"Bolton Tools ZX32GP" reputable mills? (Will convert to CNC)

[Unix]

Hello, I'm planning to start a small basement machine shop business for making parts in various fields, then see which gains traction.
The idea is to start small and hopefully go big later on.

I know buying used equipment is the way to go, however it only makes sense to buy big equipment for low price, right now I'm living in a rental apartment which have a big basement and moving large heavy equipment will be expensive and difficult. Also any repairs on it will be expensive + cost of time.

So I guess I should play safe, buy everything brand new which are not too big and reputable. Only way to do this is to buy imported machines.
My max budget is $10K. I need a CNC, a lathe and a surface grinder. I believe the most important machines are the CNC and surface grinder.

PM-25mv and the PM-727 mills are hands down on my top list, perfect for my needs and within budget. More importantly it is a milling machine best for easily converting to a CNC. PM stuff are respected, proven, tested and reputable. I have seen countless of YouTube videos of them being converted to a CNC and many are happy with it as an entry level CNC/mill. I spent about 3 weeks on researching to converting it into a CNC and pricing for it, I can make the PM-25mv into a working professional CNC for $3,800 after tax and shipping for everything including the mill.

However I like to explore and see if there are any other better "deals" out there from reputable/vouched different brands.

One of which is the Grizzly 0704 going for $1,900, about $500 less than the PM-25mv now.
The G0704 is also on my top list, I have seen a YouTuber named "Clough42" who converted it into a CNC and makes some remarkable advanced parts with it, one of which a high precision tool post grinder for his lathe. The price for a CNC is now $3,300 and now have some extra cash to buy important metrology stuffs like a Brown & Sharpe / Mitutoyo test indicator. The only thing I do not like about the G0704 is that it requires some cutting at the bottom to attach the ballscrew for the X-axis.
A YouTuber named "Practical Renaissance" showed how he converted his 0704 into a CNC and did some cutting with an angle grinder, not sure for saving $500 is worth it, seems to be so.

I'm shopping around and saw this mill "Bolton Tools ZX32GP", wonder if anyone used this machine or have any experience with it.
A website called "toolots" is selling it for $2,159.98 with shipping. The nice thing about this mill is that it is 500LBs while the PM-25mv is 275LBs.
The PM-727 is close to 500LBs but costs almost $3K after tax and shipping, so for $800 extra is the PM-727 worth it?
I hope the ways are precision ground/scraped, low spindle run out.

Thanks for any info and advice.

 

[matthewsx]

Bolton?

No, just no.

John

 

[SouthernChap]

Nice ambition. As a complete newb to machining and learning as I go, I can only imagine what it would take to make my hobby a business.

Do you have a lot of machining experience?

 

[Aaron_W]

The machine itself may be fine, but Bolton has a poor reputation for their customer service. Pretty much no help if you have a problem, and near zero parts availability. Right up there with Vevor.

 

[hotrats]

About 8-10 years ago, as a complete newbie to machining and wanting a benchtop mill I looked at new mills available. Bolton included. Didn't take long to find the company had issues with quality and parts availibility. Getting help from the company seemed to be impossible from internet comments. That may be turned around these days, don't know. I went with PM.

 

[markba633csi]

We try to steer people away from Bolton, and over to PM instead. The extra 800$ would be well spent, in my opinion
especially if you are making money with the machine

 

[MrWhoopee]

I'll agree with the previous posters regarding Bolton tools.

Regarding starting your own shop, what is your experience?

 

[Pevehouse]

Bolton is a No go from someone who made that mistake. I purchased a gently used Bolton ZX45A with all the bells and whistles and I got to be honest. It would make a great boat anchor. It’s just simply cheap Chinese ****

 

[Geswearf]

I don't own a PM mill, nor am I a machinist - just an amateur with some time and experience on mills and lathes at a local university. I'm also relatively new to this forum. However, having read more than a few of the PM sub forum threads, I'm VERY impressed with their customer service and Matt's willingness to get problems straightened out. From a lifetime of using power tools (owned and rented of all kinds) I can say that good customer service is priceless - you can pay for everything else with your charge card.

I installed a 48Kw generator for a customer. Siemens pointed me toward Generac but their customer service was abysmally bad. When time is money, you have to experience the frustration to really understand what I said above.

 

[mmcmdl]

Nice ambition. As a complete newb to machining and learning as I go, I can only imagine what it would take to make my hobby a business.

Easiest way to a million $$$ in a shop is to start with 2 million $$$ .