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Forum machinists/Lathe/Mill

Discussion in 'General' started by Robby-Bobby, Oct 16, 2021.

  1. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy

    before I get dragged, and abused for not buying one that costs 190872507 as much as this, can anyone here tell me if this will work for what I need...

    I basically make small things such as spacers, brackets, and such for custom builds and my current lathe is either I patch back together my 1940's which is obviously beyond its years, and for anything needing to be milled, i have to source that out or meet a friend a couple hours away and hope he has some spare time.

    I have been looking at random forums and found this combo and I am sure its chinese but for what we do, and what I need, I think this would work well enough.
    https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-8-x-16-variable-speed-lathe-with-milling-head/g0769

    Before getting slaughtered, I have spent 2 months looking up to 5-6 hours away and found some decent deals, but they are all heavy duty, massive and a lot more than I need plus I really don't want to spend $10k on something that gets used 5 times per month max.

    I have read these reviews and several people have used these for up to 5 years with normal upkeep and no real major complaints.

    But as always, the Beeb is my final decision before making a purchase I am not sure of.

    Thanks
     
  2. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    The problem with the combo machines is the rigidity suffers. Better to buy one of each in the appropriate sizes for the work you do than compromise both of them. You'll be happier in the long run. Huffdaddy has a combo and while it's a really good lathe the mill portion is a compromise at best. We do any milling on my CNC and anything round gets made on his lathe.

    G0759 is a solid little mill for the money. I made a lot of stuff on my CNC converted machine before I bought my X7. Having said that a Bridgeport or some of the clones can be had pretty cheap and give you the option to deack a head when needed as well as simple just being a bigger more rigid machine.

    My advice is to buy more machine than you think you will need and buy a dedicated machine for each type of work.
     
    gixxerboy55 and sheepofblue like this.
  3. Dave Wolfe

    Dave Wolfe I know nuttin!

    Imho the only reason to get a small machine is if you are space limited or you need to carry it into a basement.

    The smaller stuff carries a bit of a premium. There just arent a lot out there and nobody is using them in industry, so there just arent older cheap ones out there.
     
  4. quikie

    quikie Fugitive at Large

    This.

    If you're only going to be using it for small, aluminum or brass parts it it might be ok. That said, I'd just get a used Bridgeport (or clone) which you can sell in 10 years for the same money you bought it for and a used lathe which... same.
     
  5. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy

    SO....... I am officially a BBS "AskHole"

    I bought it.

    Yes I know an older larger unit will probably last longer, but I am 99% cutting alloy spacers and little soft alloy brackets. This should fit the bill. Plus, as this is approx the same dimensions as our older dinosaur, this will fit nicely. Something larger, would require a lot of re-organizing which would be ok if I had extra free time which I dont.

    So I will test this out and we will see how it goes. If it last a year, then it will pay for itself 2-3 times.
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  6. 88/532

    88/532 Simply Antagonistical

    Keep an eye for machine shops closing their doors. I know a few people who got good equipment cheap that way.
     
    RM Racing likes this.
  7. sheepofblue

    sheepofblue Well-Known Member

    :crackup: I was also going to suggest you look at Little Machine Shop but was waiting to read from people that know what they are talking about. I have a mill and lathe from them and my big gripe is no time to use them. Hoping the move to TN cures that.

    Good luck hope you like the griz
     
  8. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy

    Man I went that route first and maybe its the times, and not to get political, but a VERY good friend is probably one of the best machinists alive (Abomb79 on Youtube) and he's so backlogged and said hes seen a couple more machinist pop up in town. So for whatever reason, theres no machinery around me other than buying new. I have murdered facebook market and craigslist..

    I am confident that this will do fine for a year. If I get 2-3 years out of it, then Ill buy another as realistically, thats more than I can expect.
     
  9. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    I knew Abom was from your area and I was just going to suggest you try and get in touch with him to see if he had/knew of any good machines in the around. Talented guy. Obviously has questionable taste in friends though lol.

    Good luck with the new machine. I've seen those smithy style machines do some quality work on the forums over the years. Never got to use one, but I think it will do fine for a lathe for what you want to do, but the big compromise with those is the mill. Get creative with setups, and it'll probably work just fine for what you need it for.
     
    badmoon692008 likes this.
  10. Montoya

    Montoya Well-Known Member

    While I’m in agreement with the notion of buying dedicated equipment and machines larger than you anticipate, for what you’re doing, I’m sure you’ll be happy with it.
     
