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Looking for a mini mill

grampajack

Plastic
Joined
Jul 29, 2017
I want to pick up a little mini mill to dedicate to a single operation. I'm looking at the Grizzly G8689. It does everything I need it to, and the price is right.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them, and also if it's possible to pick them up used. I've been looking around the internet and mini mills don't seem to come up used very often. I'm not necessarily committed to the Grizzly. Any comparable mini mill would work fine if the price were right.
 
I want to pick up a little mini mill to dedicate to a single operation. I'm looking at the Grizzly G8689. It does everything I need it to, and the price is right.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them, and also if it's possible to pick them up used. I've been looking around the internet and mini mills don't seem to come up used very often. I'm not necessarily committed to the Grizzly. Any comparable mini mill would work fine if the price were right.

If the task is light enough for a MMSO, it is generally light enough to be run on an angle plate on a horizontal. Leland-Gifford still sell the Barker AM & PM lines, new, and Barkers ARE "out there" used, rather than "used UP" as may be a factor with the grisely.

Ditto the smaller Burke's. Handlever, air, and hydraulics have been used.

Pretty effective items for some work, even up against CNC.
 
If the task is light enough for a MMSO, it is generally light enough to be run on an angle plate on a horizontal. Leland-Gifford still sell the Barker AM & PM lines, new, and Barkers ARE "out there" used, rather than "used UP" as may be a factor with the grisely.

Ditto the smaller Burke's. Handlever, air, and hydraulics have been used.

Pretty effective items for some work, even up against CNC.

So you would advise against getting a Grizzly, and I'm assuming by extension any of the Sieg mini mills, used then?
 
So you would advise against getting a Grizzly, and I'm assuming by extension any of the Sieg mini mills, used then?

Those things are junk, I had to use one at a customer's shop, you could not give me one if you loaded it in my truck for me. Probably stiff enough to machine butter but that would be the limit.
 
Those things are junk, I had to use one at a customer's shop, you could not give me one if you loaded it in my truck for me. Probably stiff enough to machine butter but that would be the limit.

And there's the point. Barkers are TINY. Also rock-solid and 30-year reliable goods.
Specifically MEANT to be set up to do one job for years on-end with minimal fuss.

"Industrial" goods, IOW, size immaterial.
 
And there's the point. Barkers are TINY. Also rock-solid and 30-year reliable goods.
Specifically MEANT to be set up to do one job for years on-end with minimal fuss.

"Industrial" goods, IOW, size immaterial.

I had never seen one before. I did a search for them but couldn't find where to actually buy one.
 
I had never seen one before. I did a search for them but couldn't find where to actually buy one.

http://www.barkermill.com/Barker.htm

"Contact Us" link.

There are usually a few on ebay, and sometimes now and then right here on PM as well.

Mind - 'we' don't know your actual tasking.

There are lots of other 'real' milling machines, too. Most are just larger, because PEOPLE are larger, even if fine work is the goal.
 
What do those Barkers run anyways? It always scares me when they don't list any prices.:skep:

BTW, the contact page on their site isn't working. Looks like someone broke the url on the backend.
 
What do those Barkers run anyways? It always scares me when they don't list any prices.:skep:

BTW, the contact page on their site isn't working. Looks like someone broke the url on the backend.

Used around one to three thousand, US$. New, I'd expect double that just for bare-bones. Air/hydraulics could add a LOT.

My "salvageable" Burke was about $400 with a fair smattering of tooling, but missing its proper powertrain and power feed. Used horizontals go cheap - sometimes even FREE for the haul-away. Some Burke's were Barker-ish "modular", others had sliding heads as well as knee-Z, Nichols ALWAYS had that sliding head.

CNC has all but eliminated the small manual mill market, next size or two up as well, and a very long time ago by now, so Barker is the only small one I know of still being made, new, and by many, many years.

A size or so up? Compare the specs of a Wells-Index with a Wrong-Foo on mass & HP alone:

Wells Index - CNC or manual knee type milling machines, vertical, horizontal and combination mills

Even so, you won't want R8. Go for 40 taper. And now you are into Deckel and sputnik territory. Too nice and too costly to dedicate to a single op, really.
 
Killed off that idea.

Reality with small manual mills is that you either rebuild something or go for a tabletop CNC. Even a step up to a Bee Pee clone hasn't a lot of affordable choices that are new-ish.

Spent most of the day sorting issues on my U.S. Machine Tool "Quartet".

1960's vintage, and right about 5200 lbs avoir for a work envelope SIZE similar to a BeePee. Just with a tad more power and a great deal more rigidity within that 'cube'.

5 HP horizontal, 40-taper, 1 3/4 HP vertical #9 B&S, upgradable to 3 HP, same drivetrain, 3/4 HP knee traverse & rapids.
 
Well over fifty years ago, I bought what turned out to be a toy. Its name started with a "U", which turned out to mean USELESS

I learned right on the spot that if you wanted to machine metal, don't buy toys

Now I heartily subscribe to the far other end of the spectrum. If I can't STAND ON THEM while using them, they are probably too wimpy
 

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in general any mill worth anything weighs over a ton.
.
its just the way it is. sure small hobby mills are out there but will never have the rigidity and hp capability
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grizzly mill is like for a drill press and occasional slot a hole. if that all you need ??
 
I have one of those branded little machine shop, but the same thing. The ways are pretty crappy. Tighten things up to remove the slop and you can hardly move it. I use it a drill press and it works pretty good for that.
 








 
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