# Proxxon or Shop Fox Micro mill



## 1tcoffman (Jan 10, 2015)

I don't have a lot of money, but I would like to have _some_ milling capability. Are these machines pretty good or would I just be wasting my money, better to wait til I had some more $:thinking:
Tim


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## pebbleworm (Jan 10, 2015)

I have some Proxxon tools and they are very nice, I'm sure the micro mill is as well, but put some emphasis on micro! IF  it will handle the jobs you want to do and you are short on space go for it.  The Shop Fox micro mill looks an awful lot like the Proxxon bench drill with the optional milling table. I have the bench drill and it is great for tiny things, not so much for anything larger.  For not much more money there is the Harbor Freight Sieg X2 mill (wait for a sale and use one of the perennial 20% off coupons).  I am very pleased with mine and it worked well out of the box.  And it it's a good drill press as well.


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## hman (Jan 10, 2015)

+1 on the Harbor Freight mini-mill (#44991), especially if you use a 20% off coupon.  If you can afford to go with a mini (instead of a micro), it's worth the cost differential.  As for minis, though I generally prefer Grizzly, the HF mill has one distinct advantage - it has an R8 spindle (Grizzly has an MT3).  The R8 means that any collets you buy for this mill can be used again on an "upgrade" machine.  Almost no large mills use MT3.

Little Machine Shop has a nice comparison chart for minis:
https://littlemachineshop.com/info/minimill_compare.php

They also have lots of accessories, generally good prices, and great service.  I've heard good things about their line of HiTorque minis, but they're spendy.


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## 1tcoffman (Jan 11, 2015)

Thank you for your input. I think I will wait a little while and get something a little bigger. I can make the space!)


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## 1tcoffman (Apr 3, 2015)

1tcoffman said:


> Thank you for your input. I think I will wait a little while and get something a little bigger. I can make the space!)


Hi, I went ahead and bought the Harbor Freight Mini Mill X2. In the process of tuning it ie air spring, dro's adjusting ect


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## KBeitz (Jul 4, 2018)

For people that don't know.... Shop fox is part of Grizzly tools...


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