Im highly considering purchasing THIS (http://www.wttool.com/product-exec/product_id/43599/nm/Hobby_Milling_Drilling_Machine_JET_) Jet mill. Its only $550 shipped! (with a 10% off coupon).

I have used Jet knee mills and metal lathes and have been very impressed with their quality. I was surprised that all of my searches for more information on this mill came up with no results on CNCzone.

Does anyone have an model number for this mill? Anyone have one of these? Just hoping to get a bit more information before I buy. Thanks in advance!

The only thing I would caution about is that the net weight of that mill is onlly 88lbs. The X3 (for $300 more - I just paid $847 out the door for mine) is more like 350lbs. I think you would lose a lot of rigidity on something that light.

Thats an X1, you can get one from Harbor Freight for $319.

You really think they are exactly the same? Specs and design are but would the quality of parts be any different?

Different paint.

anything that comes through harbor freight just scares me as I have worked with bandsaws drill presses disc sanders and handtools only to find a "sketchy" quality about them.

I guess im just looking for physical evidence or experience with both machines to confirm that components, materials, and quality are the same. Any help would be great! Thanks to the previous posters as well!

I hear ya on HF, a lot of their stuff, chicago brand, are disposable tooling but I got my X2 from them and wasn't disappointed.

Alright no more posts necessary, after comparing pics, they are all the same machines, kinda lost my interest in jet machines after investigating this.

They had an article in Home Shop Machinist years ago spelling out the differences in the the Asian machines from different suppliers. The author actually was a buyer and toured most of the plants where they were produced.

All the plants worked from the same basic prints, but the manufacturing methods and quality control varied from plant to plant.

The article even had photos of stripped down milling machines and lathes showing the differences and the modifications needed to correct deficiencies.

His conclusion was to pay a little extra for a machine from a reliable supplier such as Jet which is what I did when I bought my 9X20 lathe about 15 years ago.:)

hmm, interesting, thanks for the information, i may re consider!

I can probably locate the issue in my files so you can read it if it would help you any. They discussed many aspects like various dealer's support with problems, types of defects found,and what to check and modify before operating an asian machine. Let me know and I'll dig it up if I can find it.:)

I think that you you are paying for the Jet name alot. I have a large jet mill, and I would buy another in a second.

-Adam

I can probably locate the issue in my files so you can read it if it would help you any. They discussed many aspects like various dealer's support with problems, types of defects found,and what to check and modify before operating an asian machine. Let me know and I'll dig it up if I can find it.:)

I'd love to read it if you can find it!

Mark [mkenney]

I'll hunt it up if I can find it and contact you for where to mail it.

Mark, Found it!

PM me your address and I'll mail the magazine off to you. If you mention what machines you have I'll check if there are any articles pertaining to them in my collection and include them also for your reading pleasure.