Gentlemen:

Looking to get a small Grizzly lathe and a separate mill to do the following: inlet a fes gunstocks, make bedding pillars, bushings, shape aluminum pieces and (regarding the lathe) make screws and maybe chamber a barrel or two.

Any recommendations? How about the Grizzly products? Which mill and which lathe?

Thanks,


Jordan

i had one, g9729 ...
it is a decent drill press, horrible mill, and the lathe is passable ..

the mill needs a "real" vise, as the toolholder locks into the vise, which is actually kind of clever.

the threading gears are nylon toothed, nad have ZERO tolerence for anything like a decent cut on a threading ... and a PITA to replace...

however, if you are willing to take very very very light cuts, it will cut pretty good threads...

don't waste your time with any 3 in 1, not eveen if you can get it new and cheap, for gunsmithing.

now, grizzly makes decent tools, so if you can get a lathe from them, then you will probably get a decent tool.

oh, yeah, the gear head lathes do leave a "finish" on the metal.

get the toothed lathe belts as an "upgrade".. it makes a HUGE difference in the finish and the machine vibrations

quote:

Originally posted by Jordan:
Gentlemen:

Looking to get a small Grizzly lathe and a separate mill to do the following: inlet a fes gunstocks, make bedding pillars, bushings, shape aluminum pieces and (regarding the lathe) make screws and maybe chamber a barrel or two.

Any recommendations? How about the Grizzly products? Which mill and which lathe?

Thanks,


Jordan

I don't have a Grizzley mill or lathe.

A number of folks on this and the Practical Machinist forum use the G4003G Gunsmith's lathe and appear to like it. It has a big enough spindle bore to work through the headstock on rifle barrels that will readh. It also has a ball bearing steady for barrels too short to fit through the headstock.

If you can find a used 12" x 36" lathe with a minimum of 1-1/2" spindle hole, you can easily make the required cat-head for the outboard spindle end.

The G4003G turns 70 rpm minimum speed, with is pretty fast for threading toward a shoulder, or so it would seem to someone my age with slowing reflexes, so you might find yourself working with the threading tool upside down and threading in reverse, which works just fine. Both my lathes have a minimum spindle speed in the 35 rpm range.

The perfect lathe would be a new in the box South Bend heavy 10, but they haven't been made for a long time now. A friend in Southern CA did find a brand new one in a factory crate about 7 years ago. It was still in cosmoline. It became available when a school closed down it's shop program. It had never been unpacked. That was the find of the decade.

Almost any 9" x 32" belt drive 16 speed Bridgeport Clone mill with an R8 collet will do a lot of useful things related to gun smithing.

It is important to get a mill that has a minimum spindle speed in the 80 rpm range.

The expensive part of a mill is the tooling. Before you are done you will have, over time, bought tooling that will cost at least as much as the mill, maybe two or three times the cost of the mill.

I went back and forth between a BP clone mill and a mill drill, finally buying the BP clone. I'm very glad I did. I've gotten 15 years use out of it so far and still counting.

Fitch

I bought a Grizzly 12" X 37" lathe back in 1991. I got a chance to run one before I bought it and found it to be an accetpable machine tool. I still have it and use it for most of my needs. However, another friend bought one and he made the mistake of engaging the threading lever and the power feed at the same time. The lathe had 2 lead screws, one for the power feed and one for threading. He bent several of the gears and the gear rack. Getting replacement parts was a slow event. He could have swam to China faster.. If you are good at running a lathe, the machine is fine. If you are a new student to turning,I would find another machine.

I have also got an opportunity to run one the Grizzly's small knee milling machines. I think I would pass on that machine. If you are looking for a small knee mill, I would find a Clausing. If you have room for a larger Bridgeport type machine, Enco makes a nice one or find a used Bridgeport. I think in the near future, because of the economy, there might be a few shops go out of business making machine available.

Please excuse this off topic question.

Mark
How is your health? I was thinking about you the a few days ago. This is the first post that I have seen from you in some time.

My apologies again.
PS: I use Jet lathe and mills.

James

Hi J,

Thanks for asking, I'm doing alright now. It was kind of a rough road for a while. For those of you who don't know, I had a case of Trigeminal Neuralgia..... If you are wondering what that is, inter it into your search engine and read all about it... It's a slice of heaven..... But I'm back in the shop working full time...

Mark

Thanks for the update.
Great to hear you are doing OK.

James

Jordan,

I have a Grizzly 4003. No "G". I got the non-gunsmith lathe mostly because the D1-4 spindle was more supported with tooling.

I'm very happy with it. I've chambered several barrels with it and have had good results. I would recommend it. The 12x37 belt-driven lathe and the G4003G were both also in consideration. All the tooling that comes with it is really great. I also got a Palmgren milling attachment from Enco, which is something you might consider.

I'll also recommend the NRA summer gunsmithing machining courses, which is where I learned to run a lathe.

I don't have a mill, but I'm trying to work up to buying one. Maybe the G0463, which gets pretty good reviews, and which wouldn't cause me a lot of sleepless nights when I have to move again.

Steve

I run a Grizzly G9036 gear head engin lathe. I've had it for about three years and thoughly enjoy using it.
My mill is a 1957 Round Ram BP with a J head.
Wuold like to get a bigger mill, mostly X axis travel, but for now we work well together.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/13-x-40-Gear-Head-Floor-Lathe/G9036

I am not sure that a Grizzly would be the best for you. There are a gazillion used lathes out there that would be better. Most Southbend “A’s would do the trick and they are quality machines. I have owned/rebuilt over three dozen lathes in the last 25 years and have looked at the cheap imports with about the eye one would use while looking at a Wal-mart Tasco for 20 bucks. The last lathe I bought cost 1600 bucks but after I sold off some of the extra tooling it cost me around a grand. With just a bit of looking you should be able to come up with an excellent American made lathe for under a grand that will last a couple more generations.
To give you an idea of that’s out there, here are two e-bay auctions I was watching for my own use but did not win.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageNam...IT&item=290273322044

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageNam...IT&item=290273322044

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageNam...IT&item=280283683625

This is my latest lathe, about a grand worth.