3/4 mill options

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agshooter

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I've been shopping for a mill for a while and really wish I had room for a Bridgeport as they are a dime a dozen.

So that has me looking at the 3/4 mills (Clausing 8520, Rockwell, Taiwanese 8x30, etc.) I was looking at Millrite, but not a fan of only having fine OR coarse down feed. If I had to choose one, I'd want fine and those are harder to come by it seems.

I rarely see a Clausing, the Rockwells I see a little more often and the various Taiwanese I see most often (Jet, MSC, Grizzly, etc.) and they all run roughly the same price.
Can y'all help me with the pros and cons of these? Of these, should I look harder for one over the other?
Thanks!
 
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agshooter said:
I've been shopping for a mill for a while and really wish I had room for a Bridgeport as they are a dime a dozen.

So that has me looking at the 3/4 mills (Clausing 8520, Rockwell, Taiwanese 8x30, etc.) I was looking at Millrite, but not a fan of only having fine OR coarse down feed. If I had to choose one, I'd want fine and those are harder to come by it seems.

I rarely see a Clausing, the Rockwells I see a little more often and the various Taiwanese I see most often (Jet, MSC, Grizzly, etc.) and they all run roughly the same price.
Can y'all help me with the pros and cons of these? Of these, should I look harder for one over the other?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have you looked at Precision Matthews?

I have bought 3 machines from them, & I am currently saving up (actually paying down debts) for another.
 
My first mill (I still own it) is a "Husky AS1" 8x30 Taiwanese (maybe Chinese?) mill. When a great deal on a bigger Enco mill in excellent shape came along I could not pass it up.

For me the 8x30 is a big improvement over a mill/drill or benchtop mill. Having a knee really opens up a lot of possibilities as well as the max height under spindle. The weight/mass of the 8x30 also makes a big difference in my opinion. It uses the same R8 collets my bigger Enco mill does. The Enco is more rigid than the 8x30 but I never had a problem with the 8x30 with the smaller projects I tend to do. One of the major steps up with the Enco was a powerfeed on the X axis that my 8x30 doesn't have... but this could certainly be added to the 8x30 and some owners have. My 8x30 does not have one shot lube like my Enco but there is a thread on here somewhere where someone put one shot lube on an 8x30 when they completely rebuilt their 8x30. One other thing my 3 phase Enco mill has that my single phase 8x30 does not is the ability to reverse the rotation of the spindle, which I haven't found all that important yet.

A feature that neither of my mills have is the ability the nodd the head (tilt it fore and aft) but this hasn't really caused me any issues either as they can both tilt side to side. There was one time that I really wish I had a mill head that would nodd as well as tilt side to side. I was drilling compound angled holes in the bottom of a slab of cherry to make holes for splayed chair legs to go into... I had to resort to trigonometry which was awful and the phrase "why do I have to learn this krape I will never use it!" came back to haunt me from highschool. I have never had an issue with my Enco getting out of alignment under heavy use and I have never had this problem with the 8x30 mill either.

As far as fine vs course quill feed I find that even with my fine/course feeding Enco I usually lock the quill and raise the knee / table to the spindle rather than the other way around. For the second deeper cut I also always raise the knee even though lowering the quill would be faster. So, in my opinion, the quill feed gearing does not make any difference to me. Power quill down feed for boring would be a nice option on either of the mills though.

I think the 8x30 mills are great machines and perfect for limited spaces. Occasionally I will do one operation on the Enco and a second operation on the 8x30 to minimize tooling changes. I should probably sell the 8x30 and use the money to buy a DRO for the Enco but I have dreams of turning it into a CNC some day for which I think it would be an incredible hobby machine!
 
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erikmannie said:
Have you looked at Precision Matthews?

I have bought 3 machines from them, & I am currently saving up (actually paying down debts) for another.
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Yeah, but buying new is out of the question, price is way too high. Maybe in a few years when I can justify the cost with the work, but not now with the available used machines on market.
 
I think an 8x30 import mill would be a great option. I'm working on a Rockwell knee mill currently. The table is 6x24, which seems fairly small compared to my 9x29 round column machine. Both were affordable on the used market. Both are good machines. I can't say what you ought to do, but I know what I'd do. If I didn't have a milling machine, and I knew where a Burke Millrite was that I could buy, I would buy it. But otherwise, the R8 spindle is the only thing that would be something I might care about. All other differences in this class of machine aren't very important to me. Most of the "nice to have" features can be added as you go along.
 
Why not look for a small horizontal mill and add a Bridgeport m-head. Small horizontal mills are a lot heavier built than the mid size vertical mills plus you'll have the features of both of you ever need it. They're usually priced right too.
 
jwmay said:
I think an 8x30 import mill would be a great option. I'm working on a Rockwell knee mill currently. The table is 6x24, which seems fairly small compared to my 9x29 round column machine. Both were affordable on the used market. Both are good machines. I can't say what you ought to do, but I know what I'd do. If I didn't have a milling machine, and I knew where a Burke Millrite was that I could buy, I would buy it. But otherwise, the R8 spindle is the only thing that would be something I might care about. All other differences in this class of machine aren't very important to me. Most of the "nice to have" features can be added as you go along.
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Why would you go Milrite over the others? I have seen a few near me in the $1500 range. No tooling, mo power feeds or DROS, just machine.
pineyfolks said:
Why not look for a small horizontal mill and add a Bridgeport m-head. Small horizontal mills are a lot heavier built than the mid size vertical mills plus you'll have the features of both of you ever need it. They're usually priced right too.
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I have thought about this, but don't know what I don't know. Can all horizontals take a Bridgeport M-head? Is the M-head the only one that works? For example I have seen a few Rusnok mills that look like what you are talking about, but with Rusnok heads.
 
agshooter said:
Why would you go Milrite over the others? I have seen a few near me in the $1500 range. No tooling, mo power feeds or DROS, just machine.

I have thought about this, but don't know what I don't know. Can all horizontals take a Bridgeport M-head? Is the M-head the only one that works? For example I have seen a few Rusnok mills that look like what you are talking about, but with Rusnok heads.
Click to expand...

You would need to fabricate an adapter to attach the head to the overarm of the horizontal, you'd have to look at the machine and see if the overarm is able to be modified. The m-head was generally used because of it's size and weight. Little machine shop use to sell small replacement heads for their mills that might work. It's just another option to consider.
 
At a dime a dozen I would find room for a Bridgeport.
Nothing really compares to the versatility, and availability of new AND used parts.
 
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