Small Milling Machine for Gunsmith Work

Harbor freight has three listed, prices from $700 - $1900. I've seen reviews of some of their machines ranging from OK to Pretty good. I have no idea if they will meet your requirements but might be worth a look.

I had the HF one and got rid of it. The major problem is the round column. You cannot move the head without loosing all of your references. And your limited to clearance between, tool and part. This becomes a big issue when you have to change tools. It can be done but setup time is about 10x + that of a good knee bend mill. I also found the head not to be in tram and there is no easy way to adj this on the HF one anyway. The table movement was another problem with all the play in the screws. As with most you only want to read in going the same direction all the time. The addition of some simple DRO would help in this matter. If you decide to go that route at least get one with a square non rotating column, this would make moving the head a little simpler.

If you look in the right places you can sometimes find an old Bridgeport for a song depending on how well equipped it is. I have a well used 1964 V-ram J-head Bridgeport I picked up about 1986. On it I can do most anything I need to do. I'm a retired toolmaker, retired from a gov't arsenal and know my way around very well worn equipment...

Just wanted to add, a Bridgeport is not small. I believe mine weighs in at slightly over a ton. I can work on some pretty big pieces of steel and glad to have it.

I have their G4003G Gunsmith lathe and G0667X Precision End mill. The lathe has had several problems, but Grizzly has stand behind it supplying what ever part was needed to correct the problem. One of the issues is that none of of the key ways cut for the threading gear box where cut true. I had to use a puller to remove some and a 20Ton press to remove a bushing on one of the gear sets. It took some work with a file to get every thing so I could change threading gears. This is necessary for cutting metric threads. The most problem I have had has been with the tail stock. The quill has too much slop to body casting. When you tighten the lock it was raising the quill out of axis by 0.002" at 1.5" extension. So there was no way to cut a straight bar on axis, aka barrel. They supplied another quill hoping the quill was under size. It was not, over size compared to what they had in inventory. They offered to replace the whole tail stock. But not having the equipment to set it up I elected to just add a stop to limit upward movement. The steady rest limits you to 1" bar or less. The end mill has been very good. The only issue I had setting it up was the base was not level, catty corner. So it took some shimming to level. This thing is heavy, 2400 lbs. I bought both in March to expand my gunsmith capability. I'm just a hobbyist that loves to make things. I've built a 1911 that shoots < 2" at 50 yrds. Turned and fitted several barrels in my AR's.

I have the Jet mill/drill, about 15 years old. I solved the problem which Blue mentioned by using a cheap $20 laser level aimed at a mirror (15 feet away), which reflects back onto the mill. When raising or lowering I simply make sure to get the reflection to appear at the same spot. I wish the table would rise and fall, but the price (brand new) was right. The only remaining complaint was the slop in the vertical dial, when changing from hand operation to dialed-in measurements. But that's something else one compensates for. The absolutely most important feature to make sure you get are R8 collets for the head. Nothing else is worth the aggravation, and there are MANY R8 collets and chucks available.

I have never found a small machine that had the rigidity or accuracy to produce decent work. Mass of a full size machine minimizes flex and vibrations which will show up in your work. I would find a way to buy a decent used large machine and make room for it.

I’ve no machining experiance, but have been wanting to add a small mill and learn. In doing a pretty substantial amount of online research I’ve found that most small mills & lathes are all built by the same China suppliers to various levels of quality depending on the demands of the end seller. The one seller I’ve seen that seems to spec the higher quality versions is: https://littlemachineshop.com/default.php

Their model 3990 Mill gets top marks in reviews I’ve seen and they recently introduced a deluxe model, the 4190 with DRO installed that seems to check all the boxes for my desires.
https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4190

Might be worth your time to check their site out.

