Bench top mills?

[blown69nova]

Has anyone used a Smithy/Grizzly or similar brand bench top mill. I'm thinking of buying one but I'm not sure if these are worth the money. I know I could find a used Bridgeport for 2k or so but it would take up so much room and would have to use a phase conv. Any help would be appreciated. Steve

[parsonsj]

I've used a $900 Enco mill for the past several years. I've done a LOT of fabrication on it. But then I go over to Brian Schein's house and see his 3-axis CNC full size machine and suffer severe machine envy. Then Brian will complain about having to use his "little" home machine and wish he was using his "big" machine from work.

It's like everything else: there's always something bigger and better. The benchtop machine I have is great for "little" stuff like brackets and adapters. I've used it daily for months at times and it seems rugged and accurate. But if I want to make a 12"x14" transmission adapter, I go over to Brian's house.

jp

[Matt@RFR]

What will you be making with it? I have a 9x49 Bridgeport clone with 3 axis DRO, and I couldn't even imagine using anything smaller.

I bought an 8" vice (210 lbs) because the 6" I got with the mill was often too small, and got an 11" rotary table (nearly as heavy as the vice) with the mill. Currently, I have the vice bolted to the rotary table, which is bolted to the bed. Try that with a mini!

I honestly haven't paid much attention, but one thing that seams to be a common complaint is that adjusting the height of the head is a big pain in the ass.

I also hope you're paitient, because very light cuts are required with the benchtops.

I don't know how your shop is laid out, but if you know that you'll never be machining any long shafts (keep parts within the confines of the table), you can set a full size mill in a corner and they take up surprisingly little room.

I think you know where my vote lies.

[blown69nova]

First off, I'm NOT a machinist and it will be going into my 30x30 garage (along with my wife's car!). The main reason for wanting a mill and a lathe is so I don't have to rely on my friends all the time to do my machine work. I have used some machines but very little so any help/suggestions would be appreciated. By the way, my Nova should.be running in a week or so when I get my last minute machine work back! Thanks, Steve

[IceHouse]

Steve
I did some research on the benchtop mills before I got my Bridgeport. I was told that the square columns will help retain keep the Z axis from going out of alignment. Here are some links that you may have already been to.

http://www.lathemaster.com/MILLINGPRODUCTS.htm

The link below has CNC conversion kits that look interesting. The videos on the page are impressive.

http://www.industrialhobbies.com/

[Matt@RFR]

I suppose they have their place, but those little retrofits are the slowest CNC equipment I've ever seen. And at a minimum of $6,000 with NO tooling, you're halfway to a used late '80s through mid '90s VMC.

[Jim Nilsen]

If you really want a benchtop unit you will want to look into the Shop Task line. It is more adaptable. You can add CNC to a Shop Task with a kit from them that is relatively cheap.
http://www.shoptask.com

Nascar uses Smithy's on some teams.

It's a tough decision if you have space for bigger machines , if not for about 3,500 you can have a Shop Task that can do an awful lot if you have the patience to work slowly and change setups often while working on a piece. They have a 14" throw on the model at the link.

Goodluck, Jim Nilsen

[novaman_68]

I don't know about the smithy's but I have used a Grizzly at work and they are JUNK. I was the first one to use the machine and the first time I used it the mill/drill chuck fell off. It was pressed on and came loose, put it back on and it wobbles now. Not anything to use if you need precision. I am a machinist and might be baised because I have always used good quality equipment. (Bridgeport,Clausing)

[Sparky67]

First off, I'm NOT a machinist and it will be going into my 30x30 garage (along with my wife's car!). The main reason for wanting a mill and a lathe is so I don't have to rely on my friends all the time to do my machine work. I have used some machines but very little so any help/suggestions would be appreciated. By the way, my Nova should.be running in a week or so when I get my last minute machine work back! Thanks, Steve

Your best bet is to go with a Bridgeport mill, and just build a small room in back of the garage for your Mill and lathe. Regardless if you went with a small bench top mill, you still will have chips of metal flying all over place. Although, when I worked for the Naval aviation depot, I did buy a portable Mill. The mill was to be portable to take right to the aircraft. I believe it was a Versa-Mill. It has been about 7 years ago, so it is a guess.

[phaseshift]

We had 2 of these similar units for mobile use. Thought they would be handy to have at the jobsite to make "adjustments". They probably would be if you were working exclusively with Styrofoam or maybe balsa. We gave one to a client because there was not enough room in the truck to carry it the 35 miles to our home shop. The other has been hacked to become drill machine. It is so slow that nobody uses it. Boat anchor; big-time. At least they are cheap here, I think they were about $500 each.

[blown69nova]

The mill I am looking at is the Smithy BX288 and the other one with the power xyz feeds (not their cnc one). Anyone use or see the Smithy's?

[digitalmdj]

John taylor from shoptask is a thief that will not stand behind his product. My machine had a cracked mill swing arm and sand in the spindle gear box. It had a leak in the spindle gearbox because they tried to arc weld a casting flaw at the bottom of the gearbox. The ground the weld away and warped the bottom of the casting and then sold it to me. He will not replace it and says I did it. The machine has never run because of all the problems I have had. This man is not to be trusted. He sent me a replacement spindle gearbox that they painted over the cracks which made it no good. I found the cracks after I bead blasted the casting. He accused me of damaging it. But it was machined after the crack was there .

[cheapta]

I got real,real lucky about 2 years ago and stumbled across a B/P and a large lathe for $200. I about broke my arm getting my wallet out. I paid someone to move the machines into my shop and I'm still only into them for $600.No doubt-they're old but they've done everything I've asked them to.The B/P runs on 110-only one I've ever seen.