Is New BIG Griz dovetail Mill an Easy CNC?

[gerryv]

Hi all,

Any thoughts on whether this new Grizzly mill would be a good candidate for any existing CNC kits although I guess that custom stepper adaptors might be needed if this is actually something new on the market in any colour.

Is this bigger/smaller than the Rong-Fu and other 45 Series machines or is it just that the table is longer than some?

At $1795 with power X, power head and a cast base it seems pretty attractive, especially if I pulled off the X drive and sold it when installing the CNC kit.

Does anyone have one yet by any chance or know anything about them?

Thanks,
Gerry

[kanton]

It would be easier to help if you provided a link.

[davo727]

That mill isnt any different than the other rf45s other than the power feeds.

http://grizzly.com/products/9-x-32-G...th-Stand/G0484

[gerryv]

Sorry I forgot to post the link.

Links:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/9-x-...th-Stand/G0484

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill...-Machine/G0519

I figure the addition of the stand pretty much covers the $200 difference. However, the X axis power feed is $275. Resold new on FleaBay, that's another $200 off so now I'm $200 less than the G0519 but also now have a column power feed which I'm thinking is not the same as a Z axis power feed so I would not need to remove it to CNC the machine? Thats probably another couple of hundred in value I'm guessing and it seems like a nice feature if you're going to be cranking much. It's also got a 1.5hp single phase rather than 220 3-phase motor which could save quite a lot more money for anyone without 3-phase power. Still seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Now that I'm aware that it is a 45 Series, can anyone advise if there are some good value, existing CNC conversion kits made specifically for these machines and make any recommendations? Are they simple to install?

Thanks much,
Gerry
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[pzzamakr1980]

If you are going to spend that much, look at Industrial Hobbies mill. Its only slightly more and is a much more solid machine with bigger travels. It doesnt have the added stuff but they make a conversion that is awesome specifically for their machine and judging by what I have purchased from them should be an incredible kit.

[davo727]

Originally Posted by pzzamakr1980 If you are going to spend that much, look at Industrial Hobbies mill. Its only slightly more and is a much more solid machine with bigger travels. It doesnt have the added stuff but they make a conversion that is awesome specifically for their machine and judging by what I have purchased from them should be an incredible kit.

$4500 for that kit with cheap rolled rockford ballscrews, I like the looks and size of the mill but they could use some better ballscrews in that kit.

[Smitty911]

SO buy the kit without their ball screws and get the ones you like, they shouldn't have an issue with that. But I'm not them.

Smitty

[pzzamakr1980]

I was really just talking about the mill but from everything I have heard from Tommy and Gene there is no loss of accuracy with those ballscrews and backlash is nonexistent.

[tmarks11]

Originally Posted by pzzamakr1980 If you are going to spend that much, look at Industrial Hobbies mill. Its only slightly more ...

From all reports the IH mill is much higher quality and IH being a dad and son shop tries to ensure that you are getting a machine that is 100% ready to run. With the grizzly, you are more likely to run into setup problems since they haven't even bothered to open the box since it shipped from Taiwan. I think few people will argue that IH is the king of the RF45 clones. It looks awesome with that enormous table and the 12.5" head mounting collar probably makes it more rigid then the grizzly.

That being said, there is a huge difference in cost; enough that most people would consider them a different class of machine. The G0484 is $1969 delivered, and comes with a very nice stand (Grizzly will sell you JUST the stand for $400). The IH manual mill is $2099 + $400 (stand) + shipping ($275-475, plus $150 for residential delivery), and you are looking at $2774-2974 (plus another $150 for residential delivery). And that is without X and Z power feed.

I wouldn't call $700-1050 a "slight difference". I think the G0484 is a heck of a deal compared to the competition, and I bet it goes up $500 in 2009. I think part of my tax refund will be going toward a G0484, but only to use as a manual mill.

Originally Posted by gerryv but also now have a column power feed which I'm thinking is not the same as a Z axis power feed so I would not need to remove it to CNC the machine?

Do you plan on installing ballscrews? Regardless, the Z axis powerfeed motor is physically occupying the location where you would install the z-axis stepper or servo, and would have to be removed. The z-axis powerfeed IS the column powerfeed, which in a cnc installation is typically driven by a stepper motor. The quill is not cnc driven except maybe on a knee mill.

Looking at the parts list, it looks like the z-axis stepper could be easily mounted on the z-axis powerfeed motor mount, since it was designed to directly drive the z-axis leadscrew.

http://www.grizzly.com/images/partslists/g0484_pl.pdf

There is somebody on the yahoo mill-drill forum who just received his G0484. You can look there for some of his comments on the machine.

[gerryv]

Thanks much for the clarification on the Z axis - that could save me an unexpected hassle for sure! I see the price differential the same way you do and, being that I'm going to be working exclusively with plastics on models and prototypes most likely, I'm not too worried about rigidity and getting consistent <0.0005 is not really an issue when you're cementing the parts together and using O-rings for seals . I plan on following early feedback on this one so thanks also for pointing me to the Yahoo board.

[philbur]

If you are machining mostly plastics you should check whether 2000 rpm is going to be enough spindle speed.

Phil

Originally Posted by gerryv Thanks much for the clarification on the Z axis - that could save me an unexpected hassle for sure! I see the price differential the same way you do and, being that I'm going to be working exclusively with plastics on models and prototypes most likely, I'm not too worried about rigidity and getting consistent <0.0005 is not really an issue when you're cementing the parts together and using O-rings for seals . I plan on following early feedback on this one so thanks also for pointing me to the Yahoo board.

[gerryv]

Hi Philbur

Is that something I'll need to worry about if I'm not running at production speed range. I tend to poke along as mill and lathe work is a big step up in speed for me from whittling :-)

That said, even though volume speeds are not important for me, I do want to get a nice finish so would be very interested in your thoughts. I don't see many threads about machining plastics.

Thanks much,
Gerry