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table top mills

Lloyd Wilson

Plastic
Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Location
Clever MO .
I am considering buying a small mill. I'm looking at the Grizzlys, the Grizzly showroom is just about 25 min. from my house. Price is a consideration. I'm looking at the G8689 mini mill, and the G1005 mill/drill. The Mini mill is about half the price of the other. All of the milling I would do would be small jobs for the miniature steam engines I want to build. How would the G8689 hold up to light milling work, would I be better off to go ahead, bite the bullet and buy the larger mill??? I have a 6" Atlas lathe that I bought about 30 yrs ago. The steam engines I have build were all done on this lathe, but a mill would be nice to have as the engines I'm building now are made from castings.
Lloyd
 
Lloyd,
I have the Grizzly mill/drill so I have some experience with it. I have read several commentaries on the mini-mill, as you probably have. I would say the biggest differences between the two are, of course, mass and then the table to spindle distance which can be an important factor I've found even with small steam engines. Another factor which may be important to you is the mini-mill's square column which means you won't have to relocate your work everytime to raise or lower the head like I do on the mill/drill. Judging from the commentaries on the mini-mill and my experience with the mill/drill, you can expect to tinker with the table screws.
 
Thanks for the reply Jr. I'm leaning towards the Mini Mill. I talked to the people at the Grizzly showroom and of course thier comments were all positive. They said that they sold a lot of them and all who bought it were pleased with it. I've been trying to do some milling on my drill press using a cross slide vise. This isn't working out very well, just to much deflection, it's hard on small end mills. Oh WEll, I'm still thinking about it, going up today and look at them again. That showroom is something else, every machine imaginable is there. I bought a 3-48, and 5-40 taps and dies there, they go out of their way to be nice to you, a nice change from the usually indefferent service you expect now a day. Lloyd
 
I am looking at the grizzly g8689 mini mill and wondering if the table can be replaced with one that has more longitudinal travel. I need something to cut slots in wood, plastic, and phenolic. I think this machine would be more than powerful enough, but more travel is necessary. All replies are appreciated, Bobby
 
Well, I bought the G8689 Mini Mill yesterday. It's a heavy little piece of machinery. Spend last night and all day today cleaning and setting it up. Had to do a little smoothing on the edges of the slides, they must have taken them right of off the mill, no finishing at all. I had a little trouble getting the table square with the spindle, It was out .035 th. front to back, tighten the big nut holding the column and corrected that, the zero mark of the column tilt calibration scale is off slightly, but I can make a new mark that will be right. I did my first machining on it tonight, went real well. Machined a brass casting. Lloyd
 








 
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