Which mill should I get?

Moving these mills is no an easy task, fortunately a friend built a rolling base for my knee mill and I have outboard 5" heavy duty locking casters and separate jacking feet. It still takes two people to push it around at around 2700 lbs.. When I last moved I had a steep driveway so we used a crane to lift it from the garage to the street into a trailer. I used the provided eye bolt and didn't think much about it. About a year later another person I knew bought the same mill and asked how I moved it, and using an engine hoist. He question using the eye bolt because it has a SWL of only 0.45T, didn't read the fine print on the eye bolt. Lucky for me it didn't break, it would have been a total loss. Normally when lifting lathes and mills I use lifting gear with a SWL of 2-3X the load and double up with a similar rated safety strap and sometimes jacking straps to prevent tilt. It seems that the eye bolt on my mill is more designed for removing the head assembly then lifting the whole machine. Fortunately the failure load is usually 4-6X if not more than the SWL.

If using a 2 ton engine hoist, you may be able to straddle the mill from behind (depends on the feet spread and also the boom height and length). The machine should be shipped with head and knee down to lower the center of gravity. Cutting the shipping base and getting it off the pallet is a challenge. You can move it with an engine hoist lifting the mill just above the ground. They are heavy, which is a benefit once they are moved into place. I put off getting a knee mill for many years because of the challenge of getting it too my house and into the garage. One other important factor is getting the mill off the truck and into your garage, the mill is too heavy for a lift gate, they are usually shipped by flatbed truck and you need a fork lift or rigger to get it off the truck.

My friend took delivery of my mill and he had a fork lift at his shop. After building the roller base, we then moved it using a drop deck trailer, which are very hard to rent. I rented a fork lift to unload my lathe (~2600 lbs) and move into my garage.
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davidpbest said:
You might want to READ THIS. I have a customized PM935 with VFD and custom controls Mark did for me including tachomenter, and I'm generally satisfied with it. I have not found it as rigid as the Rong Fu 45 benchtop mill it replaced. All that flexibility of the Ram, Tilt/Nod comes at a price. So if you do go the knee mill route, I would recommend a full size PM949 or equivalent rather than a baby/junior sized knee mill unless space constraints dictate.
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If you had to do it over, which mill would you have gone with or will you still go with the 935?
 
Tim9 said:
Just on a side note. I’m not sure about your garage, but my garage is only 7’6” high. And I’m not sure about the height of the Bridgepor, but my Millrite is tight. There’s not a lot of distance between the top of my mill and bottomless of rafters. Just saying....you might want to check those small details
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My Sharp Knee Mill has me on my tip toes to work the draw bar, and I'm six feet tall. Getting it through the garage door was tight. You can always lower the head.
 
Tim9 said:
Just on a side note. I’m not sure about your garage, but my garage is only 7’6” high. And I’m not sure about the height of the Bridgepor, but my Millrite is tight. There’s not a lot of distance between the top of my mill and bottomless of rafters. Just saying....you might want to check those small details
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This is something often overlooked with the frequent "get a Bridgeport" comments. Many of the Bridgeport and clones are 7-8 feet tall, so if you have less than an 8 foot ceiling you may have issues. 9 foot or higher ceiling would be highly desirable. In many older homes (pre-1940s) even the garage may not have an 8 foot ceiling since the cars were smaller and automatic garage door openers non-existent.

Most of the PM mills are 7 to 7-1/2 feet tall.
 
Pcmaker said:
If you had to do it over, which mill would you have gone with or will you still go with the 935?
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Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it over again, I would probably buy an ACRA LCM-50 with built-in VFD drive (what they call AC Head). If you want more information on why or specifics about that mill, DM me please.

If you have headroom constraints (which I do) pay attention to the specs on any knee mill. In my shop, I have 84" headroom and a lot of the full sized knee mills would not fit in my space.
 
That's a good point. My garage ceiling is about 10ft, so it doesn't cause a problem for me. But those that do should keep that in mind when considering equipment. With the spacer, I think mine is about 7.5ft tall at the highest point.
 
Looking back over the comments above, I feel compelled to comment on taking delivery of a large piece of equipment like a knee mill. I have never used an engine hoist, and can't imagine why I would. Instead I rent a forklift. Where I live (Portland Oregon) a forklift that will handle 4,000+ pounds and fit through an 82" garage door costs $130/day and a $50 delivery and pickup fee. So $230, and if you get it on a Friday, you have the use of it for the weekend without additional charge. If you can arrange to have your equipment delivered on the day you have a forklift on hand, you can avoid the $50+ liftgate fee. Having a forklift really liberates you to easily get the beast off the pallet, install leveling feet, and move it around.

Most of the forklifts I have rented have forks that can be turned upside down for getting tall machines into height-constrained spaces. Here are a couple of photos that illustrate how I dealt with all this.

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If you go by who here is happy with their PM-935, it seems like most are. I'm happy with mine, but it's what it's used for that matters.
 
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