HELP-ON WHAT EQUIPMENT TO BUY

[customlight]

Hello fellow CPF members:wave:. I am going to be purchasing a new lathe and mill. There are so many different choices out there, and i am having a hard time deciding. I am going to list some of the Lathes and Mills i am considering purchasing, and maybe you all could guide me in the right direction.

Lathe1 Precision Matthews Mill1 Grizzly
Lathe2 Grizzly Mill2 Grizzly
Lathe3 Grizzly Mill3 Harbor Freight
Lathe4 Grizzly
Lathe5 Harbor Freight

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to be making custom flashlights no bigger than the size of a 4 Cell mag and varying sizes in between. I thank all of you in advance for your help.

 

[Mirage_Man]

Hello fellow CPF members:wave:. I am going to be purchasing a new lathe and mill. There are so many different choices out there, and i am having a hard time deciding. I am going to list some of the Lathes and Mills i am considering purchasing, and maybe you all could guide me in the right direction.

Lathe1 Precision Matthews Mill1 Grizzly
Lathe2 Grizzly Mill2 Grizzly
Lathe3 Grizzly Mill3 Harbor Freight
Lathe4 Grizzly
Lathe5 Harbor Freight

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to be making custom flashlights no bigger than the size of a 4 Cell mag and varying sizes in between. I thank all of you in advance for your help.

I can't speak about the mills but I am a very satisfied Precision Matthews customer. Matt the owner is a fantastic guy to deal with. He has smaller mills that are not listed on the site too. Good luck with your decision.

 

[gadget_lover]

There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these models.

The HF is the smallest, but it can do one thing the other two can not. The head swivels to the side. This can be handy for working on things that you had to hang vertically over the side of the table. Think of boring a 4 D maglight. clamped in a jig.

The biggest one has power feeds, and that can be really nice when you are doing a large batch of parts.

The middle sized one appears to have a single axis DRO (the quill) but it also has the shortest stroke (2 3/4 inches VS 4+ on the other two.)

All three mills will work for the common uses such as fluting heads, drilling holes, etc.

Daniel

 

[precisionworks]

Mirage Man has been posting details on the PM lathe ... really looks sweet:twothumbs

I haven't seen or used the Griz mills, but I've put a lot of miles on my Enco mill-drill.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=105-1133&PMPXNO=954001&PARTPG=INLMK32

Mine came equipped with a 2-axis Acu-Rite DRO, power table feed, and stand. The spindle/quill diameter is 3", which is as large as you can get. Machine shipping weight is over 700#, and it is hell for stout.

If I needed a second mill-drill, that's what I'd buy again.