The Donald Should Hire Me(non Political)

Kenny G

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Well I have finished negotiations with the CEO,CFO and the Mama Bear, she has relinquished a small budget for a new mill so I thought that I would pass my choices by ya all and get your opinions, as is normal my decisions are based on budget, my age, space available, and weight.Here are my choices based on what I have researched and what many of you have recommended to others.

1.http://littlemachineshop.com/3990
2.http://www.micromark.com/microlux-high-precision-heavy-duty-r8-miniature-milling-machine,9616.html
3.http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0758

I have also looked at the HF mill drill but have pretty much eliminated it.I would have loved to get a PM machine but the 25 was the closest to what I could use but out of range of my budget and space available and weight limitations. I am currently leaning toward the G0758 It looks like the best bang for my buck and at the very upper limit of my budget .A refurb is not a consideration at 70 I don't have the time or inclination to take on a project like that not to mention Montana is a waste land when it comes to finding machining equipment or tools.

All that being said is there anything ya all can come up with as to pro's or con's on the ones I have listed or another option of a machine that I have not considered. Thanks for any help.
 
Hi Kenny,

The Grizzle doesn't have the leaning column, which is a plus - a lot I've seen with the pivot at the base either were a sod to tram or had a set of braces to hold 'em upright and didn't get pivoted...
The high/low gears are probably plastic, and act as a weak link in Disaster situations, steel are available (at least here in the UK) but you're then at risk if something goes Horribly Wrong, stalling the motor can often fry both motor and speed-control board, there's a fuse for mains but if there's no fuse between speed control and motor it's a good idea to add one,
The motors (if it has the brushed DC motor) are prone to overheating if worked hard at low revs, it's worth adding a fan to keep the motor cooled [1], and using the low gear range to get low revs, rather than just winding the knob down,
Check that swivelling the head doesn't trap the cable in a shear, a lot of those imported to the UK (and painted green) have that problem - the cable's carrying 100 / 200v DC (market dependent) between speed controller and motor so it can be a little dangerous...
It's worth adding a pivoted block either side of the column-mounted swivel block to trap the head between them and hold it in tram - unlike big mills there's no adjuster, just a pair of bolts to lock the head swivel in place once you've trammed it - and it usually slips out of tram while you tighten up :(

Dave H. (the other one)

[1] a decent PC fan will usually be enough, run from a wall-wart, I recommend this for 3-phase motors being run slowly from a VFD too - mine's a little over the top... (initial installation while doing my VFD conversion)
motor fan small.jpg


It's an EBM Papst 10" fan, mounted using a couple of L brackets and the bottom of a 25-litre chemical drum, and the VFD switches it OFF when the motor's up to speed, on when it drops below or stops so the motor's kept cool and cools off between uses.
The fan's an effective room-tidier, first time I powered it all my dirty pants and socks ended up in one corner :)
 
Thanks to Dave H(the other one) and the others who have posted and looked at this post. I really appreciate Dave's heads up on the potential problems. I am aware of tramming problem with mill/drills especially with the round columns as expressed by others and LMS has recently quit offering a tilting column mills for the precise reason you offered. It hadn't occurred to me that the swivel head my have a similar problem it probably won't be a deal breaker but better knowing before hand than being blind sided and thanks for a potential remedy. As for the brush-less motor, I'm not sure,I will call Grizzly' again good to know thanks. I really don't mind making a purchase that may not be perfect but better to know before than get it and start pulling my hair. Any one else chime in I haven't pulled the trigger on it yet and won't until we get our tax return soon hopefully.
 
well I pulled the trigger today is expected in 3-5 days.
 
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