Yet Another "Which Mill" question

PHPaul

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Let's say a fella wanted a mini mill, and he had a budget of $1200 for the machine, shipping and basic tooling.

Must-haves for the mill are:

R8 collet capability
Solid dovetail column
0 (or 100) - 2500 RPM speed range
More table travel is better.

Basic tooling is defined as:

Decent vise
Starter Kit of end mills
Decent selection of R8 collets
Edge and Center Finder
123 blocks?
V-blocks?

I already have a hold-down kit and a set of parallels, t-slot cleaner and center drills.

I'm looking primarily at Grizzly 0781 and Little Machine Shop's HiTorque line (they sure are proud of their shipping!)

So, 2 questions:

1. Does one of the listed machines have any particular advantage over the other.
1b. Is there another machine I should consider?

2. Is there other initial tooling I should consider?
 
After doing all of the research to select a machine myself I thing 1200 is going to be very tight...is it possible to hold out a while longer to get up to 2k?
It looks like that mill is popular and personally I think grizzly has decent shipping price, but both are fairly small...are you sure you this size will make you happy as well as fit all of your present and FUTURE projects?
 
Thank you for your thoughts.

I could stretch the budget to $1500 initially if I had to.

As to size, I think the ones I have listed are a good match for my Grizzly 8688 lathe. Both will be used primarily for model building in brass and aluminum with perhaps a few relatively small parts out of steel.
 
Would you consider used? A little patience and luck will award you with a high quality milling machine. High quality new machines are big bucks
 
I am indeed watching for a used unit. Craigslist of course, and a local/New England trader magazine called Uncle Henry's. Nothing yet.

I don't believe I'd go the EBay route as I'm not a very trusting individual and would want to put my hands on any used machine before I plunked down any cash.

Time is not an issue particularly either as I'd prefer to save up the "pin money" rather than dipping into savings. I have a little cash income from doing odd jobs for other folks that is mine to spend without having to get clearance from the Chief Financial Officer ;)
 
I’m just about done with eBay. Too many bad shipping experiences.

I found my milling machine on Craigslist locally but it took time. I didn’t steal it, but also felt like all the stuff I got was a good value.

There’s a great team here to help you look, with the top bird-dog being silverbullet. He has quite the gift of search :)
 
I have bought a couple of machines off eBay. However, they were close by and offered money back guarantee so I felt it was a safe bet, had good experiences with both buys. Also, if you see something you are interested in on eBay check Craigslist for the sellers area, people often list on both sites.
 
The first thing you notice with smaller mills is how small the tables are, and you soon wish you had a mill with a bigger and wider table, no matter how small I choose my projects I still get stuck sometimes when machining both ends of a workpiece.
 
Between the two candidates you mention, I'd favor the LMS HiTorque. (1) The Grizzly has a tiltable column, like my HF 44991. As far as I'm concerned, it's not just a useless "feature," but also a source of weakness and instability. The column on the LMS is solidly bolted down to the base. (2) The LMS mill also has an air spring column "counterweight," while the Grizzly has the less capable spring arm. (3) The LMS is gearless, thus quieter than the geared Grizzly. And it has one less failure mechanism - stripped gear teeth.

PS - I'm glad to see that Grizzly has finally gone to the R8 spindle taper. At the time I was buying a mini, all Griz offered was an MT3 spindle. So I went with the HF. I've used the HF mini for some years now. And though it's small, it has pretty nice capabilities.
 
Thank you for your thoughts.

I could stretch the budget to $1500 initially if I had to.

As to size, I think the ones I have listed are a good match for my Grizzly 8688 lathe. Both will be used primarily for model building in brass and aluminum with perhaps a few relatively small parts out of steel.

Keep putting off the purchase, and build up the account. Every bit of extra cash gets you additional capability. Tooling you can add a bit at a time, but the basic machine is what you'll be working with (stuck with). While waiting and building up that account, a nice used machine may come available.

Don't try to match the g8688 lathe. Match the mill to what you hope to use it for. As others ave pointed out, mill space gets eaten up in a hurry.

My Maho is a 12 x 8 x 12 (XYZ) - which makes it only 3" bigger in the Y - compared to the Griz 0781. The Maho is a great little mill (it has other redeeming features, such as over 10 times the amount of metal, a 40 taper, plenty of power and numerous attachments) but I have to be creative with most projects in order to fit in the work envelop.
 
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