two mills. One is smaller and cheaper and the other cost more but is also more robust.


Anyone here have and use either one of these mills in their shop? Any glaring issues you've had with either?


LMS(Little Machine Shop)
HiTorque Mini Mill, Solid Column with Air Spring
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3990&category=1387807683


Grizzly G0704 - Drill/Mill with Stand
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704


Thanks for your input,




John
 
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Just my personal opinion from experience....... Don't even consider a "mini" mill. I've owned two of them over the years, and anything larger then a 1/8" end mill is too much for them to handle.

Just this year I purchased one of the Grizzly G0704 mills to replace an aging benchtop mill in my finish shop. So far I've been pretty happy with it. It has its own drawbacks, but I would choose it over any "mini" mill.
 
I've got the Harbor Freight version of the Little Machine Shop mill and a little larger JET knee mill. If the only thing you will ever use it for is making pocket knives or drilling pin holes, you'd probably be ok. But, the first time you want to bore a bigger hole or make something for your grinder, you'll be disappointed. The HF version is on sale right now and if you apply a 20% coupon, it's only $519. Not sure that the Little Machine Shop version is worth an extra $375. They're all made in China and cheaply made, but you'll be happiest buying the biggest, most rigid mill you can afford. Both the HF mini and the G0704 are popular cnc conversion machines, that's what I'm currently doing to mine.
 
I own a Sherline Model 5000A. (this is a bench top mini mill) I use it for a variety of things including slotting guards, shaping stock, surfacing folders and other stuff. It will handle up to about a 3/16" end mill easily, larger diameters are dicey. I use a fly cutter or dovetail cutter for surfacing. It has served me well for about 9 years, so I think I got my money's worth. Other small mini-mills, I do not have any experience with. I do know that The Little Machine Shop sells a variety of mini-mills and openly states which ones of those are made in the same factory in China that the Harbor Freight (Central Machinery) version is made in. If you care about this sort of thing, Sherline tools are made in the USA.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
Just my personal opinion from experience....... Don't even consider a "mini" mill. I've owned two of them over the years, and anything larger then a 1/8" end mill is too much for them to handle.

Just this year I purchased one of the Grizzly G0704 mills to replace an aging benchtop mill in my finish shop. So far I've been pretty happy with it. It has its own drawbacks, but I would choose it over any "mini" mill.
Click to expand...


Ed - I am seriously looking at the G0704 or the G0705 from Grizzly. The G0704 is gear driven. The G0705 is belt driven. Any thoughts about this aspect? For about $300 more you can get belt driven vs. gear driven.

In advance, thank you for your assistance.

DeMo
 
The G705 is going to be a more powerful machine, able to do larger work. The reason I chose NOT to go with it is because the old mill it replaced was basically identical to the G705 (round colum). The biggest headache with a round colum mill is that EVERY time I moved the head up or down on the colum, I had to re-zero all your tolerances on the machine. This meant generally 30-45 mins of "down time" while I dialed everything back in.......

Thats the main reason I went with the G704....its a square colum, and once I did the inital setup, and got everything zeroed in, I can move the head the full up/down travel either way on the colum and not have to true every up again.

That being said, I have two mills, the G704, and a large floor model knee mill. The point being that if I need to do big jobs, I have the big knee mill to go to. If your only going to have one milling machine, I think the G705 is the better choice. Its going to be more hassle every time you move the head, but it will handle larger tooling and larger jobs then the G704. I've also found a quirk with the G0704...... as stress on the spindle increases, the motor will speed up.....at first I thought I had a faulty machine, but after talking with several other makers who have the G0704, and a couple of phone calls to Grizzly support, it seems its normal with the G0704.

I did find that the G0704 isn't a machine you want to face mill with......I had a 1" face mill in it, building a tooling plate for folders..... took just a tad to heavy of a bite and blew both the fuses in the machine......the machine was down for several days, as nobody in my area had the fuses, and I had to order them in.

According to the Grizzly spec sheets. the end mill and face mill capacities are:

G0705: Max end mill: 3/4", Max face mill: 3"
G0704: Max end mill: 3/4", Max face mill: 2 1/2"

I generally judge the capacity of a mill by the max face mill size recommended. Face milling is one of the most stress intensive jobs a mill can do. If you try to use the max size face cutter on any given mill, its only going to be able to take VERY light cuts. I usually subtract a 1/2" from the max size face mill, and a 1/4" from the recommended max end mill size, and thats what the machine can comfortably work with.
 
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Plas62, Ed, Selfmade, Cliffrat, thanks for the great input! It is good to hear people's personal experience with the mills they use/have used. As well as limitations of each.

I definitely want to be able to make other things such as tools or fixtures with the milling machine not just knives. But I do realize without a full size mill I will be limited to what I can do with it. With that being said after reading Ed and others here I am leaning towards the G0704 or possibly the PM727.

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I have the little machine shop mill,for the knife shop it works great,it's a solid little machine and worth the extra money over the HF model.Of I have to machine something bigger I use my buddy's Bridgeport.I love my little mill and use it a lot with no issues.
 
A little update regarding the milling machine options. I found a local Bridgeport that is in really good shape for under 2k and I'm going to go check it out in a couple of days to test out.

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It is apparently from the 50s. It's a round ram style Bridgeport. But was supposedly never used in a production environment.

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I ended up finally pulling the trigger on purchasing the Grizzly G0704. It should be arriving mid to late next week. Now I need to start saving for tooling.

John

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