any preference between HF or Grizzly mini drill?

[Joel_NM]

I was just looking at it again when your comment came thru and had noticed it came with the tooling. if it has the belt drive upgrade already, that does improve its outlook, since those are things I would need / do in the near future also. thanks for the added info

Howdy. First time poster here. Just lurking in the background, I too am looking at buying the HF mini-mill. I priced the included tooling items on the Little Machine Shop and found Enco beats them by a good margin IMO. I would be swayed by the belt drive issue, but it delays my purchase due to cash-on-hand. Were I you, I would base my decision on total costs to your home or shop. For me, I am visiting the mother-in-law in Los Angeles over Christmas so, shipping is not an issue. If you are closer to HF than Little Machine Shop the 170 lbs shipping fee might be a deal maker or breaker. I always consider total cost. If the better machine falls into the category of "I can't afford it”, I have two choices. Wait until I can afford it, or buy the one I can afford and get busy making chips and hopefully useful parts. Buying a car is very similar. What options can I really afford versus what do I have to have? If the cheaper HF mill will do 90% of the jobs you envision, how much is that extra 10% worth to you? If I am spending somebody else’s money things always look different
Joel

 

[tripletap3]

I am 100% with OakRidgeGuy! All these machines are made by Sieg but the guy who owns LMS seems to have a very personal relationship with Sieg and puts a tremendous amount of pride in his machines. He visits China frequently and inspects these machines and the factory. My next would be Grizzly and far distant harbor freight.

 

[OakRidgeGuy]

On my LMS HiTorgue 3690 mill, the one thing that I noticed is that the mill is spec'd out pretty good. Z axis was only off .003 X+ direction. That was an easy fix. I can not say that for the HF. I had one.. will never buy another one.

 

[Taz]

(EDITED)
If you're comparing apples to apples, there is one more to look at. http://www.wttool.com

They may be made by the same factory, but Foxconn makes the parts/assembly's for Daewoo same as Samsung, Sony, and Apple. The buyer sets the requirements, so it's pretty normal in any type of custom branded merchandise to have identical products, that aren't so identical. Companies like HF and Grizzly have more power because they turn huge volumes of that stuff, but they also place a greater load on the factory, which still has a schedule to keep.

I've worked in several factories, and I can tell you it's a nasty game we played of pushing production to the point of QA failure, write a few pink slips, and then push quality to the point of schedule issues. So it's also important to consider that because one machine you've demo'd was of acceptable quality, doesn't ensure that you will be so lucky.

You probably have a HF nearby, but grizzly, wholesale tool, and LMS are a good stretch. Grizzly is the closest, and it's still an 8 hr drive, 10-12 for wholesale tool, and the other side of the country for LMS. HF (Edited from "Wholesale Tool") is the only one that states they do not refund shipping for any reason. So if you run into a defective unit, your paying to send it back. This does not apply if you use in store pickup, and they have a 90day exchange policy. The others have a standard 30/5 exchange policy. You have 30 days, but only 5 days from receipt to request the exchange, then they'll send you postage paid labels, and after inspecting your product, will deduct the cost if it's your fault, or straight swap if not.

Shipping damage is always the liability of the shipper, but grizzly does a good job of acting on your behalf if you take the right steps to document (always photograph, and write a description on the receipt before you sign it).

One thing that LMS has that nobody else does, apart from the upgraded machine, is a replacement parts catalog online. The others have tons of replacement parts and upgrade parts, but due to the vast catalog do not present them online, you must call and purchase sight unseen.

I've stopped going to HF since finding WT. They have comparable prices, but the quality of their products in most cases is far superior. They also warehouse raw materials, hardware, and brand name products like Irwin, Starret, Freud, Jet etc... Their people know their stuff too, it reminds me of the old parts shops my dad used to take me to, where they knew how to use a reference manual, and didn't rely on direct replacement parts. They have a huge library of additional information on their products. For instance I recently purchased a 3/8x2x24 carbon steel straight edge for $50. The comparable Starret was far more than that, but he found that their tool steel blanks, were precision ground to .001 and far cheaper. Which was perfectly fine for my use.

Their mini mill is the same as HF or grizzly, but they carry both R8 and MT versions. My experience with them so far tells me they probably have more strict QA standards than HF. Unfortunately it's a $1000 price jump to the next size up, so if you're comparing apples to apples, I'd say check them out too. If you're considering an upgraded product, LMS is a top notch outfit, with a great satisfaction policy, online replacement/upgrade catalog, and a much more affordable step-up mini mill.