Bummed Out Newb On My First Mill Purchase Gone Bad

rdrasher

rdrasher

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Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and new to machining (as in NEVER even turned on a mill). I've spent a week or more lurking around trying to get a feel for the forum and learn a few things.

Backstory:
I recently decided that I needed a quality drill press for my backyard shop where I work on motorcycles, atv's, and so forth. So I figured if I'm going to spend a good amount of money on a DP, I might as well get a mill and expand the possibilities. I found that a full size knee mill seems to be the way to go if the money and space allows.

So a couple of days before Christmas I came across a Craigslist ad about an hour away from my home for a Bridgeport J head @ $700.00 That seemed like a pretty cheap price for a refurbished Bridgeport and wasted no time to contact the seller and hustled over there to check it out. After looking it over to the best of my ability, I felt it was worth the money asked and paid for the mill and got a receipt. We agreed that I would arrange to pick it up after the holidays from his business.

Unfortunately after several attempts since to contact the seller (he leaves me hanging for days at a time) and pick up the mill (no show on agreed day and time), I've given up and asked for a refund and he agreed.

Currently:
So, I don't think I'm going to find a full size mill in my price range of $1,000 in my area (central FL). Should I start looking at a mini mill or something?

I found this one and was wondering if it's worth the asking price?

https://jacksonville.craigslist.org/tls/5940457327.html

Or should I go with HF and 20% coupon?

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html




Thanks in advance,

Gary
 
I owned a J head BP which I bought in 1992 and scrapped in 2014, it was old when I bought it.

It was so clapped out that I would not sell it even though there were offers, I did not feel comfortable selling such a machine to a hobby user even though it would work fine for such a purpose.
 
I tried to contract that same add last week and he did not reply to me either.
There are several adds for mills but I have found most are sold but the person did not remove the add.


I would choose the HF mill as it looks like a RF30 size which is larger then the RF20.
You can add an X axis power feed later if you find you want that.

Good luck
Ray
 
Grizzly may offer you the same mini mill for the same price but a better shipping price. They may have a package deal with vise, and basic tooling for the price of the HF mill, too. Shop around. Don't forget about Precision Mathew machines.
 
I had a Burke Millrite mill wanted larger J head, but could not find a deal, so went and finally added a DRO and as soon as I finish a J head with a round ram came up for $500+$100 to deliver. Bought it and sold th Burke (kinda Bridgeport 3/4 size) for$1400 in a couple of days, supper mill for smaller foot print. I did an XYZ DRO right away and an X axis power feed and love rigidity. Be patient and wait, learn how to use and a good deal will show up. Then place a want add in the paper. I got my Burke and Rockwell lathe from the want add for $900.

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk
 
4gsr said:
Grizzly may offer you the same mini mill for the same price but a better shipping price. They may have a package deal with vise, and basic tooling for the price of the HF mill, too. Shop around. Don't forget about Precision Mathew machines.
Click to expand...
Thanks 4gsr! I'm in the process of looking through the mini mill area for more options like the grizzly go704 and the pm-25. Getting ready to look at the little machine shop site now.
 
rdrasher said:
Thanks 4gsr! I'm in the process of looking through the mini mill area for more options like the grizzly go704 and the pm-25. Getting ready to look at the little machine shop site now.
Click to expand...
I was in the same boat a month ago, and ended up choosing the pm-25 over the g0704 or LMS. After reading about the noisy plastic gears on the Grizzly and the popular belt drive conversion for it, the math was simple. The PM-25 already has belt drive and its delivered price was about the same as the Griz plus a belt drive kit, and PM has a 5 year warranty so I felt it was a better deal just based on that. The much better reputation of PM sealed it for me. The LMS mills looked decent but a step down, plus I plan to do a CNC conversion and the G0704/PM-25 models seem more popular in that regard.
 
JayMcClellan said:
I was in the same boat a month ago, and ended up choosing the pm-25 over the g0704 or LMS. After reading about the noisy plastic gears on the Grizzly and the popular belt drive conversion for it, the math was simple. The PM-25 already has belt drive and its delivered price was about the same as the Griz plus a belt drive kit, and PM has a 5 year warranty so I felt it was a better deal just based on that. The much better reputation of PM sealed it for me. The LMS mills looked decent but a step down, plus I plan to do a CNC conversion and the G0704/PM-25 models seem more popular in that regard.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jay

These are the two that I've pretty much narrowed it down to.

I think....... lol
 
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