Manny said:

I’ve no machining experiance, but have been wanting to add a small mill and learn. In doing a pretty substantial amount of online research I’ve found that most small mills & lathes are all built by the same China suppliers to various levels of quality depending on the demands of the end seller. The one seller I’ve seen that seems to spec the higher quality versions is: https://littlemachineshop.com/default.php

Their model 3990 Mill gets top marks in reviews I’ve seen and they recently introduced a deluxe model, the 4190 with DRO installed that seems to check all the boxes for my desires.
https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4190

Might be worth your time to check their site out.

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Plus, that machine has a R8 headstock. I have bought several of their products (collets, mostly) and they seem to be 'way above board. They even ship quickly.

Denny Gibson said:

Beag ... thanks, This machine looks very promising ... do you have one?

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No, I have the Jet mill/drill instead, bought 'way before I knew about Little Machine Shop. Also have an almost 100-year old Atlas lathe, for which I got some 3-C and 3MT collets from Little Machine Shop. Had to make my own drawbars.
Also for your new mill, regardless who makes it, you'll need a table vise or two, and a full set of hold-down/setup clamps, which will fit your new machine.

BBBBill said:

I have never found a small machine that had the rigidity or accuracy to produce decent work. Mass of a full size machine minimizes flex and vibrations which will show up in your work. I would find a way to buy a decent used large machine and make room for it.

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This. Only exceptions are the Clausing 8520/8520 and Delta 21-1XX series, which are fairly hefty (~800 lbs), and often cost more than a typical full size.

OP-of the sub-$2,000 import benchtop machines, the only one I'd consider is this: http://www.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Benchtop-Mill-Drill/G0795. If you can go north of $2k, just shop around and find a Bridgie or clone. Yeah, they're heavy, but you're gonna be mad at yourself for limiting your capabilities with a small machine. Trust me, you use up the capacity of even larger knee mills like my Lagun FTV-2 pretty quickly, especially Z axis. I have not known anyone with a mini or benchtop size who didn't wish they'd bought a bigger machine. Heck, I even found the limitations of my 9x48" 3 HP lagun, ended up grabbing this 11x55", 9.1 horsepower 5,000 lb. monster:

a large, heavy machine that would need to go in the garage (i.e. rust city) and the smaller....... beginning to think figuring out a way to keep the humidity down in the garage might be another option that would open up possibilities.

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Just hose them down with WD40. I do that even here in arid Colorado. Exposed, bare steel & cast iron will rust even in the Mojave

I will add that you should run a dehumidifier to help keep the humidity in check.

I enjoyed the read as I too would love to have a milling machine.
About 4 years ago I came across a smaller vertical/horizontal single phase Bridgeport on eBay for 2150. It was in Pa. and I passed and have some regret.
Good luck in your quest.

Denny Gibson said:

Ok ... guess I'll start looking for a big, fat, milling machine!

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You'll be glad you did!

Just do some research on the brands you're looking at. Actual Bridgeports are middle of the road quality, but the most serviceable from a parts cost & availability standpoint. Clausings are solid machines, as are Wells-Index and Sharp (Sharps are Taiwanese, but well made). IMO, the best machines you're likely to find stateside are Laguns. There are others out there, like Tree, ACRA, Atrump. In general, avoid the Asian machines, even in full size. They just don't go the distance, save for the Sharps.

Now, the brand new Bridgeports are now made by Hardinge, and they're top shelf. But they start at $17K.....

Decoy80 said:

I enjoyed the read as I too would love to have a milling machine.
About 4 years ago I came across a smaller vertical/horizontal single phase Bridgeport on eBay for 2150. It was in Pa. and I passed and have some regret.
Good luck in your quest.

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You really don't want a single phase machine, honestly. Yeah, it sucks to have to pony up for a converter, but the braking & instant reversing is definitely useful. You cannot achieve that with a single phase motor.

US made 5HP rotary converters with Baldor gen heads are under $400 shipped on fleabay.

Oh if converters are that reasonable you will save that up front 3 phase machines go for much less than single phase ones do.
Good hunting.