G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

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Mini bike
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:20 pm
Location: Central PA

G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by Mini bike »

If you were thinking of buying a mill...it would need to be able to go into the basement via stairs, with the small space I have available and two person carry. Does this seem like a good candidate ( Grizzly...G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ) ? It seems to have more features than the mini mills available. If you have one of these machines your input would be appreciated as well.
Thanx again
dalee
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:54 am
Location: Minnesota

Re: G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by dalee »

Hi,

I bought my G0704 just last December, Merry Christmas to me! :D If you can get a clothes washer or drier down your stairs, 2 people with a 2-wheeled cart can easily get the G0704 into the basement. An appliance cart would be best. But the wooden shipping crates are pretty sturdy and compact and can be lashed to any suitable 2-wheeled cart.

If you don't have or can't use a hoist or lift of some sort, it would not be too difficult for 2 reasonably healthy men to lift the mill on to the stand. But a hoist would, again, be best. If you are going to manually lift it on the stand I would remove the mill head. And the column if needed. Which is easy to do. There is 1 king bolt and 1 clamp bolt holding it on the z-axis slide. And all the electrics are attached to the head also. I was able to easily remove and carry my mill head by myself. And then reinstall it alone also.

As far as the quality of the machine, I like mine a lot. It punches well above it's weight class. I can easily run a 3/4" endmill .100" deep in mild steel. And it doesn't get the shudders like some other benchtops do. It does get cranky with a 2" single point flycutter at around .040" deep. And the torque drops pretty fast when you turn the pot down for slower speeds. That's kind of the nature of the beast with any unversal DC motor and speed control. But overall, it's an amazingly rigid machine with fair power for it's size.

As far as setup goes after de-greasing, I did find I needed to remove the head and column from the base. My mill had about .008" forward nod to the column. I wasn't overly impressed by the assembly. Cosmoline, grit, paint, and burrs can be a valid shimming methodology, but not on my machine. I figured I was going to need to shim it straight. But after a simple cleaning, de-burring and light stoning, it was only off .0005" over the entire y-axis travel on re-assembly. So I needed no shims.

This is what it looked liked before cleaning.
Image

I've made a couple modifications to the mill. None are necessary for operation. I added 2 more clamp bolts to the head and z-slide. I just like the extra security. I also added a couple of stops on each side of the head to make re-adjusting the head quicker when I tilt it side to side. I do need to do one more thing and that is to raise the mill up about 6". I'm 6'4" and it's a bit short for me to use. I think if I get a couple of 2' long pices of 1/4" wallx6"x6" square tubing to set the whole shebang on, I'll be much happier and comfortable.

Oh, Grizzly does offer a bolt on power feed for the mill, they just don't do a good job letting people know about it. I would recommend getting it if you don't want to build your own. It became availble just a week or two after I ordered mine. :cry: I figured I'd have to just build one, but now it's kind of a toss up for me.

dalee
More Speed, More feed!
Mini bike
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:20 pm
Location: Central PA

Re: G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by Mini bike »

Thanx for your info Dalee...I will be looking and researching more.
pkranger
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by pkranger »

Hello,

I have the Precision Matthews 20 mill, which is more or less a G0704. The mill has a great following. If you haven't already check out
http://www.g0704.com/.
Hoss has put together a ton of great info for that mill. I was able to move mine from one small shop to slightly bigger shop by myself, I just had to break it down a bit, which you will want to do to get the cosmoline off. If there are any other questions I can help with feel free to PM me.

Matt
kd4gij
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Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:55 pm

Re: G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by kd4gij »

I Have had my 704 for 7 mounths now. You won't be disapointed in it. And I agree about the power feed. I just installed one on my mill. Got it from lathemasters for $50.00 less than grizzly's. the color is a shade off but it works fine. But dealing with LM is frustraiting to say the least.
G0704 mill
Craftsman/atlas 12x36 lathe
4x6 vert-horz.band saw, Craftsman 113 table saw,and radial arm saw.
Mini bike
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:20 pm
Location: Central PA

Re: G0704 Drill/Mill with Stand ?

Post by Mini bike »

Grizzly has the power feed on sale for 240 bucs. That's what I got it for.
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