looking into a tabletop mill

[hemiguy55]

Hey guys. I'm looking into getting a mill to mill out my own ar lowers and other kits I have (sten and suomi for now). I don't want a giant mill so I've been looking into some tabletop mills. But the ones I've been looking at look like the table might be too small like the sherline. I saw a thread where someone linked a package deal for a sherline mill that looked like a good deal but the size of the table has me wondering and I was also looking at one from harbor freight made by central machinery but I'm leary about harbor freight stuff. Especially something that's 1200 bucks. My budget is about 1500 bucks, but will spend a little extra if it's worth it. One huge plus for me is something made in the good ol' US of A! 'MERICA! Has anyone had any problems or recommendations for good table top mills? Any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[6mmintl]

For big tables.


I have been using this for light milling/boring the past 5 years, I Just picked up a Bridgeport variable speed mill that better serves my purpose.

Buyer picks up shipping or I can have mover move for you (approx. $450 to SF or SJ.) providing you have good access to flatbed.

$2300 or BO

[hemiguy55]

Thanks but that thing is way too big for me. I don't have the space for that.

[kcstott]

Look up rong fu machines that or grizzly

[baih777]

Look at the grizzly mills.

[kcstott]

And you don't need a table top endmill

You want a table top milling machine

here's the link



Rongfu

[Fozzie TheBear]

Some info and links in this post

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1064805&highlight=milling+life

Including US made options

[cbright1]

And you don't need a table top endmill

You want a table top milling machine

[ar15barrels]

Look up rong fu machines that or grizzly

A rong-fu with a square column and an R8 spindle would be about the minimum sized milling machine I would consider.

[Suture1]

Littlemachineshop.com

[kcstott]

Littlemachineshop.com

and spend more for it as they are the same machines as the rongfu's

[klewan]

Forget about finding anything made in the US. Even the pro machines are made off shore and maybe they hang the electric motor here; then they can put a label 'Assembled in USA' on it.

[foxtrotuniformlima]

I picked up a Bridgeport clone about 10+ years ago for < $ 1K including the movers. It works but could use a rebuild which is on mt To Do List

A friend has one of the Rong Fu mills that Randal & kcstott mentioned and it is really nice. In some ways, I wish I had gotten one of them as I rarely need the big beast's table size to do something.

[Dr69er]

My vote goes for this Grizzly manual milling machine if in your budget...has all the basic quality features
and is strong enough and just large enough for medium duty work...The 3 Axis DRO's are the cherry on
top...

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill-with-Stand-and-DRO/G0759

Good luck.

[kalibeltfeeder]

I know you said you were leery of HF but, I was on a budget when I found my Central Machinery. It was $600 on Craigslist and it came with a ton of extra stuff, vises, collets, etc.

For a beginner with no experience it has served me well. Drills out the pockets on ARs, did all the conversion work on my 1919 and RPD, and a bunch of other stuff, working on a PPS bolt right now.
I'm not a real machinist at all, but for little things it works well and it didnt break the bank.