Hello everyone;
I am not new to hobby machining, but I only have a Taig milling machine which is surprisingly good for its size, but annoying in that there is only 8 inches of daylight under the spindle and has that completely useless (in my opinion) rotatable column which gets knocked out of tram so easily (don't even think about using a fly cutter with this mill!). S0... I am in the market for a new machine with a rigid column and a decent amount of space under the spindle- I am also looking for a rigid machine made of cast iron and steel - no aluminum.
I am presently considering either this : http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html or this one at Grizzly : http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704 . The Grizzly is the lighter of the two and would be easier to wrestle into my basement shop, but I noticed that it seems to be merely a beefed up version of the popular "mini-mills" in that it uses the same headstock gear system. The Harbor Freight mill on the other hand would be as rigid as I could need, but I am uncertain about the quality of that machine and no nearby HF store has one to examine. Do any of you have either of these machines and if so could you comment on them please? Any input is appreciated, but be aware that I cannot manage getting a used Bridgeport (the usual exhortation is to get one of these) into my house and don't want to deal with something that heavy in any case. Thanks in advance for any responses/replies!
I am not new to hobby machining, but I only have a Taig milling machine which is surprisingly good for its size, but annoying in that there is only 8 inches of daylight under the spindle and has that completely useless (in my opinion) rotatable column which gets knocked out of tram so easily (don't even think about using a fly cutter with this mill!). S0... I am in the market for a new machine with a rigid column and a decent amount of space under the spindle- I am also looking for a rigid machine made of cast iron and steel - no aluminum.
I am presently considering either this : http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html or this one at Grizzly : http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704 . The Grizzly is the lighter of the two and would be easier to wrestle into my basement shop, but I noticed that it seems to be merely a beefed up version of the popular "mini-mills" in that it uses the same headstock gear system. The Harbor Freight mill on the other hand would be as rigid as I could need, but I am uncertain about the quality of that machine and no nearby HF store has one to examine. Do any of you have either of these machines and if so could you comment on them please? Any input is appreciated, but be aware that I cannot manage getting a used Bridgeport (the usual exhortation is to get one of these) into my house and don't want to deal with something that heavy in any case. Thanks in advance for any responses/replies!