In my limited experience with the small mills, such as Grizzly G0704, you don't have good control of the
down feed of the quill. And no hard stop. You can't lower the head on the column very carefully
to get an accurate depth change, because of stiction in the ways. It's hard to move a cutter
down a known amount. You measure something and know you want to take off .003" more.
Now what do you do?
With a knee mill like the Bridgeport you can raise the knee, carefully and against gravity while
watching an indicator, to get an accurate change in cut.
And the working envelope is just so small on the smaller mills.
Bill
down feed of the quill. And no hard stop. You can't lower the head on the column very carefully
to get an accurate depth change, because of stiction in the ways. It's hard to move a cutter
down a known amount. You measure something and know you want to take off .003" more.
Now what do you do?
With a knee mill like the Bridgeport you can raise the knee, carefully and against gravity while
watching an indicator, to get an accurate change in cut.
And the working envelope is just so small on the smaller mills.
Bill