[Truggys_Suck]

As the title says I'm in the market for a new benchtop mill. My first mill was a manual Taig mill that I purchased middle of last year. Shortly after purchasing it I came across the A2Z Monster Mill in which I had regrets of not finding out about it before purchasing my Taig as I would have chosen the A2Z mill over the Taig. Now on a short note I know function over form is the most important aspect of most any machine but with all honesty I would like a mill that somewhat at least looks a little better than a Taig. Also I'd like this machine to be my first CNC ready machine as playing with my manual Taig mill was a bit painful given how limited things were in manual form.

Also as I am really leaning towards an A2Z Monster Mill one big down factor to me is that I can no longer seem to find a black unit and, a black unit is what I was really after, with no laser engravings on it. I had thought about purchasing a CNC ready unit and taking it apart to have a commercial anodizing shop strip off the existing anodizing and then sanding away at the laser markings and, then re-anodizing all of the pieces in black as I prefer.

Also the other option I also considered is going with something a little bigger like a Grizzly converted to CNC or maybe even a Tormach 770 (though I don't think I really wanna spend that kind of money at the moment given I'd need some special handling equipment to get things setup, hoist, etc etc).

My main uses that I plan to use the mill for would be to make large scale R/C Car & Truck parts, as well as some misc. gun parts (I have some 80% AR lower receivers that I'd really like to have done on a fly rather than manual milling the pockets of them).


Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

[dracozny]

For prebuilt, that Tormach 770 is a good deal. A CNC RF45 would cost near the same. DIY maybe you will save money. I think my current budget with my Zx45 I might save $1000 when it's done.

[Truggys_Suck]

My biggest issue is lifting equipment and also the fact that I'm down in Hawaii so much of the large stuff I look at I must also factor in freight charges coming down this way which then up's my initial cost of the machine. Also if a hoist of some sort is needed that will also ad to the cost. I'd say a machine under 400lb's that a hang-up winch could lift would be more ideal. The Tormach is indeed a nice machine but not something I really wanna spend that much on all at once, especially not having lifting equipment.

I was thinking more of something along the lines of one of these Grizzly.com (a Grizzly G0619) converted to CNC.

-OR- a Grizzly G0704 Grizzly.com

I also don't want something that will be super complex or difficult to convert to CNC and also to change to ball-screws.

The above factors also makes me think if I should just go with the A2Z machine given this will be my first CNC mill ever, though I did want something I could somewhat grow into but then again from some clips I've watched it looks like the A2Z mill is capable of making some decent size parts only it'l take a little bit more machine time.

I'd be all for an A2Z machine if I could successfully strip and re-anodize it in black without running into problems. Though I know the anodizing also plays a role with the tolerances of the machine. The last thing I'd want is to go through the hassle of refinishing it and then run into problems with the pieces not sliding smoothly back-n-forth.

[Fastest1]

You wont be happy with a monster mill if production in metals is your desire. It is just a Sherline with more travel. It can do metals but it will be slowly.

Btw, who cares what color it is? Save your money on the color preference and use it towards a bigger and more competent mill (again black wont be available)

[awerby]

If you want to save money, why don't you just convert that manual Taig to CNC, instead of getting a whole new mill? It will be more rigid than the Monster mill, and you might like its appearance better once you put those cool blue-anodized motor mounts on it, plus you'll be able to lift it without a hoist. You'd save more than enough to pay for some black anodizing, if that's so important to you...

[Truggys_Suck]

I sold off the Taig I had a few months after playing around with it so if I did make the move in that direction it'd be for a complete CNC ready version instead of the manual version I had. I've had my eye on a G0704 after seeing many CNC conversions done with it and it looks like a perfect size mill I know I'll be able to grow into. I don't think I'd ever need a mill larger than a G0704 I'd say. At the moment I'm pending some shipping quotes and options from Grizzly to get the machine down this way to me so I guess I'll go from there as far as which machine I should really pickup but my mind was and still is set between the three, either a Grizzly, A2Z Monster Mill, or another Taig machine. I think I may also need some help finding a person or place that can modify the G0704 for ball-screws if it is indeed the route I take.

Do any of you folks know what area on the forum I could search for someone or a shop that would specialize in custom work like retro-fitting ball-screws to a Grizzly?

[Fastest1]

Just buy 1 of the many available kits.

Though the auto oilers and power drawbar are sweet additions, they arent essential to being productive. A simple brush and some way oil daily and during long runs can get the job done quite well. Manually changing TTS tools is simple enough too.

There are a few kits that will have you up and running in a short time.

[dracozny]

Clearly shipping is your bigger issue on large machines. If you do decide to get a heavier machine, keep in mind many can be disassembled to be moved. I moved my zx45 mostly by myself, I had a friend help me lift the column and base as one piece to the table it currently resides on. Optionally one could disassemble the column but re-shimming is a factor. I moved every part myself to the room it was going on either by hand or with the aid of a skateboard. Just a thought for you to consider. Once it's on a table you could choose to use a table that has retractable feet with wheels in order to move it around the shop as needed.
The G0704 your considering is probably as small as I would consider for milling steel and high grades of aluminum. plenty of kits out there for them as well. also many clones of that you could consider since shipping from China would seem to be faster and cheaper than from the mainland since half our machines come from China anyways.

