RE Mill/Drill

I recently sold a grizzly 4015 3in1 for $500.00 and was glad to get it. I paid $900 for that machine a few years ago and grizzly has since lowered their price. The machine was just not up to the job it was designed for. The lathe wasn't too bad, but the mill head would move and kill the part on any but the lightest cuts. If I wanted to get the best price for your mill, I'd be trying to sell it to people who weren't familiar with the drawbacks of mill-drills. I might put it in the pick-up and sit outside the Harbor Freight store with a for sale sign on it. Even though I took a beating on the sale of my machine, I still felt bad for the buyer! I now use a Nichols H/V knee mill. What a difference! I love it. And it was much cheaper than the imported junk. I paid a little less than $130.00 on Ebay and went 600 miles to retrieve it, so the true cost of the main machine was about $250.00. I later added a vertical head for about $100.00. It is no Bridgeport, but it is 1000 times better than the 3in1. If your interested, pictures are at:

Dave, I agree with the group in that a Mill-Drill has various shortcomings, especially when compared to a good knee mill. But its still a very useful tool. I have one of the Harbor Freight units and use it nearly every day. Rigidity is OK...I can hog through 1/2" 316 stainless with a 3/4" roughing endmill - make sure the head is clamped down tight, though, and use lots of cutting oil. Check the tram of the head and shim it up square if you have to. Learn to plan ahead to get around the loss of reference when you move the head up and down, and get some practice using an edge finder...you'll use it a lot. I put some of the digital readouts on all three axes of mine. The supplied leadscrews are just not accurate on these units. I have made many parts for my homebuilt aircraft, and routinely turn out aluminum and stainless components for ultra-high vacuum systems, sputtering machines, and plasma etchers at the university where I work. I also have a large Cincinnati vertical mill, and a smaller Benchmaster horizontal, and I am keeping the Mill/Drill because it gets the job done, not because its my only option. Get started making chips with what you have, you might be surprised at what you can accomplish with these machines.

Al

I guess you decided not to sell? I just scored my second Nichols, real clean with the vertical milling head and spline, for $50. Also picked up a #12 Van Norman milling machine with a sub milling head, eight arbors, about 80 horizontal cutters, 20 collets, assorted hold downs, etc. on a tooling cart, also for $50. I tried lowering the initial bid to $25 but the auctioneer started getting really pissed off. Six miles from my house, and everything works. The Van Norman has got to be the cleanest tool from 1947 I've ever seen, and the Nichols Miller is also in very good shape.

Dave:

Take heart, just because a Mill/Drill is a bottom dweller, does not mean it can't do. I think the very heart & soul of this NG is those that make do with what they have, usually with aspirations of something shinier, newer, more powerful...

I have the smallest of the Mill/Drill units offered by Jet. Mine was less spendy than yours, somewhere around $1100 with tax. I picked it up at the showroom. If you stay with this NG, or visit the rec.woodworking ng (something I'm lurking again). The debate around Jet -vs- Grizzly -vs- Harbor Freight -vs- Menards -vs- (name your brand) goes around and around. There is evidence that the machines - at one time - came from the exact same factory, with different color paints. That was back when all the imports came from Taiwan. Now it's less likely (IMO). Regardless, it seems clear that any of them can make you happy, or sad.

In the mean time, I've fashioned a automatic return power cross feed. Attached a "DRO" to the quill. And have milled and milled and milled with this thing. I attached the rack to the column to help prevent the head from spinning. In spite of claims to the contrary, you'll not get accurate repositioning of the head. As already noted, you can get used to finding edges, and with some careful planning (or dumb luck) you can get around the limitations. I have found the lead screws to be quite accurate as well as the milling results.

I still have visions of a knee mill dancing in my head. My good friend picked up a small Rockwell for 1/2 what I paid for my mill/drill. He's far more remarkable when it comes to auctions than I am. Oh, I've had my successes, but not like that. OTOH, I was a bit ahead of the game. It reminds me of my Commodore Vic 20. Sure it cost $300, but I was using it well before others had a computer at home.

I guess, to me a Mill Drill in the hand is better than a knee in the ... bush?

I am mill-less, and would kill for a mill-drill, even if it was a go-between for a full sized mill. I'm active duty military and I have to keep my household goods weight down for the moves that come about every 3 - 4 years (I've had to move twice within the same year). I'll be retiring after this tour and knowing this, I've bought some heavier equipment (South Bend lathe, welder, etc) knowing that I'm going to have to rent a truck/trailer in addition to having movers move the rest of my household goods. My garage will put me way over the weight limit. When I retire and move one last time, I fully plan on buying some kind of mill, among other things (surface grinder?!). Maybe a mill-drill, hopefully something larger....

Dave

So is a lobster and it's hard to think of anything tastier. :-)

Ted

No brainer for me, I'd build a nice shop into a 20' shipping container with everything bolted down including storage with doors. It doesn't cost much to haul them around domestically or internationally. 40's cost the same but are difficult to impossible to move loaded. Loaded 20's can be moved with a large forklift, hauled on a truck or heavy equipment trailer bed, slid around with a backhoe.

An aquaintance who, as it were no longer lives around here, was set up this way including his own forklift, truck and trailer.

Bob