Benchtop Milling machine

[fred cook]

I'm thinking about buying a small benchtop sized milling machine for my shop. Any suggestions, recommendations or things to consider? Maybe something like this.



Thanks,

[cmccuist]

There are a lot of threads about these. I wouldn't do it. You should search Craiglsist for a proper mill. I had one (smithy i think it was called) and it was not useful. It came with a lot of tooling and I was able to sell it for what I paid, but I kept the tooling and bought a proper mill (Alliant - Bridgeport clone).

Those bench top mills just don't have the rigidity to make cuts on anything except aluminum and plastic.

[Jeff Alton]

most of the brands are all made in the same place. I have a Grizzly attached to a small lathe. The head looks like the one pictured. It works great for aluminum, brass and plastic like stated by Craig. However, they are made in China. I have replaced the main power switch on the lathe and the rheostat on the mill....

But for the types of things I actually need to make (light duty), both machines work quite well.

Cheers

[dlockhart]

I have seen some very quality work done on bench top machines ,but it takes extra skill and effort to work around the limitations. As others have mentioned, there are a great number of full size machines available pretty cheap out there. If you have the space, it will make life more pleasant when it is time for the chips to fly.

[romad]

never used one that was worth the dynamite to blown them up.