I’m done dinking around with my Harbor Freight bench top 3-in-1 combo machine.  Looking to get a more serious milling machine…something between these hobbyist bench top models and an industrial sized Bridgeport knee mill.  Something that runs off residential power (110/220 1-ph), weighs 600-1200 lbs, and would disassemble so I could move it piece by piece into my basement workshop.  I don't have a very big workshop.

There doesn’t seem to be much out there, but something like a Grizzly G3102 probably fits the bill best out all I seen so far.     Looking to spend around $3000 initially and would like to get as solid, accurate mill as I can.  Figure I could add extra stuff later (power feed, DRO…maybe even CNC).

Anyone been in my shoes before and have some wisdom to share.  

Start looking for a nice used Clausing 8520.  Its the perfect basement machine.

Not mine.





I have a Millrite, but those are a bit big to muscle down the stairs.

I am eying the Grizzly G0762
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0762

I wanted the extra table travel without going to a fullsize machine. It is a new model and I am holding off till I see some reviews of it.

I saw that one too, but wasn't sure if the VFD to run off 3-ph was worth the extra cost and complexity.

I can answer that. It is another reason I chose that one. It does use a 3ph spindle motor but uses the VFD to convert 1ph to 3ph. Common practice to do this plus you get a much better motor that is fan cooled. I was doing this with 3ph motors over a decade ago and don't understand why other milling machines don't take advantage of it. A VFD is not a reason to shy away from a machine. It doesn't really add to the complexity of the machine. It is transparent to the user. I just noticed it uses a Toshiba VFD which is a good drive.

The Clausing would be nice, but if I ever found one up for sale, at a good price and local ....would be like hitting the powerball jackpot.  Ended up pulling the trigger on a Harbor Freight 40939

It's a 6x26 bench knee mill.  It's looks to be about the biggest mill I'll find that can be disassembled and hauled into my basement.  When researching I found a few different sellers with pretty much the exact same mill:

Harbor Freight
Grizzly
Penn Tool
Wholesale Tool
ect....

I highly, highly suspect they are all made in the same chinese factory and they just slap a different coat of paint and name badge specific to the customer.  No one could touch Harbor Freight on the price (plus use of 20% coupon).  I actually point blank asked the guy at Penn how their machine is different from the HF...he denied knowing anything about HF.

I'm pretty sure they're all made by Sieg.

Which is a lie and reason enough not to do business with him.