Need a small knee mill

P

Paradude54

Registered
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2010
Messages
13
I'm in need of a small knee milling machine, NOT a mill/drill or something that's mounted to a bench. It's due to space limitations since I'm in a wheelchair and must be able to move around it. I have a standing wheelchair that I use when I'm working with machine tools. Anyway, I found one with a 32" table sold by Grizzly and made it Tiawan. I took a look at it, and it's actually a pretty nice machine, variable speed and all, but the only real shortcoming is that the bed is not meehanite and I'd like a meehanite bed. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Like I said though, it's got to be a knee mill. It's what I'm used to and much prefer. It's going to be used in my gunsmithing shop. The 32" table is actually large enough for what I need to do, though a 49" Bridgeport would be nice, I just can't fit it where it needs to go and still be able to move around it.
 
I guess you are looking for a new machine?
Have you looked at the 6x26 benchtop knee mills?

If not new, there are a number of older machines that might work for you.
Millrite and Rockwell are the most common. Both of these are often found in labs, home shops & schools and saw light duty.
 
New would be great, but the majority of what I have in my shop I bought used, but it's a whole lot easier to find a nice Southbend Heavy 10 in excellent condition than a Millrite mill. I've heard of them, and did some looking around, but couldn't find any. The machine that I looked at in particular is the Grizzly G0695. It's got a 32" table and has a small stand that raises the machine up a bit. The 6x26 benchtop mills just aren't what I'm looking for, but I appreciate the suggestion.
 
Nice Millrites are getting scarce. I lucked onto a mint example locally at a decent price a couple years ago, giggled all the way home.
Rockwells are a little more plentiful.

That Grizzly G0695 looks to me like an evolved 6x26. Same concept, but it's grown a bit to 8x32, and it's a lot more expensive.
I think the guys on the 6x26 Yahoo group consider them part of the family for discussion purposes

I've never seen one in the flesh, but they seem to get good reviews from owners, even the early models.
 
Paradude54 I PM'ed you about a milright.

Question: are these 6x26 knee mills one like the grizz & Clausens that sit on a 12-18" stand, or are they actually bench mills that go on a waist high bench? What do these weigh? Thanks! Jim.
 
They sit on a small stand and have a knee just like a full sized Bridgeport. I don't recall exactly what it weighs, but I think that shipping is around 1200 pounds. This is the link to it. http://www.grizzly.com/products/VS-Milling-Machine-with-Ram-Head/G0695 There is a full spec sheet in pdf form on there as well. I looked at one in Springfield, Missouri and they did look and feel like a quality mill. I do wish that they had meehanite ways though, but it's my understanding that while they do not the older, and out of production, Millrites did have meehanite ways.
 
I'd keep an eye out for an old Sharp KF-VO-A2F. It is Taiwanese, but a damn good mill. I used it for over 10 years until I upgraded to a full size mill.

Randy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top