New mill for newb

Outinfront

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Hi All

My name is Adrian I'm new to the forum.
I'm about to purchase my first Milling machine and I'm Hoping you guys can point me in the right direction.
I have access to Craftex machines, King machines and can probrably order one of the Little machine shop versions.

A few I'm looking at are the Craftex Cx601
http://www.busybeetools.com/products/milling-machine-with-digital-readout-cx601.html


Also the high torque bench mill
https://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=5500&category=1387807683

Any input would be great - sorry if this question has been asked a thousand times.

Thanks
Adrian
 
Well first off welcome to the forum. you'll find a lot of good info and people here all very helpful.
Depending on what you plan on milling along with your budget,and how much real estate you have available, will determine the size and hp of what you should buy. I did have a King mill drill but found it too small and not capable of doing what I wanted I went to the next step to a King 942VS Turret mill. So far it's preformed very well for what I need. I also looked at Craftex from Busy Bee but they didn't offer the size and quality I wanted. I have read some real horror stories about Craftex and Busy Bee on this forum. Do a search, read the posts and decide for your self if thats the way you want to go. If you decide on a larger turret mill consider a DRO for the X,Y axis also a power feed for the X, you won,t regret it. You can always add them later.I made the mistake of not researching and bought the mill drill which I ended up replacing with in a year. It took me 2 years to sell it, at a loss. Do a lot of research and check as many reviews as you can.
 
Welcome Adrian,
You picked the right forum. I don't know those machines but you will certainly hear from someone who does.
 
Thanks Guys

@aliva thanks for the input unfortunately my budget will not allow for the awesome King 942VS.
I have a budget of about 3k Can.
I haven't been able to find much on Craigslist for used.
Any suggestions in the 3k range.

Thanks
Adrian
 
Welcome to HM.

Not sure about customs. But you might look at what Grizzly Industrial has to offer. They are located in Bellingham, Wa, which is only about 100km from Vancouver. Might be worth a drive.

I own their G0619, which I've been quite happy with. They have quite a few mills in your price range.
 
Welcome to HM.

Not sure about customs. But you might look at what Grizzly Industrial has to offer. They are located in Bellingham, Wa, which is only about 100km from Vancouver. Might be worth a drive.

I own their G0619, which I've been quite happy with. They have quite a few mills in your price range.

From what I have read Craftex is Grizzly??
 
Hi welcome to the site. I don't own either of the mills you mention. But I haven't heard anything really bad about little machine shop. I would really look at the grizzly site and compare models . I own a still in the crate HF Mill drill. And an old enco mini Bridgeport style mill like ,doubleboost has on YouTube. He's upgraded his mill and really it's almost full size with his 9" head lift . Just recently he put variable speed motor with vfd setup. But those from grizzly are near $3k.
Good luck with your search and with which ever one you buy. Just please follow SAFTEY rules. Pains can last a lifetime , losing body parts don't grow back.
 
Grizzly rebadges a number of brands under their name. My G0619 is made by Sieg Industral as are a number of other bench top mills carried by Grizzly. It looks like some of the Craftex machines are also Sieg as are many of the Little Machine Shop mills and lathes.

I have found Grizzly's customer service on the better side. They also stock a lot of the spare parts for the machines they carry. It also looks like Grizzly will ship ups ground to Canada.

Sieg Website: http://www.siegind.com/shanghai-sieg-machinery-co-ltd-products.html
 
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Hi All

Thanks for the warm welcome.

So many Grizzilies to choose from, any suggestions in the 3k range?


Thanks
Again
 
I own a PM727 mill from QMT here in the states, it is very similar to the G0795. The PM727 and the G0795 are smaller cousins of the ZX/RF 45 size mills. The 727 does not have built in power tapping which can still be done and it runs on 110v where the G0795 does have this feature and is 220v. I can say in my case I am happy with my mill and it performs well within my expectations and fits the size of my shop well. I personally would shy away from a round column mill (G0705 orG0754) but they are very serviceable if you take into consideration the z axis issues with moving the head up or down. My advise would be get the biggest machine that budget/space allow.
 
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