- Joined
- Jul 11, 2017
- Messages
- 41
Hello,
I'm new to hobby machinist. I am a blacksmith and welder and only a so-so machinist. I've got an old SouthBend lathe and a Grizzly G8689 mini mill and a drill press.
Where I desperately need help right now is I want to upgrade my milling and drilling capacity. I've got around $2500 to spend and have been looking at four different asian mill drills. I've been told I should buy a used bridgeport mill and I have looked but haven't found anything that I want that I can afford. Besides that they are heavier than the mill drills and I have limited weight moving capability.
So I've been looking at Bolton ZX45, Precision Matthews PM-932M, Grizzly G0761, and the Bailey VMD-40G. I've crossed off the Grizzly although I've had good luck with their stuff in the past, but the 761 head only rotates 45 degrees and I need to be able to drill holes in the end of long pieces and a head tilt of 90 gives me that ability. I'd rather have a gear head machine with a dovetail column. So I wrote to Precision Matthews asking about recent reviews and they directed me here.
The Bailey is nice and they have a good rep for customer service but their price seems a bit high.
The Bolton is the lowest price at $1682, but I have been able to find no recent reviews. There are few youtube videos but several years old.
The Precision Matthews reviews I found were sometimes negative especially about the shipping container.
So please help me out, folks. Tell me the good and the bad. I want a machine that I can uncrate, clean up, crank up, and put it to work drilling and milling steel. I'm hoping for a machine that won't require me to contact customer support.
I'm new to hobby machinist. I am a blacksmith and welder and only a so-so machinist. I've got an old SouthBend lathe and a Grizzly G8689 mini mill and a drill press.
Where I desperately need help right now is I want to upgrade my milling and drilling capacity. I've got around $2500 to spend and have been looking at four different asian mill drills. I've been told I should buy a used bridgeport mill and I have looked but haven't found anything that I want that I can afford. Besides that they are heavier than the mill drills and I have limited weight moving capability.
So I've been looking at Bolton ZX45, Precision Matthews PM-932M, Grizzly G0761, and the Bailey VMD-40G. I've crossed off the Grizzly although I've had good luck with their stuff in the past, but the 761 head only rotates 45 degrees and I need to be able to drill holes in the end of long pieces and a head tilt of 90 gives me that ability. I'd rather have a gear head machine with a dovetail column. So I wrote to Precision Matthews asking about recent reviews and they directed me here.
The Bailey is nice and they have a good rep for customer service but their price seems a bit high.
The Bolton is the lowest price at $1682, but I have been able to find no recent reviews. There are few youtube videos but several years old.
The Precision Matthews reviews I found were sometimes negative especially about the shipping container.
So please help me out, folks. Tell me the good and the bad. I want a machine that I can uncrate, clean up, crank up, and put it to work drilling and milling steel. I'm hoping for a machine that won't require me to contact customer support.