[Truggys_Suck]

Well Grizzly gave me a call earlier today with a shipping quote and it wasn't too bad IMO or I guess from what I was expecting, roughly $250 for FedEx freight coming down this way via boat with an approx delivery time of around a month. When they gave me that quote I started thinking if I should look to a bigger machine given their not basing the quote off of weight and are going by the overall size of the pallet/crate. However I just stumbled across Rong Fu's site and seen their smart mills which look on-par to a Tormach machine, only I have no idea where to find the prices and shipping of a large machine (if so) would be from them.

[dracozny]

Well Grizzly gave me a call earlier today with a shipping quote and it wasn't too bad IMO or I guess from what I was expecting, roughly $250 for FedEx freight coming down this way via boat with an approx delivery time of around a month. When they gave me that quote I started thinking if I should look to a bigger machine given their not basing the quote off of weight and are going by the overall size of the pallet/crate. However I just stumbled across Rong Fu's site and seen their smart mills which look on-par to a Tormach machine, only I have no idea where to find the prices and shipping of a large machine (if so) would be from them.

the primary rongfu site the contact us link has several options.

[Truggys_Suck]

I just got a quick wiff of what the prices are like on those and I can say for sure that those machines are far out of the ballpark. I had thought they'd be more of a Tormach price range, guess I was wrong. So now back to the general stuff of Grizzly, etc.

Grizzly looks like they got a Rong Fu 45 clone, the G0761. Does anyone know of CNC conversion kits for it? the G0704 seems to have quite nice after market support, but the for a R45 clone after doing some searches it looks like most of the CNC conversions I've come across were all custom stuff by the end user, a kit of some sort I'm thinking would best suit my needs for any of the Grizzly stuff.

Also as I've mentioned earlier the appearance of the machine somewhat needs to look at least half decent as I don't want another Taig type of mill where I'm not so happy or hype about its overall looks. I'm hoping that the casted parts on these mill's are at least have decent as I can only imagine if I end up taking it apart to retro-fit ball-screws that I'll then wanna probably a whole new refinish if I see little markings, gouges, nicks, etc etc. Then the refinishing would turn into a whole other project all by itself.

[Fastest1]

You can get bogged down with the unimportant stuff (appearance) if you want. It really has nothing to do with machining. Focus on your intent. An older commercial machine might be a better acquisition?

[dracozny]

There are no kits for the rf45 or it's many clones, they vary so widely that a kit is just not feasible. Pretty much the options are roll your own or find a mill that is already cnc'd. bolton sells an rf45 clone that is already cnc'd for $5,898.00+shipping, all it needs is a computer to run it.

[Truggys_Suck]

I think I've come to a conclusion and made up my mind. I'm gonna go for another not so good looking Taig machine, this time a complete CNC version so I just need to plug in a notebook and get to work, AND a G0704. This should gimme an general idea of a CNC mill and also what a larger mill is like, and maybe also allow me to make some upgrade parts for the G0704 using the Taig. Only thing is given how I really dislike the overall look of the G0704 given its green and yellow-ish white color parts I think I'm gonna look into the BusyBee variant sold in Canada given its a single color (white) which I would prefer all my mills to be. So now I'll need to give them a call and see what shipping would be like for that machine coming from that way all the way down here. Heck if its sky high or A LOT higher than the quote Grizzly gave me I might just end up going ahead and grabbing the Grizzly and then maybe at the time of taking it apart to convert it to CNC look to doing a refinish of the color I'd most prefer (maybe even a satin black).

[hoss2006]

The busybee variant is the short table version, only 11 inches X travel vs 19 for the g0704 if that matters as much to you as the all important color.
Hoss

[Truggys_Suck]

I just now looked at the BusyBee variant that I (suspected was another G0704) and I am WRONG! The mill I'm looking at on the BusyBee site is the Craftex CX601 which at first glance looks much like the G0704 but when I got to the weight it looks like the CX601 is twice as heavy weighing in at over 600lbs vs the G0704 being roughly under 300lbs. I guess the CX601 is a little bigger and heavier machine than the G0704 which I don't mind one bit as I'd say this thing would definitely fit my work envelope for sure. What would make this baby a billion times better is if I could tos on a Tormach 770 head with drawbar.

[hoss2006]

yes the cx601 is a bf30 variant, similar design just bigger, not quite as big as the rf45's, and no there are no cnc kits for it either.
Hoss

[Truggys_Suck]

What a retrofit kit from Flashcut CNC? I came across some pics of CX601 on Google Images that someone seem to have fit or made work with the CX601. Also what would finding ballscrews be like for the CX601? The size & weight makes this CX601 seem perfect but not if there isn't much aftermarket goodies for it like a G0704.

[arizonavideo]

It looked like the CX601 is exactly a BF-30/Weiss 30LV.

And their will be kits for it soon.

The Weiss 30 is a great mill and almost exactly twice the size of the 704. I have one and use it often.

It is more of the RF-31 class of mills as far as size goes and it is just big enough to go with a 56C size of AC motor if you ever want to up the HP.

[Truggys_Suck]

It looked like the CX601 is exactly a BF-30/Weiss 30LV.

And their will be kits for it soon.

The Weiss 30 is a great mill and almost exactly twice the size of the 704. I have one and use it often.

It is more of the RF-31 class of mills as far as size goes and it is just big enough to go with a 56C size of AC motor if you ever want to up the HP.

Seen your videos on youtube and its what brought the light out of me in wanting to get a G0704 to convert to CNC but having just discovered the BF30 I am thinking of pushing forward in that direction now. Would you happen to know of the US vendors for the BF30's ? I had contacted BusyBee and them Canadian folks don't ship to AK or HI so am still currently on the hunt.