  11. grapejuiceboys

    grapejuiceboys Well-Known Member

    Solid advice, this is what I did after using a Grizzly bench top model.

    I have a Precision Mathews 10x30 and have been very happy with the machine and the support from them.

    I've fucked up all kinds of stuff on it, not because there's anything wrong with the machine, it's more that I don't know what I'm doing. When I call in to buy the stuff I've messed up, most of the time they ship it to me for free. Many times I've called to buy a part, I've clearly stated I'm an idiot and it's not a warranty issue, they're like mehhhh we'll cover it, no problem.
     
  12. Banditracer

    Banditracer Dogs - because people suck

    Pretty rare to find a company that warranties operator error. :crackup:
     
  13. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy


    Haha yea man we been right for like 25 years. His dad (rip) and my dad were friends and my dad would have his dad do a lot of machining for us.

    I just did his Honda monkey a month ago with full ohlins and other cool mods.

    they don’t get much better as a machinist. The guy that does some of my flat track stuff and let’s me ride his Bultaco on occasion is right up there and he’s on super old equipment and he was lifetime navy machinist so he learned at sea whatever they need they have to build.
    He’s about 80 now and still makes badass stuff.
     
    YamahaRick and Dan Dubeau like this.
  14. Linker48X

    Linker48X Well-Known Member

    LOL you bought it 3 hours after you asked for input so I got nothing much of use for you. But for what it’s worth, I’ve had a Grizzly 9x16 for 20 years, used it exactly for the bike build/ aluminum spacers type stuff you plan on, and it works great. You’ll like it for work within its limitations. It’s not real rigid, thus it’s not real precise and doesn’t do well on steel material, and I had to spend a day or two initially prepping it—definitely time well spent on cleaning, lubricating, adjusting, squaring, building a more robust tool clamp (necessary)—all the stuff the internet said to do and it needed it all.

    Get some more tooling, a live center, a cutoff tool, a good knurler, a box or two of 1/2 inch cutting tools from Harbor Freight (they are cheap, so don’t bother trying to sharpen them, just throw them away), and you’ll do fine. I also bought one of Grizzly’s cabinet stands to put it on, which is definitely a good purchase.

    I didn’t buy a combination mill/lathe for the reasons others mentioned above plus you lose your lathe setup when you change over, so I don’t know how well those work. But I never went ahead and bought a real mill, I ran out of space, so I probably should have gotten one like yours.
     
  15. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    we have a combo in our prototype area. yes. automotive company. the fancy stuff goes on the CNC, the manual mill and lathes are always full and for a quick and dirty fix, this thing is perfect.

    enjoy it!
     
  16. You will be fine, just don’t get too aggressive with speeds and feels and make sure your tooling is sharp. As stated above the issue is rigidity but if you get your feed rates, speeds and depth of cut right you can not overcome it but not make it as big of a factor for what you are doing with it.
     
  17. Our model shop falls under my umbrella, we have some very cool stuff. Couple large Statsys printers, couple medium ones, couple more for metal (we all need Ti thumb brake levers and brackets that yes do have fea done on them to not brake things like frames , CNC press brakes, manual mills (which is what I seem to use more than anything when doing cough top secret stuff done after hours :) Haas cnc lathe, 3 haas verticals, laser cutter, couple new 3D scanners that are light years ahead of our old ones (scanned my dirt bike with pretty tight resolution in about 25 minutes, 5 axis router for cutting foam packaging (and makes bad ass tables), etc etc. I can use all the equipment in the shop which is funny when an exec is showing the guys how to tig alum (which involves me showing them a pic of Britt Lynn and say do it like him :)
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  18. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    I watch his Youtube channel all the time. He's taught me a lot without ever knowing.
     
  19. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    My shop guys always smile when I show up and say: hey Phil, government project? I don’t even answer any more :D
     
  20. JCW

    JCW Well-Known Member

    If you are machining brass stuff or aluminum spacers, practically anything out there will be OK.
    I've made plenty on a 20+ year old chinese 3 in 1 machine...
     

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