Re: Re: Re: Grizzly mini mills

 From: "S.L.Ramsay" <slramsay@...>

>Regarding the Grizzly mini-mill G8689 and a CNC convertion.  If the
>Grizzly line is too flimsy, and the Sherline mills are too small, what is
>a good solid benchtop size mill?  What brand and model do you recommend
>for a mini-mill cnc system?  Has anyone come up with a viable alternative
>to the Grizzly?

Scott

Flimsy is a relative term. You get a whole range of flimsy in machines --
from Clisbys and Sherlines all the way to 30 ton Mehanite monstors. We'd
do well to ask one's definition with a word like that as it almost sounds
like something a salesman might use to denegrate the competition.

I use two Grizzly 8689s here and for light cuts in aluminum, brass, or
steel they work well. I have modified the base of the dovetail column so
that I can tram them in and expect them to stay put. My CNC'd one uses a
Thompson 5/8's ball screw in place of the rack. It did take some milling
on the z saddle to fit it in there. This mod could be done with a
hacksaw, hammer, and a lot of filing if you had to. (Paul has a garage
full of tools to do it right.) I also honed all of the dovetails so that
I can get reasonably smooth motion and tight fit on each axis. The 8689
gibs are not very well done and require a lot of fiddling to adjust up.

Hey for $500 you're looking a $3/lb -- some folk spend more than that for
breakfast cereal, and speaking of flimsy, how long does that last! :-)

Ray