Gunsmithing Enco mill now

Re: Jet mill

Thanks for all the input but that deal went up in smoke. I am trying to get a mill but here in NC there is not much around and I dont have a unlimited budget so what do you know about Enco mills? Or any ideas of what I can get and where. I was looking for a Bridgeport but everything I find will take 700-800 bucks to ship.

Thanks
 
Re: Jet mill

Check Craigslist in your state. Small shops often close up, and offer great buys on top name mills and lathes with low usage. I was surprised what was in my area.
 
Re: Jet mill

If you don't know how to look at a used machine tool, go into a machine shop, find the most experienced guy there and offer him a bottle of his favorite scotch to visit a few of them. He'll be able to tell if the thing has been whooped on.

Buying a new machine from Grizzly isn't a bad idea, my dad has a grizzly lathe and mill, they both work very nicely.

For 7-800 bucks shipping you should be able to bribe a buddy with a pickup truck and drive to Grizzly and pick up a brand new machine and drive home with money left over for tooling. They're in PA, the gas round trip should cost about 200 bucks.
 
Re: Jet mill

A crappy pic but good equipment. Jet mill with crank up knee and a Logan 11X36 heavy lathe (big spindle hole). The Jet I looked for a good 8 months until I found it about an hour away. The lathe took about a year and a couple months to find a nice one. There are a lot of really beat machines out there so be patient and take your time. Buying new is always an option as well.
I am a toolmaker by trade.

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Re: Jet mill

Good selection!

A couple years ago I was looking to get a full size milling machine after seeing the limitations of my small "drill mill". At work they had several Bridgeport mills, so I was looking for a good used Bridgport mill. I spent 8 monyhs looking at about a dozen used Bridgeport mills, some of them very old and sloppy, some not too old but sloppy from a decade or more of hard use and still asking $5k.

At work they also had an older Spanish (Acuna?) mill that was the most accurate (little slop) machine in the place but the oldtimers prefered the Bridgeports. As such I could usually use this machine when I need a mill. I got to like it pretty fast.

Prevoiusly I had purchased a couple Grizzly woodworking machines and read a few reviews of their milling machines. It seemed to be a great value and so I ordered the G9901. I runs on single phase power, is nice and tight and has a warrantee. It was just under $4000 delivered to my home (in early 2008). I added DRO a few months later and am happy with the machine.

I bought the smaller Grizzly gunsmiths lathe G4003G late last year, but have yet to chamber a barrel with it. I have done a few small projects with the lathe, but persnally I'm more a mill kind of guy. Hopefully I can retire in a few years and get comfortable with the lathe as well. At any rate I will have some serious tools right at home.